Dutch band Lewsberg‘s recent mini-album In Your Hands was one of the surprise joys of the cold end of 2021, and they’re back with more goods early in 2022. They are the latest to release a 7″ single in the ongoing series from London legends Speedy Wunderground. The label’s co-founder (with Dan Carey), Pierre Hall says:
“They’re probably the band that over the years we’ve wanted to work with the most’ says label co-runner Pierre Hall. ‘Me and Dan were completely obsessed with that first album (Lewsberg, 2019). For me they were like the nearest thing to a modern-day Velvet Underground I’d ever heard/seen – and we watched them a couple of times on that tour and were just blown away. Especially by the guitarist. They had that feel of a band that was just yours, a secret – that only a few people knew about – which is why I suppose we didn’t really pursue them at first. They seemed kinda perfect. Plus we were probably scared they’d say no.”
And as for the song, “Six Hills”, Lewsberg say:
“When you keep fighting over things that are really important to you, you could decide to stop arguing with people, and try killing them with kindness instead. You might find out this works. Then, accidentally, you might also find out that you don’t even have to kill. You might just as well just be kind. But it’s a thin line. Sometimes, it can even be kind to kill someone.”
Where In Your Hands saw the band stripping back to something simpler, “Six Hills” returns to the chugging Velvets-indebted sound of their self-titled album. It both adds a venom to Shalita Dietrich’s soft observations (“I watch you down on your knees”), but brings extra charm to Arie Van Vliet’s strange musings (“Why don’t we crash into each other? I got the feeling that we should”). The determined galloping structure of the song allows the more deranged feel of the words to bounce around brilliantly – throw in some searing feedback with a simultaneous twanging solo in the middle, and you’ve got a banger.
Watch the video for “Six Hills” below or listen on streaming platforms.
The physical 7″ of “Six Hills”, with a B-side, will be limited to 500 copies and comes out on Speedy Wunderground on April 15 (pre-order).
