Party Hardly – Have We Got Time [Single] (Witchgirl Recordings, March 23rd, 2017)

Witchgirl Recordings is making an interesting scouting, signing some of the most exciting artists of the north of England.
Mostly Hardly come from Leeds and are now sharing “Have We Got Time”, taken from a new A-side single That will be released on March 23rd and cassette titled “Have We Got Time / Oh My God” that include “Friendly Feeling”  and “Jobs” as bonus tracks.
Their sound, perhaps wrongly, has been defined slacker, but while acknowledging them a certain narcoleptic attitude, I must say that the bass reminds me a lot of solutions from that kind of year zero of the musical renaissance that was the post-punk. The drums are robotics and essential, almost kraut, the guitars are discrete and functional to the development of the vocal harmonies.
If I have to say a name, I can think of Comsat Angels rather than Pavement.
I do not detect a trace of any compromise between low-fidelity and pop crooked, angular and disjointed, but a great taste for melody, quite sophisticated arrangements and big choirs taken to realize a watercolor of muted but decided hues, where little is left to improvisation. A fresh sound, exciting and full of trepidation.
Moreover, here it is missing the light-hearted and ironic attitude of the texts, because Partly Hardy seem very attuned to the things that really matter, and the song is about, in fact, the strangeness of life, when all around you, things change over time and discover that your “friends for life” are not such that you end up, losing sight of them. Then, you realize that the innocence teen is gone and the important thing is to do your “own thing” to the best of ways to reach the finish line with a few recriminations or regrets
Well, I do not think it is a slacker philosophy, but a deep reflections with a bitter aftertaste.

Rating: 8/10

Schoolboy Johnny Duhamel

Pre-order via Witchgirl Recordings