Already a favorite with Steve Lamacq, DIY and NME, Talk Show have spent the past year on the road with bands ranging from The Murder Capital and Fontaines D.C. to Pip Blom and Black Country New Road and are now finally set to release their debut EP ‘These People’ via Council Records on 27 March.
Lead singer and guitarist Harrison Swann says the EP was ‘mostly written whilst on public transport’ and it finds him sharing his anger, frustration and occasional joy at living in the modern world. Lively post-punk guitar riffs and brooding bass open the EP on ‘Stress’, a potent anthem that will relate to so many listeners with its talk of ‘angry marks’, ‘cheap plastic things’ and relentless chant of ‘this is stress, this is stress, this is stress at best’. ‘Atomica’ veers more into angular art pop sound with resentment at those in power and their compulsive lies: ‘I wonder what they told ya if ya’ telling the truth’.
‘Banshee’ has a swirling guitar sound to complement Harrison’s impassioned vocals (it almost starts in spoken-word fashion) as he dreams of a future with someone special – although this feeling may not be reciprocated: ‘If you thought about the future, will I be there if I’m not the one you’re dreaming of’; ‘I had a dream we were dancing in the dark together, waltzing, holding hands forever’. The EP finishes with ‘Petrolhead’, an angry song that tackles class warfare with seething power: ‘Don’t say things you can’t take back’.
Packed with potent guitar-driven hooks and messages about today’s world, ‘These People’ proves that Talk Show are a band worth shouting about…