The Lounge Society share new single

Single release: Out now
Label: Speedy Wunderground
More info: The Lounge Society’s Facebook page

When latest Speedy Wunderground signings The Lounge Society released their debut single Generation Game back in March, it instantly heralded the arrival of a special new band. Generation Game became the revered label’s fastest-selling 7” ever, and indeed their only repress since Black Midi. BBC 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne went as far as to call it one of her Songs of The Year. It is with some anticipation then that The Lounge Society – still all in their mid-teens – release follow-up single Burn The Heather. It receives its debut today from Lauren Laverne who praised a band “still in their teens but making such compelling music… so many big ideas in there… really really brilliant.”

Hailing from in and around the Pennine towns of Hebden Bridge and Todmorden in the Calder Valley of West Yorkshire, The Lounge Society recorded Burn The Heather with producer Dan Carey (Kae Tempest, Bat For Lashes, Fontaines D.C.), and it carries with it an insistent, brittle punk-funk strut. With the band drawing rich influence from their surroundings – the area being well-known for its abundance of magic mushrooms and as the UFO-sighting capital of Britain – theirs is a sound shot-through with adrenalized and undeniable youthful surges, with The Velvet Underground, Talking Heads and Fat White Family cited as shared influences.

The single takes its title from the annual local ritual burning of the moor-top heather by the rich rural landowners for their lucrative grouse-shoots (and which those down in the valley blame on causing frequent flooding). The band also flex their literary muscles in lifting a line from the Lawrence Ferlinghetti poem, “The World Is A Beautiful Place”, repurposing it in order to refer to the song’s protagonist as “the smiling mortician”.

Burn The Heather‘s strikingly macabre lyrics (“I hear the tales of both cities / Of light pockets and heavy hearts / Where flesh meets lead / And unchained souls are torn apart”) signal a very personal single. The band comments: “Burn the Heather is a song deeply rooted in where we come from. The lyrics are our interpretation of some of the darker aspects of where we live, and our personal reaction to them. Musically, Burn the Heather is intended to be an adrenaline shot to the brain. We wanted this to be the second single all along. We don’t want to be just another post-punk band, and we knew Heather would keep people on their toes. Unlike a lot of our tracks, the guitars are quite minimal and the rhythm really carries it, and we think it works really well. We want to make people move.”

Listen to Burn The Heather on DSPs here and watch the video below.

The video’s director Nick Farrimond offers his thoughts on the visual:

“Born from the sense of injustice surrounding irresponsible land owners who clear heather from the moorland for grouse hunting, (resulting in increased flood risks below in the valley where we all live) we decided to portray caricatured versions of grouse hunters, dressed head to toe in tweed and showing total disregard for the landscape and devoid of any values, morals or ethics. The band play the parts of grouse, making their way across the moors, dressed in fetching red boiler suits and unaware of the impending danger they face. What ensues is general carnage as the grouse are hunted one by one, each meeting a grizzly, untimely end…or do they? You’ll have to watch the video to find out.”

Make no mistake, this is the sound of young England: articulate, enraged and energised. And – perhaps crucially – highly danceable too. It should give hope to anyone who has lost faith in the future. The Lounge Society make a strong case for ones to watch through 2021.

The Lounge Society are: Cameron Davey (vocals/bass), Herbie May (guitar/bass), Hani Paskin-Hussain (guitar/bass) and Archie Dewis (drums).

Speedy Wunderground is Dan Carey, Alexis Smith & Pierre Hall.

The Lounge Society – Burn The Heather single artwork | Download image here

The Lounge Society – UK tour dates 2021

Sat April 3 – Fair Play Festival, Manchester [Tickets here]
Fri April 30 – Newcastle University SU, (supp. The Orielles) [Tickets here]
Sat May 1st – Stag & Dagger, Edinburgh, UK [Tickets here]
Wed May 12 – The Windmill, London, UK [Tickets here]
Sat May 15 – Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate [Tickets here]
Sun May 16 – Heartbreakers, Southampton [Tickets here]
Mon May 17 – Hare & Hounds 2, Birmingham (supp. bdrmm) [Tickets here]
Wed May 19 – Crofters Rights, Bristol [Tickets here]
Thu May 20 – Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield [Tickets here]
Fri May 21 – Castle Hotel, Manchester [Tickets here]
Sat May 22 – A Slow Education Festival @The Crescent, York [Tickets here]
Fri July 2 – The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge [Tickets here]

Find The Lounge Society online: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Spotify