REVIEW: ‘Previous Business’, the latest track from DIY indie four-piece tellyeaters
Rising local band tellyeaters return on the back of their self-titled debut EP with the single ‘Previous Business’, a punchy slice of indie rock beamed in from an alternate timeline 90’s where J Mascis borrowed some guitar pedals from Johnny Marr and went out on tour with Pavement.
Think the lethargic slackers of American alternative playing instead with taut, pop-punk energy; all steamroller riffs and thundering drums against deadpan lyricism. Think a Replacements song that throws you into the guitar solo of deep cut from The Cure in the instrumental break. Think all of that, but not in 80’s Manchester, or 90’s California, but right here, right now in Sheffield. tellyeaters are not a band long-since dissolved into royalty lawsuits and reunion documentaries, but by one just starting out and improving with each new release.
For all the attention-grabbing instrumentation going on here (admirably produced by the band themselves), there’s still space in the mix left for vocalist McGrail’s lyrics, which jump from the Bowie-esque psychedelia of “I used to write letters to my man in space” to the kitchen-sink, almost Pulp-isms of “Can you smell me through this wall?/Or shall I knock it down?” There’s a really effective mix of the tangible and the abstract going on with these choices too; just enough clear hints towards a narrative to keep the listener invested, but not so many that the song becomes weighed down by its own story.
It has to be said too that ‘Previous Business’ really is an accurate name for what’s going on in this track; this is a band adopting the sounds of indie’s yesteryear and playing them like the rent is due. Shortening track lengths in music has been a point of contention in the last few years, but the fact tellyeaters manage to fit this many hooks into a cool two minutes forty-five reads more like a feature than a bug. This is a band working on coyote time; ‘Previous Business’ is over before you know it, and it’ll be stuck in your head long after the end of the song.
‘Previous Business’ is out now on Spotify. You can listen to it here.
Words: Sam Wilkinson
