Comfortingly Discordant

Today's post title is the first comment left on the YT posting of TV Priest's new single, Just So You Know, left by @psydefekct

I know naff all about TV Priest, so here are 8 facts that a 2 minute internet trawl unearthed. Some of these may be true.

1) TV Priest formed 2019, as a four-piece comprising Charlie Drinkwater (vocals), Alex Sprogis (guitar), Nic Bueth (bass, keyboards) and Ed Kelland (drums). The four had known each other since they were 11 years old and, prior to forming TV Priest, had played together in various bands.

2) Officially, TV Priest's live debut took place inside a disused industrial freezer in Hackney, London, in November 2019. There's no record of how people turned up...or who let them out after the gig.

3) That gig - and their early music - was sufficient to attract the interest of Sub Pop Records, who signed TV Priest and released their debut album Uppers in 2021.

4) Although Uppers was pretty much fully written and recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it's release was delayed, meaning that TV Priest had to promote the album entirely from home during lockdowns. 

5) When not fronting TV Priest, Charlie Drinkwater's other occupation is as a visual artist and designer. Aside from the band's artwork, he has designed album covers for other artists, including A Hero's Death by Fontaines D.C., The Art Of The Lie by John Grant, Sucker Punch by Sigrid and Cannonball by Man/Woman/Chanisaw.

6) Following an exhausting promotional cycle and tour for second album, My Other People, throughout 2022, Nic and Ed departed from the band. TV Priest has returned with Just So You Know, a precursor to new album Cartoons, as a duo of Charlie and Alex.

7) Cartoons is out on 6th November, described as a concept album tracking the "daily unspooling of the worlds we thought we knew" and framing modern life as "a cartoonish struggle between surveillance, sanctuary, and increasingly blurred lines between heroes and villains."

8) TV Priest will also be taking to the road to promote Cartoons. starting with an album release day gig at Rough Trade in London. Bristol gets not one but two shows: Rough Trade Bristol (9th Nov) and The Louisiana (25th Jan).

This is a song about leisure

Our fears and pleasure

Automatic dreams

And 65” screens

Just so you know

Just so you know

Just so you know

You can reach me any time

Darling, you’re not the first to own the night

But maybe

We are the first to notice the price

And I am,

The lounge lizard by the lagoon

And I am,

Our ruined honeymoon

And I am,

Your ticket to the moon

(Hey hey hey)

Just so you know

Just so you know

Just so you know

You can reach me any time

There’s a drive-thru at the end of the world

And it’s waiting to take our order

There’s a brass section at the bottom of this barrel

And it’s playing at our funeral!

There’s a drive-thru at the end of the world

And it’s waiting to take our order

There’s a brass section at the bottom of my bottle

And it’s playing at your funeral!

Just so you know

Just so you know

Just so you know

You can reach me any time