The Maladies of Bellafontaine - Black Biro / Longsocks

The Maladies of Bellafontaine arrive armed to the teeth with a canon of wonky-pop-psych-folk tunes and a raging fetish for second-hand synths. Hailing from the spiritual home of Northern Soul, rugby and pies,’ The Maladies’ have provided Wiganers with a reason to believe that their quaint little town may soon possess a fourth claim to international fame. Behold this sumptuous new single which wraps up so many of their intriguing nuances into a neat package. First up is ‘Black Biro’, a breezy folk-pop nugget which stirs together the seven-piece’s potent combination of guitar, drums, bass, cello, clarinet, glockenspiel, melodica and assorted synths, topped with Rachael Pascoe’s cooed tones. A sprightly and summery slice of chiming pop, it could be beamed straight from the early 1990s, like The Sundays complete with a shot of esoterica and adrenaline. On the flipside, ‘Longsocks’ slowly builds from a spectral folk tale, with Rachael’s haunting vocal creating an effortlessly eerie atmosphere. Before you know it, though, it’s morphed into a twisted, psych-oriented gem. The end result is a peculiarly sweet vignette taking in shoes and red school cardigans - its surface-to-air innocence is tempered by a darker musical undercurrent, all wired, post-Velvets guitars and skronking jams but also tinged with tropicalia, rushing headlong to a frenzied climax. Limited to 400 seven inch vinyl copies. For fans of Novak; Broadcast; Alfie and Tindersticks.

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