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"Fabulous stuff"
Elton John
"Home Counties are set to be the hottest new indie dance act"
Rough Trade
"A post-punk mirror maze of electronics"
Jack Saunders - BBC Radio 1
"Synth laden, sardonic, politically-charged and fizzing with rhythm"
The Line Of Best Fit
Today, London six-piece Home Counties have shared their new single and 'anti-clubbing anthem' - "Uptight", the latest taster of the band's highly anticipated debut album 'Exactly As It Seems', out 3rd May 2024 via Submarine Cat Records. 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".
Home Counties' forthcoming debut album 'Exactly As It Seems' was produced and recorded in its entirety by the band's guitarist Conor Kearney and then mixed by Andy Savours (Black Country New Road, Rina Sawayama, Sorry).
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”.
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 ‘fuck 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.
With previous EP ‘In A Middle English Town’ propelling their live set into full-on hedonistic party territory, the addition of new vocalist Lois Kelly in late 2022 completed their transformation, with the band fully embracing the power of a good time. “We just love songs that are dance-y and we want our gigs to be fun. On our last tour we were finally at a stage where we had enough new material, on top of the last EP, where every song basically felt like a dance song: that’s the music we like to listen to and the shows we want to go to. I don’t really consider us a guitar outfit anymore. We want to be a more melodic band, with pop tunes and catchy songs," said Will.
On the Home Counties stereo when it came to finalising their debut album, a list of favourites as varied as they come were given air time: jungle (the genre, not the band), Talking Heads, Britney Spears, The Slits. At the centre of it all is nothing except simple quality. “We just appreciate something if it’s a banger rather than having to put a criteria on it,” says Conor.
Thematically, meanwhile, the band have been traversing the ups and downs of London life, documenting their findings as they barrel towards the second half of their twenties and all that that entails; laments on “renting and how rubbish landlords are and how unaffordable it is”, the feeling of getting older; turning 25 and not wanting to go clubbing and feeling guilty about that – always managing to balance the duality of lyrical frankness and musical buoyancy with gusto.
With an eye for the day-to-day, all-too-relatable details of crap modern living, coupled with an ear for hook-filled, grin-inducing melody, the pay-off is one riddled in joy rather than despair. Or, as Conor succinctly sums up the current ethos of the band: “My life is ruined cos I can’t afford rent, but I’m gonna dance about it.”
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