London six piece Home Counties deliver their brand new, agitated indie-disco single 'Uptight', out now via Submarine Cat Records.
The track is the latest taster of the band’s highly anticipated debut album Exactly As It Seems, out May 3. The song was unveiled last night with first plays by Steve Lamacq on BBC 6 Music and Jack Saunders on BBC Radio 1, with the latter describing ‘Uptight’ as “a post-punk mirror maze of electronics”.
New single and album opener ‘Uptight’ finds the band pondering their own experiences of clubbing in their mid-twenties. Playing out to a backdrop of agitated indie-disco; driven by a dynamic, danceable beat and equipped with the band’s signature angular dual-guitar work of Conor Kearney and Will Harrison, ‘Uptight’ is an apt pace (and tone) setter for Exactly As It Seems, with Harrison encapsulating his emotions in the song’s opening address: ”…there’s a long queue – only going cos I felt I should do / Have I grown cold – seven quid a pint yeah that’s a rip off / God I feel old, twenty four – complaining it’s a shithole”.
Listen to ‘Uptight’ by Home Counties on the Shoot Music New Releases Playlist on Spotify.
Speaking more on ‘Uptight’, vocalist/guitarist Will Harrison said: “‘Uptight’ is our answer to a 00’s club banger, complete with the crudest synth tones and Britney-esque ad-libs. In contrast to your typical ‘dance-all-night-long’ mantra of 00s pop songs, ‘Uptight’ is about not wanting to go clubbing anymore.
“The lyrics largely moan about the petty annoyances you voice on a night out, like the extortionate price of pints or queuing for ages to get into a dive bar. It also discusses the worry that everyone thinks you’re boring, or that you’ve grown old too quickly, and how this feeds the cycle of repeatedly going out to places you hate. Saying that, I also see the song as a celebration of these shit places – of saying ‘f**k it, I’ll come out’ and ignoring the grumpy old man tendencies you have prematurely developed.”
‘Uptight’ follows the release of expansive, shape-shifting previous single ‘Wild Guess’ and their vibrant, glitchy ode to east London ‘Bethnal Green’ – all of which set to appear on the band’s debut album. Prioritising the beauty in the ordinary and unanimously leaning into a fun, exploratory way of thinking, debut album Exactly As It Seems presents a notable sonic shift for Home Counties, embracing a more dance-orientated sensibility and an ambitious inventive attention to detail, all with a focus on melody in its purest form.
Having firmly established themselves as one of the UK’s most vital alternative bands with their two acclaimed EPs Redevelopment and In A Middle English Town and double A-side single ‘Modern Yuppies’ / ‘White Shirt Clean Shirt’ – Home Counties have played host to notable sold out headline shows at venues including the 100 Club and The Lexington, as well as embarking on nationwide support tours with Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, FEET, Courting and bdrmm, adding to further appearances alongside shame, Sports Team, Pip Blom and more.
The band embark on a UK headline tour in support of Exactly As It Seems this May, with further festival appearances confirmed at Deer Shed, Beam Me Up, Dot To Dot, FOCUS Wales, Are You Listening, with more yet to be announced.
Home Counties are: Will Harrison (vocals/guitar/keys), Lois Kelly (vocals/keys), Conor Kearney (guitar/vocals), Dan Hearn (drums), Barn Peiser Pepin (synth/percussion/guitar/vocals) and Bill Griffin (bass/vocals).
