Slowhandclap: Horses In Transit                          

Self-Released

Stream

Out Now

Following a sold-out show at YES and debut shows in Europe, local noise wranglers release their latest single with support from the likes of BBC Radio 6Music and KEXP and support slots with YHWH Nailgun and Psychotic Monks, the next phase is assured, says MK Bennett

Remember those trips down the motorway when you were a kid? Your parents’ music blasts from tinny speakers while your dad tries to decide in real time if singing along to Dolly Parton is acceptably masculine, and your attention finds itself looking outward, scanning the green and grey of old industrial towns and unused farm equipment. You will see a vehicle slightly out of place, an alien shape among the sleek and expensive machines around you, and you will notice, with innocent wonder, that it has a cargo, and the cargo is moving, alive. You ask your dad what it is and he says it’s going to the knacker’s yard but you don’t yet know what that is. You know it sounds bad though. Nothing good can happen there. These are horses in transit.

As a rule, time changes are for orchestras and prog rock bands but the rules have not been explained, and so, they do not count. Slowhandclap have released a devilishly brilliant song here, a violently abrasive yet harmonic rush that is breathlessly complicated, coarse and beating fast like an irregular heart.

Starting with a jagged riff that recalls Siouxsie and Magazine before the vocals come in, traditionally Northern, as if he was home-schooled by Mark E Smith, these are not happy words but they carry truth. Singer ( and guitarist ) Sam says, “ It’s about the innate freedom and desire of humanity and the economic circumstances, the crisis in housing and the state of unease in the world that often deprive us from realising it. Always in transition and never arriving.” It features in its run time some very fine turns of phrase, including the sublime, “ You’ve unsown me “, a short but beautifully poetic line but one you will return to.

The drums kick in and the expected four four beat doesn’t arrive, instead drummer Michael sits just behind the expected rhythm, slightly and deliciously off, a reiteration of the vocal rather than a backing, until less than a minute in, the drums drop back out and the guitar changes to a mournful figure while Sam intones the chorus, without a beat but still moving forward. Verse two and Michael # 2 joins in, as an outer space synth swirls into action, almost hopeful, defiantly upbeat. Bass man Dan completes the line-up of this astonishingly accomplished song, where Gang Of Four and Jesus Lizard meet Thank on the East Lancs Road.

Sam builds a head of steam, disappointment, frustration and disillusionment, as he tries to make sense of circumstances built by other people. At this point, the band are matching the intensity of the words, the last verse an arpeggiated explosion in the sky, Sam landing the full metaphor, as he breaks his fences and runs, as near dub-like echoes stream into eventual darkness.

For a band with just a few singles under their belt, this is an incredibly assured four minutes of post-punk noise rock excellence and joins a stellar cast of brilliant Mancunian bands releasing high class singles in the year of our lord 2025. Possibly the last great Northern song before the clocks run down.

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All words by MK Bennett, you can find his author’s archive here plus his Twitter and Instagram