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Steve Miles releases his second album as European Sun, accompanied by Ian Button (drums), Rob Pursey (bass) and Elin Miles (additional vocals). Tonight, it's the launch gig.If one LP could act as a refutation of the toxic culture of ‘masculine energy’ and the tech bro-sponsored whipping up of hatred that blights our lives - this is it.
It is true of the lyrics. Nostalgia for an imagined past where men were men, and racism was de rigeur is eviscerated in title track When Britain Was Great. Fetishisation of a World War by patriots who are too pumped up to realise the war was a fight against Nazism is picked apart in Angels In The Clouds. And the clumsy, half-arsed struggle to seek something better, to try to escape the trap of cynical acceptance of it all, is sardonically observed in the comically accident-prone Falling Down The Stairs With Arthur Seaton. All this is interspersed with deeply personal tracks like The Space She Left, unflinchingly exposing emotional vulnerability and anxiety, and with carefree pop songs, still able to access the wide-eyed wisdom of childhood: The Sea Is A Pirate’s Best Friend expresses a kind of joy that we all had once, but have lost contact with.
The music is a refutation of ‘masculine energy’ too: it is utterly devoid of that grim modern male quality ‘swagger’. Sometimes echoing the casual, intimate, fragile tones of the TV Personalities, the songs are bluntly emotional but shamelessly catchy. On other occasions - louder occasions - the echo of an angry Wreckless Eric riff can be heard. The warmth and gentleness of the vocal might remind you of Jonathan Richman. The experimentation - the brass section, the feedback, the occasional reggae rhythm – is reminiscent of the earliest, fearless phase of punk adventurism – The Slits, The Mekons, The Desperate Bicycles even. Punk before it regressed to Rock. This hand-made music is the opposite of AI-generated crud. Every bit of it, even the chaotic bits – especially the chaotic bits - are deliberate and meticulously thought through.
Special Guests - BUSH & FEY
Bush and Fey are a Bristol-based ‘psychoustic' duo comprising Steve Bush on singing and Fran Fey on guitar and singing. In the past 20 years they’ve released four albums including a recent ‘Best of…’ on vinyl. They are not (yet) big in Japan
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Thunderbolt Bristol, 124 Bath Road, Bristol, BS4 3ED, United Kingdom
Tickets
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.
