Song(s) of the Day # 2,486 Mass Observation

Now this is a lovely find. Another I'm grateful to the A Pessimist us Never Disappointed blog listed to the right hand side of this page for  which leads me to so much great stuff which I'd never chance upon otherwise. Like this. An EP, and probably the best one I've heard this year, from a duo with form in the likes of New Lines, Lake Ruth, Lorelei and the like.

It's altogether enchanting stuff. Post Punk in essence but graced with the most beguiling, haunting sense of melody that I've encountered for a long time. Flecked with the odd and almost indefinable paranoia that was so so prevalent in the early Eighties but also seems so absolutely here and now. Each of these songs is stamped with the poised appeal of Mission of Burma, Pylon, Joy Division and early R.E.M.

Recorded remotely by the pair during Covid-19, each of these songs sounds like it was specifically written for the Underground Radio, talked about the likes of David Thomas and Richard Hell in the Seventies. Mass Observation make spectral guitar, drums, bass and vocals driven music for anxious times.