I was secretly hoping that this would be a side project of art-rockers Everything Everything doing covers of 80s pop duo Everything but the Girl, but it isn’t. Still, you can’t have everything (after all, where would you put it all?). And if I can’t have the aforementioned mash-up, I will most happily settle for this.
And this, in this case anyway, is a two-track single logically called, A&B Sides like a, you know, proper, old-school, single. Based around the fabulously named Izzy the Gent Everything but the Everything has expanded quickly from a solo studio project to a live gigging four-piece affair and prides itself on delivering modern songs in a post-punk vein. Or if it doesn’t, then it really should, as that is the vibe I am getting here.
The virtual A-side here is “Hotshot,” a jangling and edgy piece that rises up to swathe itself in ever-evolving sonics whilst Sophie Prise’s vocals ebb and flow, rise and fall, whisper and scream over the top. “Salt” is an even more energetic and fractious affair, sounding like a long-lost Siouxsie and the Banshees track, and there is nothing wrong with that. Nothing whatsoever.
A cracking brace of fab and groovy waxings, as they might have said back in the 60s, and enough to mark the band out, for me at least, as one to watch. And I suggest that you keep a close eye on them, too. You aren’t going to want to miss a thing.
