Singles - The Long Blondes

A fine farewell

There’s a hint of poignancy surrounding this collection of The Long Blonde’s first four singles, collated as the band split following founding member Dorian’s stroke earlier this year. The back catalogue is a fine one, however, beginning with the obvious statement of intent of New Idols, the early, exciting, Velvets-y everything-is-distorted Long Blonde itself and a host of tracks that in many ways foretell the advance of the likes of Arctic Monkeys.

The daft and wonderful Darts, the irresistible Giddy Stratospheres and the original demo of Separated By Motorways are jangle-pop gems that recall a thousand nights in dodgy indie clubs across the land. For fans that caught onto the band’s two albums proper, this fills in all the gaps of how the sound was first exuberantly squiffy, before developing and blossoming into its intelligent, more polished latter form. Additionally, Autonomy Boy and Peterborough have never previously been released. The former is a spiky, Talking Heads-ish track full of tension and sotto-voce scrawl and the latter a song that, if Alex Turner had written it, would no doubt top the charts. So farewell Long Blondes, but know that your legacy is secure.

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

Angular Recording Corps | ARC 038

Reviewed by Joe Shooman
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