I was working up this week to write a long post, which will now have to wait til next week as it has become more work than I expected and I want to do it justice. Therefore this week I will talk about a couple new songs that have been released recently that I’ve been enjoying (only 2 because I’ve left this quite late).

The first time I saw Big Special was when they were supporting Deadletter and they were so incredibly different from anything I had seen before. It is very much spoken word, and even more so when live. Joe (the ‘singer’) stands with his mic loose in his hand and steps back and forth in a rocking motion, bellowing each word down the mic - you can tell he means every word. Meanwhile Callum (the drummer) sits at the back smashing the drum set to the words and a backing track accompanies them, but it just fills the blank space and doesn’t take away from the pair’s performance. It all culminates in an astounding sight and sound, one which is addictive and very encapsulating. Somewhat soon after this they released their first album, “Post Industrial Hometown Blues”, which I really enjoyed. I think the songs themselves hold up well, but it’s the lyrics that are so fun to explore and speak along to. They are enunciated with such power, almost as if performed as part of slam poetry.

After this success I forgot about Big Special for a while until just the other day I stumbled upon a music video for God Save The Pony, from their new album “National Average”. This came as a bit of a surprise to me as I had no idea they were releasing new stuff let alone a whole new album. I think this song takes a fun new direction, whilst keeping the key features that make them so good; the strong drums, the lyrics and the pronunciation. What I enjoy from the new additions is the distortion on vocals and the ever catchy bass and relentless staccato of the synth.

Last week I watched the Sprints set from Glastonbury and really enjoyed the new song they teased “Descartes”. Unfortunately I got distracted by the cover of “Foundations” they played with Kate Nash that they clearly hadn’t practised and so was quite cringe to watch. However, they released the track earlier this week and I have been enjoying it a lot since. It’s got a lot of the classic Sprints sound to it, the fast guitar over the top, the noisy distorted guitar supporting and heavy drums in the back. I have been a bit annoyed with some of Sprint’s stuff because it does feel all a bit similar but I feel they have branched out here more and it’s a fun track (especially after having a bit of a stressful meeting).

See my friend Sof’s song of the week here!