On The Radar : The Mysterines

88 days to print that we went into lockdown as a country and maybe about 6 or so months later from my discovery, The Mysterines have released another single into the wild and it’s a banger! Shame on me for not writing about them when I heard their debut EP ‘Take Control’ way back when, but I’m not one to be looking into the past in the current climate, more to a positive future and the release of ‘I Win Everytime’. 

A little background on The Mysterines...Female fronted, Liverpool based gritty rock band who fall somewhere between The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Them Crooked Vultures and the lyrical stylings of Nick Cave, Karen O and observational skills akin to a certain Alex Turner. ‘Take Control’ pulled me in the first time round because I felt my ears twang to the sound of a female vocal I felt I’d heard before, was that Kate Jackson of The Long Blondes fame under a different guise...Surely not...A google later and I found it to be Lia Metcalfe, front woman and force behind The Mysterines. 

To the point and subject of the blogpost, track ‘I Win Everytime’ is 3 minutes of a whirling undulating ruckus built on hooking basslines and memorable lyrical pairings that’ll be perpetual to the mind. The moody acrimonious slurring vocal is neoteric while latched to those likened in style only, ‘I Win Everytime’ is by no means a slow burner as it bombards it’s way through verse and chorus, it is the current and it is the future. 

88 days to print that we went into lockdown and how many more weeks until we are back in our most loved music venues, one thing is for certain is that the future isn’t bleak on the British music scene with bands like The Mysterines at the helm.

On The Radar : The Roly Mo

Guitar music is dead, long live guitar music…A statement literally shouted from the rooftops more times in the last decade than Alex Turner has changed hair styles. Alas, we might be falling into the next decade with a glimpse of hope in the form of Glasgow Indie-Rock 4 piece The Roly Mo. 

Now I’m not going to claim that I know anything about the Glasgow music scene, because it’s completely lost on me but from a few clicks I’ve found out that there is a dirty underbelly of clubs that are absolutely brimming with musical talent. In a day and age where we are losing venues quicker than gaining them, it was refreshing to know such things exist, and are thriving. 

Back to the subject matter The Roly Mo, named after a once famous kids television mole and sounding somewhere between ‘Beneath The Boardwalk’ Arctic Monkeys, ‘Era Vulgaris’ Queens Of The Stone Age and according to the band themselves Jeremy Kyle. It’s lairy bass lines seamed together with gritty lead vocals and that signature rhythm guitar sound. Featured song ‘I’ll Be Happy When You Die’ is a 2 minutes and 20 seconds rollercoaster of lyrical emotion, a top to bottom sure fire smash hit that you could mistakenly find yourself in a sweaty mosh pit come festival season singing along to at the top of your lungs.

Occasionally a band comes along and both ears prick up within the first few second of their song, The Roly Mo are that band, if guitar music is dead then The Roly Mo have just set fire to the funeral pyre and they are the oncoming resurrection.