HOME COUNTIES who, despite the name, are a five-piece happy to gaze askance at all the weird doings of modernity from the safety of Bristol, release their third, three-minute dose of angular commentary, “Modern Yuppies”, today. Us humble folks at Backseat Mafia feel embracing their particular wonky vision of the truth is a necessary step.
Taking, I think, as some kind of sacred text the clear-sighted grasp of the slight ickiness of suburbia as embodied in Stump’s “Tupperware Stripper”, they bounce into 2021 with an excoriation of the modern yuppie, brisk and clacking lyricism set atop warped, taut, punk-funk enough to make Squid and their ilk loosen their ties and mop brows.
It’s a little bit of a shift away from their previous single, “Dad Bod”, whose wire-snapping angularity we fell deep into here, loving how it took up the modern baton recently laid down by the much-missed Duds; it has lo-fi synths, it has drum machines.
Singer and dadaist lyricist Will Harrison commented: “Synths and drum machines were already something we were very keen to explore and 2020 provided us with an unexpected amount of free time to experiment.
“We dialled the disco influences up to the max and totally embraced that 70s’ cop-drama vibe for this pair of standalone singles [there is, deliciously, another to follow].
“It feels like a bold declaration of who we are and it definitely gives a clearer taste of where we’re heading for our next EP”. I mean, the band are only one year old this very month.
Will comments on the song’s theme – featuring as it does the crackingly clackity line, “Squash racket made to match the jacket that costs the month’s wages of the lower tax brackets”: “[It’s] a comparison between the young urban professionals of the 1980s to those of today.
“It discusses the differences, the way that arrogance and conservatism have made way for self-doubt and socially ‘liberal’ political positions.
“Ultimately. however, they are both plagued by the same condition – of constantly needing more.”
Home Counties’ “Modern Yuppies” is released by Alcopop! Records today and is available on all digital service providers.
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