A couple of weeks ago, U.S. Girls released a new single and video. It came in a fortnight of other music vying for attention, so I filed the link away, intending to come back to it.
I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting this.
Bookends is the lead single from Scratch It, which according to label 4AD is "a rock and roll album that bleeds soul". On the strength of this song, that's a modest claim.
Bookends is a biographical tribute to a lost friend - Riley Gale of thrash metal band Power Trip - unfolding over nearly 12 minutes. Musically, it's like Bowie's Station To Station recast as a torch song before going full-on funk disco two thirds of the way through. Aurally and visually, an epic in every sense of the word.
Meg Remy has been putting out music as U.S. Girls for nearly 20 years, roughly half of those on 4AD. So, I should be really familiar with her music, right?
A quick look and I have just one song on the hard drive, a single which came out in January 2020 and included on a Mojo magazine promo CD, inevitably lost in the mass of new music and the madness of lockdown. A missed opportunity, as Overtime is really great and I should had followed it up back then.
Small consolation, but Scratch It will be my belated entry point to U.S. Girls album back catalogue. It's out on 20th June.
That's rather splendid. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAs Ernie said
ReplyDeletePop music at its peak. And very finely commented. [sk]
ReplyDeleteThanks, everyone. There will be lots out there who will be pointing out that it 'only' took me over a decade to 'discover' U.S. Girls, but I'm glad I didn't leave it any longer...!
ReplyDelete