Usual Affairs – Suppressant Crescent

Edinburgh four-piece Usual Affairs are back with their new single ‘Suppressant Crescent’. It follows the clarion call ‘Elementary to Penitentiary’ and an angelic search for  ‘Wonderland (Same Old Story). Banner image courtesy Redwood Streets.

Image & artwork courtesy of the band.

Roaring to life with killer basslines worthy of The Reytons and early Reverend & The Makers, they set a curse fraught with danger. Themes of addiction spiralling out of control arise as

Jack Cordey guitar solo transcends music. His artful reflection of life pressures burrowing its talons into the soul resembles a downtempo ‘Bring It On Down’. It forges a breed of despair mired in fog with seemingly no way out.

Whilst the sonic pulls from various great guitar eras, forging its heavyweight path are the lyrics. This is a social commentary of the highest order. Laying bare the initial innocence of drug taking for a weekend release (“The week is finished and Rudi says  / I’m up for gettin' off my head”) soon descends into the brutality of it all:

“High end knock offs and trefoils / Another head bounced off the soil”

Kids not thinking (“This place has no accreditation / Brain cells killed for the duration / Girls take snaps for their reputation / Boys take drugs for the cavitation”) are given a stark warning:

“You’ve got work in an hour n a half / And the gin is fresh on yer scarf / Does your weekend hide the cracks / Dead end job and a beaten track”

The finest social comment of 2023!

Usual Affairs – Elementary to Penitentiary

Edinburgh four-piece Usual Affairs fresh from supporting the mighty Marseille have released the new single ‘Elementary to Penitentiary’. Banner image courtesy Redwood Streets.

Artwork courtesy of the band.

A humbleness circulates lyrically and sonically, allowing their determination to break free from society’s pitfalls shine. Despite the earnestness, Jack Cordey’s emerges from indies’ shadows with a lo-fi take on The Pigeon Detectives and Shambolics to catapult him to stardom. His guitars continuously threaten to become unhinged before launching into a solo that could only erupt from the streets of his youth.

This generation is blessed with the finest array of guitar players since the mid-90s boom of bands. Josh Redding (The Utopiates), Joe Anderson (Pastel), JOe Labrum (Marseille), Joei Sylvester (formerly of The Shakes), Ryan Breslin (The K’s), Matthew Welsh (Ecko), and Andy Hall (The Institutes) have provided enthralling moments of destruction and ecstasy in recent times. On this display, Cordey is feverishly banging on the door to their club.

It begs the question, is their room for Usual Affairs with such prowess already prominent? What is absent from the above is the incisive polemic bassist Cal Gray serves up superbly here. The spirit of ‘Neds’ is lit up by his lyrics and frontman Scott Alexander’s vocal decreeing “How can a young boy’s garden grow / If burning grass is all he’ll ever know?” before they expertly lay the blame for lack of working-class choice at the door of this failed government:

“Charlatans rule the land so ignore their commands”

Their clarion call is devout but never patronising. Alexander’s vocal, akin to Kyle Falconer (The View) and Scott Forbes (Shambolics), has a warmth that leads you into the struggle by their side and never as a blind follower.

Usual Affairs’ story continues next month with a huge headline gig at the Mash House in Edinburgh. Click the image below for tickets: