If you are not excited for the release of the debut Lounge Society album Tired Of Liberty due to be released on August 26th 2022 then you bloody well need to shake up and develop a pulse.

I first saw The Lounge Society live a bit before lockdown, when 4 skinny lads took to the stage in over sized suits and declared their statement of intent through a support set played to a packed Huddersfield room. I was immediately hooked by Lounge Society and in the confidence they had in knowing exactly what they wanted to share in terms of music sound and message. I’ve followed Lounge Society fondly ever since. Now aligned to the Speedy Wunderground record label, the ethos and blend of intent of both parties feels pretty perfect to me: It’s about immediate and urgent, and that determination to make a difference and to be different flows through them both.

So July 2022 sees the release of The Lounge Society single No Driver to help whet the appetite for the album, were any needed.  Lounge Society are developing a strong trade mark feel and sound while also still forging, growing and creating. It feels that standing still is a wasted opportunity in The Lounge Society’s eyes.

No Driver itself reminds me of a different equally exciting time; an era when I would avidly follow the energy of the original Theatre of Hate. Musically, Lounge Society are hard and uncompromising, but that doesn’t mean they are strangers to a solid underlying funk beat. There are often complex layers in the Lounge Society music which you can track through in different ways on repeated plays.

Both the music and lyric of No Driver creates that feeling of chaos in the mind where there is no control and no one there to apply the brakes and the checks and balances.

There is, suitably, a number of seemingly random and urgent rhythms and patterns running through the song. This kind of makes No Driver sound mad and frantically choppy, but the whole sound of the single still seems perfect and totally coherent. The way the lyric “the black dog knows you” feeds through to the conclusion of the song is hauntingly not a threat; it’s real.

I have occasional periods of frantic energy running though my head, and I often wish my head would slow down; No Driver completely fits that sense I get of being unsettled, disconcerted, and yet curiously also feeling as creative and as busy as you can ever be all at the same time. The Lounge Society have created a mash up to describe life.

As well as the forthcoming album, the Lounge Society are on tour in lots of places in Europe and the UK – check out their socials to see if you can get to see them. Whether you have seen the Lounge Society before or not, you are in for a treat. One of the best live bands around – no drivel.

Chris R