They do say that a sign of genius is to be able to make the complex seem simple.

So it seems with Hebden Bridge/Tod based wunderkinds The Lounge Society. The band must be one of the more creative and instinctive young bands coming through at present.

At first listen, The Lounge Society’s new single Last Breath rather feels like an end of session jam. Then I reflected: well actually a lot of bands have produced memorable music through jamming together and seeing where it goes.

But here, rather than it feel like its Iggy and the Stooges in a Detroit backroom smoking a few spliffs, just messing around for their own no fun, with Lounge Society there’s something a bit new going on. Garage funk rather than garage punk.

It almost feels like the band are like the Stooges channelling long dead blues artists brought back to life, desperate to play a final mad frantic finale for their lives. So it’s played for fun but with an urgency attached. The shared vocals, one sung one more barked brings out that sense of compulsion.

The outcome of all this is a really lively and mad groove, and what’s more there’s a positive and defiant message within.  This sound is no fluke, to my ear Last Breath feels like a brother to Lounge Society’s banging Valley Bottom Fever.

The Last Breath reaffirms an oath to music and singing and performing until the last breath. Not only that, this is a commentary upon the assault on the lifestyle and future prospects of young people at the moment. I lived it in a different time #thatcher so I can smell it now.

There feels less time for creativity, taking a risk, and in a backdrop where the work skills you build up can become redundant in a heartbeat. The Lounge Society have a healthy f*ck you response. They are determined to continue to plough their own furrow.

I do regularly ponder the merits of continuing with this little blog. I appreciate it’s a weird way to spend some of my time. Likewise, I’ve never sure about the value of this aging man’s musings. But when I hear something like Lounge Society and their new track Last Breath, it just makes me think ‘you know what, I’ll just write out another one’. Shine on guys, shine on.

By the way, the band are on a lengthy tour just at present, do yourself a favour and beg, steal or borrow a ticket or two….

Chris R

* all but the cover image, the photos are mine from the time the band played at Halifax Piece Hall…