On Friday, Skep Wax Records (run by Amelia Fletcher & Rob Pursey) released their new compilation ‘Under The Bridge’. Essential listening for any Sarah Records fans, it’s made by all the bands which made the label iconic. Some are under new guises but the personal and therefore, the love, remains.
Images courtesy of Skep Wax Records.
This week we will be reviewing our favourite tracks. We begin with Glasgow outfit The Wake and their featured track ‘Stockport’.
Originally signed to Factory Records, they made the switch to Sarah Records for album number three ‘Make It Loud’ in 1990. The track ‘Stockport’ was the opening track for their critically acclaimed comeback album ‘A Light Far Out’ released in 2012.
Although originally released in 2012, their disdain for cultural homogenisation “towns all look the same” feels as apt now as ever. There’s not a curmudgeonly sense of ‘things used to be better’ at play though, there’s very much a forlorn sense of hope. Things could, should but don’t look like they will get better. With this government pretending they’ve been in power for 7minutes rather than 12 years, it’s a discourse that resonates powerfully. As it surely must have done during Cameron’s austerity savaged the UK.
The guitars are a glorious contradiction. So infectious, and tinged with the sun but, a sun that’s setting and will soon be gone. The remnants of a town they know to be lurking, that could be reawakened for good forever out of their grasp. Not since Blue Nile’s ‘Tinseltown in the Rain’ has fading glamour sounded so great!
The album is avail;able to buy on Skep Wax’s Bandcamp page
You can catch most of the bands at their two all day gigs this April. Click the image for tickets:
