Buffet Lunch

BUFFET LUNCH have been writing pleasingly imperfect pop songs since 2017. Comprised of musicians based in Glasgow, Edinburgh and (sometimes) Newcastle, the group craft ramshackle odysseys of observational charm. Always catchy, often profound. Buffet Lunch have been previously described as a band that create 'a hodgepodge of noises’, and who are 'lyrically ridiculous'. Both claims are strongly denied by the group.

Buffet Lunch have released 3 EPs & 2 LPs to date, and just six months after self-releasing the album 'For Display Purposes Only’ return this spring to Upset the Rhythm for their stunning third album 'Perfect Hit!' A meandering masterpiece of low-fidelity musing, ‘Perfect Hit!’ presents the group in upbeat mood, as ever casually melodic, only now with some more weighty subject matter to draw upon.

‘Perfect Hit!’ was recorded in the West Highlands, in the shadow of the UK’s Biggest Ben, during Leap Year week 2024. George Horler (Holy Loaf) joined the band as recording engineer, along with new members Matthew Lord and Jack Shearer plus founders Perry O’Bray & Luke Moran, to spend a week writing and creating the record. The majority of the record was completed in the studio, with as much recorded ‘live’ as possible and the week flew by. They had such a lovely time they forgot to go on a walk. They certainly make up for that with the music though, it’s a proper expedition of loose ends, winding ascents and curious turns.

Lyrically, the album contains more deliberately personal lyrics than previous records, with several songs addressing ancestry and becoming a parent (Song for the Quarrymen, The Slowing of the Shoes). The words for ‘Blue Chairs, Blue Floors, Blue Folders’ were mostly written in the waiting room of a maternity ward in fact. This deceptively carefree track, with its lengthy Shadows’ style intro, is packed with anticipation, it revels in waiting, enjoying the mundane surroundings that often accompany monumental changes. “Yes, it’s pretty real, spider climbing up the wall, until it falls, have you ever seen a plum-coloured son?” ponders O’Bray amidst the chiming ellipsis.

‘Merchandise’ unfurls with languid guitars, lively keyboard flourishes and a conversational lyric that’s reduced to screamed exasperation. It’s a queasy rocker, cursorily about Scottish Presbyterian John Knox and his problematic polemic, yet seemingly set in a car park. It’s also a total bop. Elsewhere, songs deal with thorny issues such as identity & full-face tattoos (Another Face Entirely), a swordfish sighting (Perfect Hit!), and the importance of kindness (Blip). ‘King Conker’ features a star turn from Jack Randall Lee, who you might know as the singer of Sydney slackers Beef Jerk. It’s a waggish yarn, washed in tumbled sounds and grappling with a potentially disgraced champion of the horse chestnut persuasion.

‘List of Walls’ is clangorous with dizzy dimensions. “Touch the stones of the wall, they connect you back to a time bonded brick” sings Lord in this song examining historical consciousness via the medium of Wikipedia. Bricks actually feature frequently as a lyrical motif across the entire album. ‘Perfect Hit!’ is built from bricks, ideas and plots, melodies and hooks, each stacked upon the other. It’s a puzzle, much like life, you just keep adding to what went before, hoping for order and shelter. Buffet Lunch have grown into this attitude, you must wait until the end and then stand back if you want to see what they’ve built. Now knock on the door and come on in.