EP Review: Furrowed Brow – Punctual Punk

Remember Denim? Not the stuff you wear but the band fronted by Lawrence (formerly of Felt) during the early/mid 90’s? Songs full of sardonic, witty, grimly cynical observations of life backed by pure glamorous punky beats. If not, what about Luke Haines? He of the Auteurs, Black Box Recorder etc – another song writing genius with an often vicious take on what goes on around us all every day. Step forward Furrowed Brow, Manchesters very own glam punksters who drop their third release on April 7^th. Following on from 2020’s five track ep ‘Dead, Dead, Dead, Still Digging’ and single ‘Pissing Superfluous’, their new release ‘Punctual Punk’ is everything ‘lad rock’ isn’t. 

Clocking in at 1 min 47 seconds of space age, sleazy, glittery rattling punk full of euphoric synths overlaying a dirty garage beat. Squeeze The Cramps, B52’s, some Denim and Auteurs into a dirty big surfers dancehall, drop vocals not too far off the tones of David Gedge, maybe a little Mark E Smith and you won’t be too far off the sounds of ‘Punctual Punk’. Shambolic yet brilliant and, like previous tunes ‘Punctual Punk’ casts a wry, sharp look at life’s trivial goings on, in this case nothing deeper than the fact a friend who is always late turns up on time for once.

B side ‘The Narrative of Hugh Gordon Pym’ talks politics, the crappy situation that’s surrounded most of us for the last 12 months and BBC journalism and merges it with Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Narrative Of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket’. Underlying it throughout is a stomping 70’s Glitter Band beat. Catchy, upbeat, foot tapping, weirdly wonderful. ‘Punctual Punk’ is out April 7^th and can be pre-saved on Spotify and all major digital platforms. Thoroughly recommended also are Furrowed Brow previous releases that can be purchased on Bandcamp.