We’ve been keeping track of emerging London band TV Priest since we first heard them back in the early months of this year. Since then, they’ve released a series of excellent singles that have kept us stoked – and evidently we’re not the only ones whose interest has been snagged, as the band has put pen to paper on a deal with the legendary Sub Pop. Unfortunately, that does mean that their debut album, Uppers, has been pushed back to February – but maybe by then we should be closer to getting to see TV Priest perform live, which is where we all want to hear their searing post-punk anyway.
Along with the news of the signing, they’ve shared another single from the forthcoming Uppers called “Decoration”, with singer Charlie Drinkwater saying: “We often think of it as a ‘walking down the road’ song, like you’re strolling along a street and lots of little vignettes of life are coming your way. The absurd in the mundane feels apt too. Once again this sense of a kind of late capitalism, Ayn Rand style ‘personal progression’ being an utter myth. It’s all just Decoration! Probably a favourite from the record.”
“I have never seen a dog do what that does does / and you’re through to the next round,” Drinkwater begins on “Decoration”, poking fun at the likes of Simon Cowell on Britain’s Got Talent. He goes on to list several other mundane achievements that get him “through to the next round”, meanwhile the band are gnashing and grinding like the gears inside his head, letting us know how he really feels. “It’s all just decoration,” he pronounces in the chorus, but it’s with a weariness as if he knows it’s falling on the deaf ears of an optics-led society. Nevertheless, TV Priest’s urgency is still ripe in the python-like guitar and bass ice the thunderous percussion, and “Decoration” is their most sonically engrossing track yet.
Listen to “Decoration” on your preferred platform or watch the video created by Joe Wheatley below.
TV Priest’s debut album Uppers arrives on February 5 through Sub Pop. The previously released singles “This Island” and “Slideshow” also feature on it, so dig into those while you wait. They’ve got these UK dates planned:
20th April – Bristol – Rough Trade
21st April – Southampton – Heartbreakers
22nd April – London – The Shacklewell Arms
23rd April – Brighton – Prince Albert
29th April – Cardiff – Clwb Ifor Bach
30th April – Yes (Basement) – Manchester
