New music review with singles from Downtown Boys and Herbie May
- Julia Mason aka The Decibel Decoder
- Jun 2
- 3 min read
Our weekly fix of the best new music as Julia Mason (aka The Decibel Decoder) brings us her new music review with singles from Downtown Boys Sirena and Herbie May Uphill
Artist: Downtown Boys
Track: Sirena
Downtown Boys have released Sirena the empowered-by-the-ancestors new single from upcoming album Public Luxury, out 26 June via Sub Pop. It is accompanied by an official video directed by Sarah Elawad, a visual artist known for work responding to issues including Sudan’s ongoing and underreported war, and who created the immediately iconic blooming-flower early-voting animation for Zohran Mamdani’s campaign.
'Sirena' is often translated as mermaid or mythical temptress. Here on Public Luxury, it is about a literal calling: a siren, a voice, a compass to help navigate an incredibly complicated and messy world. Sirena is inspired by one of singer Victoria Marie’s late grandmother’s favourite songs, Gema, written by Los Dandys and re-envisioned by many, including Javier Solis and Vicente Fernández.
Band member Victoria Marie elaborates further on the song and music video: “Sirena brings together both earthly and divine concepts of what drives, moves and calls us to action bigger than ourselves. Sirena is often translated from Spanish into English as mermaid. The idea of a sirena as a guiding body essentially bending gravity and drawing one to the liminal space, whether it is where water meets sand or where our desire for a world where we are all free meets the reality that we have a lot of work to do. We are honoured to have a video by Sarah Elawad that takes sublime archival footage that beautifully bends the mundanity of the time it takes for a flower to grow or a horse to race. We envision this song as a reminder that all of us have that siren in the form of a person, idea, dream, or gem that reflects light in darkness.
"The lyrics are an ode to the siren:
La gema (the gem)
La joya (the jewel)
Divina (divine)
Preciosa (precious)
Las olas no se mienten (the waves never lie)
Las ojos no se engañan (the eyes don’t deceive)
Ya tenía en la mente (I’ve had her on my mind)
Hacia atrás al frente (and she goes back to front)"
Downtown Boys Live Dates
June
23 - Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom*
24 - Holyoke, MA - Holyoke Media^
25 - Woodstock, NY - Bearsville Theater*
26 - Willimantic, CT - St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
27 - Portland, ME - State Theater*
28 - East Greenwich, RI - Odeum*
July
15 - Columbus, OH - Spacebar #
16 - Detroit, MI - Third Man Records #
18 - Cleveland, OH - Happy Dog #
19 - Pittsburgh, PA - Bottlerocket Social Hall #
21 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's #
22 - Washington, DC - DC9 Nightclub #
23 - Brooklyn, NY - Baby's All Right %
24 - Somerville, MA - NICE, A Fest
25 - Burlington, VT - Foam Brewers
September
6 - Mississauga, ON - Second Summer Festival
* with Gang of Four
# with Pop Music Fever Dream
^ with Perennial
% with Ratas en Zelo
* * *
Artist: Herbie May
Track: Uphill
The Lounge Society guitarist Herbie May has shared his new solo single Uphill via Red Licorice Records. Uphill is an exuberant blast of choppy mood-altering indie-pop energy with the kind of sharp, observant lyrics that recall Courtney Barnett, Jonathan Richman or Stuart Murdoch. The record is backed with Apple, an urgent exhortation to get up, get out and go and do something. The 7" 45 is available on limited edition vinyl (250 copies) as well as on all digital platforms.
Herbie shares: "These songs are my call to leave it all behind. To forget ourselves; the myths of our identities. These veneers of personalities we’ve constructed don’t seem to serve us any more. We all feel stuck. So why don’t we just drop it, find new selves, in new places. Who’s with me?"
The songs were recorded in a full band set-up and produced by Archie Dewis (also from The Lounge Society) at MIZ Studios in Hebden Bridge and feature the beguiling harmony vocals of highly-rated Manchester singer-songwriter Rebecca Spooner. Drums are played by Albie Shaw-White from current Calder Valley faves Rose Villas.
Herbie has spent much of the year honing a well-received live set and has supported the likes of The Primitives, The Subways and Chris Helme, as well as playing select headline shows. He has just supported Big Truck, the latest project of Laurie Vincent (Softplay) and Sam Coppins (Ladybird) at Hebden Bridge Trades Club. He is also playing The Social, London later this year, as part of a Red Licorice Records takeover. More details to follow.
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