New music review with Dexys, The XCERTS and Lunch

Our weekly fix of the best new music as Julia Mason brings us her reviews of new singles from Lunch, The XCERTS and Dexys

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Artist: Lunch

Track: Freedom Of Choice

London post-punk four-piece Lunch have released their new single Freedom of Choice. Having recently been featured on BBC Introducing and selling out Tunbridge Wells Forum Basement, it’s been a good period for the band. They worked with producer Jake Murray of Strongroom Studios (Arctic Monkeys, Beck, MIA) to record the track and DITZ collaborator Katie Tavini for mastering. The release also features a live performance video recorded at Signature Brew Haggerston and provides ample evidence of the high-octane energy at a Lunch gig.

Freedom of Choice is a reminder that it’s easy to be pulled into the mundane rat race of ‘expected’ modern life. However rather than follow the norm, exercise your freedom of choice and find your own path. This being Lunch the message is delivered as a raucous antidote to the dictates of society. Happiness can be found elsewhere, and if Freedom of Choice is anything to go by, a good place to start would be at a Lunch gig.

(And props for the 'clingfilm for freshness' refrain - ed)

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Artist: The XCERTS

Track: Blame

Photo Zak Pinchin

The XCERTS have released their new single Blame taken from their forthcoming album Learning How to Live and Let Go set for release on 18 August via UNFD. And before going any further, just watch the band’s self-directed one-shot, one-take live vocal video. Frontman Murray Macleod demonstrates one heck of a vocal talent. Lyrically Blame is a full-on confession of anxiety and self-loathing delivered with a raw passion. Murray is joined in The XCERTS by bassist Jordan Smith and drummer Tom Heron and together they have produced a track full of emotion, and yet moshpit friendly.

Anthemic and soaring the pounding drums and shredding guitars combine to produce a standout song. Laura-Mary Carter from Blood Red Shoes also lends her vocal talents to the track.

Expanding on Blame, Murray explains: "Blame is the most quintessential XCERTS song on the new record. It was important for us to look back but push the boundaries of what, in essence, is quite a simple pop song. The majority of the new record was written in the studio, but we crafted this one in the rehearsal room and I feel like you can hear the ‘3 piece’ chemistry and urgency within the recording. It’s a song about accountability and no longer looking for a scapegoat when things go wrong, and realising I’ve really hurt people in the past with my thoughtlessness. I was once told 'if you can’t spot the dickhead in the room, it’s probably you'. I guess it’s our first (hyper) self-aware song lyrically."

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Artist: Dexys

Track: Coming Home

Photo Sandra Vijandi

Dexys (formerly Dexys Midnight Runners) will release their first album of original material in over a decade, The Feminine Divine, on 28 July via 100% Records. They have now released the track Coming Home the third to be taken from the new album following I’m Going To Get Free and The Feminine Divine.

Coming Home was written in the early 90s with Big Jim Paterson. The keyboard opening is so distinct before heading straight into the unique vocal of frontman Kevin Rowland.

It's an upbeat track full of honesty and optimism. So perhaps the single doesn’t break any new ground and meanders slightly but nonetheless it does showcase the vocal talent of frontman Kevin Rowland. The album is influenced by the fact that his views have evolved over time, more specifically on the whole concept of masculinity that he had been raised with. To share this un-learning on The Feminine Divine is incredibly open.

Speaking on the new single, Rowland says: "Coming Home is about rising up out of a slump. In the album narrative, the protagonist has passed through some very dark times but he is now enjoying positivity and peace. He’s embracing a new-found connectedness: to the universe, to other people, and to his true self."

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