th’sheridans – I Don’t Want To Be Dismembered (Eatery)
‘Radical softness as a response to everyday racism and misogyny’ say th’sheridans of themselves, and recent release I Don’t Want To Be Dismembered encapsulates that all.
- Follow our New Music 2020 playlist for a weekly update of fresh releases.
Artist: th’sheridans
Track: I Don’t Want To Be Dismembered
Label: Eatery Records
Released: 1 May 2020
Find it: Bandcamp | Spotify
It’s been easy to miss things these last few months. Gone with the normal routines is some of the the appetite for the new, and the attention to the usual spaces has at times felt an unwanted effort. Perhaps that’s why latest single I Don’t Want To Be Dismembered from th’sheridans arrived without a welcoming fanfare from the indiepop ranks. Perhaps.
The track starts as a weary-sounding and pared-back number with a vocal shaking with what…? Desperation to be heard, exhaustion at the labour, vulnerability at revealing a fear that so many will find a slightly ridiculous refrain? All of it, and none of it perhaps. As the guitar gives way to round and rolling rhythms, the song marches toward oscillating yet defiantly lo-fi synth conclusion.
At a time when struggle is at the forefront and change seems slow but possible, yet Populism and intolerance are on a terrifying charge down a path we already know the destination of; there sits this song. Sped up, with bigger production, it could have been a more obvious call to arms under the guise of a dance-floor filler. It doesn’t need to be more obvious or anything more than it is though. A perfect slice of lo-fi, doing what the best pop does: working on multiple levels to shoot an uncomfortable truth through the veins of a catchy refrain.
“If you’re any kind of other / Turns out things are just harder”
B-side Abattoir Blues is musically a fuller song but a definite companion piece thematically (and let’s take a moment to acknowledge how amazing it is to have not just a b-side to get into, but such a well curated couple. More of this in music please). A post-punk catalogue of everyday dystopian living the song fills out until it is see-sawing rock n roll. Evocative of uncompromising but secretive parties laying claim to space through their happening. Everything is dark until we turn to each other and make hedonism as escape over an indulgence.
A too-often overlooked band on the DIY and indiepop scene th’sheridans have built quite the catalogue over their more than a decade together. With the knack for writing pan-cultural critiques from their lived experience, and making protest music danceable without diluting any anger, they are a band who should be considered alongside Cornershop as vital musically and in the messages they deliver. If you haven’t heard them, or of them, remedy that with these tracks on repeat.
Find th’sheridans: Twitter | Spotify | Bandcamp
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Sarah Lay
A long-standing music journalist she's also co-founder of independent record label Reckless Yes, an author of novels, and when not messing around with words and music, a digital strategist.
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