It’s great to welcome Rainy Day the new EP from Walking Contradiction with its bright, breezy style and fresh spiky approach. Cherry Cola kicks the shebang off and happily demonstrates Walking Contradiction’s straightforward new wave style.

While the music is solid and comforting, the lyrics have some dark reflections of the human condition. A conflicted and tangled relationship with sleep features in this EP, along with a struggle to keep everyday life going and positive. I applaud the directness in the words.

That said, my beloved also highliged that a diet of coke, lemon sherbet and coffee as prescribed on the EP can play havoc with the digestive system and result in disturbed sleep. If you are a creative, never ever marry a practical nurse, dear reader.

As you may have picked up, the name of Huddersfield’s Louie Kaye’s musical project Walking Contradiction, was selected in honour of the Green Day track of the same name, and while this is a distinctly British sound, the style does somewhat lend from the likes of Green Day. If you like your music to come with a bright punch then Walking Contradiction is for you. The Rainy Day EP follows last year’s Beautiful Chaos and its clear Walking Contradiction has built up a sweet collection of sounds here.

Cherry Cola speaks of getting drunk on cherry cola and high on lemon sherbet which has a nice whimsy but it also perhaps has a nihilistic vibe for that state of being down and fuked off and feeling helpless about it. That blend of bright and resigned hits hard. A walking contradiction indeed.

Weird has been released into the wild since last October, and as well as being a regular played track for me, it’s a banging tune follows on perfectly to Cherry Cola. Here the confusion and anxiety of the human condition comes out to the fore, where the lyrics has that age old questioning of yourself and why it is that you don’t quite fit in. At least I assume that most of us have these kinds of self-doubts. Haha, I do anyways and Weird is a song with lyrics that I totally relate to.

Musically, it follows on in the very crisp, bright and jaunty style; interesting given the musical feel is completely at odds to the subject of the song. This is a track to bounce around like a mad mad thing when played live. I’ll give my approval.

Underground meanwhile has a different feel and tempo to it. There’s a nice flowing sound, which somehow makes the tune feel more complex, and it has a quality feel which kind of reminds me a little of bands from prime Britpop like Ash. This track just shows that Walking Contradiction is radio ready, and I could definitely hear this track on a TV soundtrack (I mean that in a good way; think of Running Up That Hill).

‘When we fall asleep where do we go” is actually an incredibly strange and interesting concept. It’s the main strapline of the 100 seconds of Sleepless Interlude. “Someone get me out of my head” is an equally disturbing lyric, and again as someone who can have terrible terrible thoughts and dreams in the dead of night, again it flies to the bullseye.

Previously released Palm Trees and its wonderful ‘too much coffee‘ chorus line is next on the EP. This is a punchy fast track. I’m kind of getting a grunge vibe with this song. This is Kurt angst at 3am with a kettle and a spoonful of nescafe at the ready.

New track Rainy Day closes the EP and it has more of a ballad tempo to it. The song to my ear is about the down mood you get as a relationship draws to a close. There’s a classy piece of guitar work on this track, and indeed the music throughout is top drawer stuff. I always like the sharp, clear recording of Gafro Studios which really lends itself to this kind of spiky sharp indie and this is another set of quality.

Walking Contradiction was due to perform a celebration gig to launch the EP at Huddersfield’s Northern Quarter. I’m personally pleased it has had to be postponed as I would have missed it. Look out for a reschedule soon.

Chris R

* images taken from the artist’s social media