Louisville post-punk outfit Charm School adore the corrugated contours of The Fall and Gang of Four and have sourced countless other influences from shadowy No Wave back alleys and late ’70s NYC dive bars. Their sound is rusty and pockmarked by jagged guitars and DIY rock angularities and is framed by pitch black wit and deadpan self-deprecation. Eat your heart out, Lou Reed.
The band will release their debut LP, Debt Forever, on January 21 and have just released a new single called “Happiness is a Warm Sun”, a rollicking bass-forward rocker that combines the metered post-rock of the ’90s with something more acidic in nature, more caustic in temperament. The track ascends through buoyant rhythms and roughed-up melodies, guided by singer Andrew Sellers speak-sing voice and the band’s obvious adoration for these musical histories. There’s odd course adjustments, and nothing ever resolves as you would expect — it’s all metallic and corroded and prone to fits of manic movements. Also, watch your proximity or you just might need a tetanus booster.
“This song is kind of an outlier on the record,” the band explains. “It’s the only song that was basically improvised in the studio, and the only one where the lyrics were written sort of “automatically.” They’re all ideas that have been swirling around in the collective unconscious for awhile now, pertaining to the intense state of the world: the rise of fascism, ongoing wars, financial pressure, overpopulation, media at a million miles per hour, the spectre of the algorithm, the total lack of empathy online, etc.”
Listen to “Happiness is a Warm Sun”.
Charm School’s new album, Debt Forever, will be self-released on January 21. Follow the band on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
