Today Glasgow & Berlin-based band Current Affairs have shared another new single from their forthcoming debut album ‘Off the Tongue’, which is set for release on July 14th via Tough Love Records.
Written from within the world of crumbling services, broken bonds and wounded spirits, their debut album ‘Off the Tongue’ rolls off an ecstatic rage, filled with hope for you, them and everyone else.
Following the raw and biting love song, “No Fuss“, and the call to arms against the fragmentation of the left, “Right Time“ today they share third new track entitled “Reactor“.
“We wrote Reactor in that fizzy space of the will-you, won’t-you” explains front-woman Joan Sweeney. “It’s a love song more for the feeling than the person, if you’re really honest.” The track comes accompanied by a karaoke-style visual – online now.
“Reactor” video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Em3_bjVU4FY
‘Off the Tongue’ pre-order/pre-save links:https://linktr.ee/currentaffairsoffthetongue
To call Current Affairs a Glasgow band may initially seem misdirection. Though Joan Sweeney (ex-Rose McDowall’s Band, Aggi Doom, The Royal We) is a lifer, Sebastian Ymai (Comidillo Tapes, Pissy, Anxiety)came from Chile via York, recently relocating to Berlin in 2021, and new member Gemma Fleet (The Wharves, Order of the Toad, Dancer) alongside Andrew Milk (Shopping, Pink Pound) were persuaded to leave London for the ‘second city’ after touring through with previous bands. However, Glasgow is the heart and hub of the band’s music, musical life and the place where ‘Off the Tongue’ was solidified and produced.
Current Affairs’ presentline up formed in 2020, but the four have been circling each other for years, touring and playing with their previous bands within the close UK network of DIY music. Stalwarts of their respective scenes they finally began working together through the creation of the Spitehouse collective – a project designed to promote Queer and female-fronted music through events mainly held at Transmission Gallery and Glasgow Autonomous Space, putting on many local and international acts (Sneaks, Sacred Paws, Still House Plants and Comfort amongst others). When an opening for a new bassist arrived, Gemma was the obvious compliment, the slogan of Spitehouse being the language of Current Affairs – “Everyone’s welcome, but don’t get it twisted.”
Following on from 2019’s EP singles collection, ‘Object & Subject’, the wait for their debut full-length may belie the urgency of its sound, but as the album’s lead single emphasises, “it’s the right time!”
‘Off The Tongue’ is ten short, sharp bursts, written in pieces over a long time and distance, but fully formed in the instant of the recording room across just a few days by producer Ross McGowan at Chime Studio. Current Affairs’ song-writing process has always been collaborative. Songs are developed responsively, with each of the band’s members sending/bringing elements or hooks to each other, but practices being the place where the songs flesh out, structure and are fully realised. These new songs feel a little brighter than their previous offerings, yet still hold true to their propulsive and caterwauling sound. Still embryonic in the most exciting way that that can be. Current Affairs’ music straddles new-wave pop and gothic post-punk in the way that you should expect a Glasgow-Berlin band to do so: with grit and panache.
Flowing through the many different layers of relationships, moving from romance to friendship, community and socio-politics before coming back to a personal conversation at the end, Sweeney sees her songwriting on ‘Off the Tongue’ as a way to inhabit the different parts of herself and let them speak with unfettered clarity. “Current Affairs is where I can burn the world down one minute and then push for brighter things the next” she explains. “I wanted to show that there’s a place for all your feelings and personalities and that we should sometimes let the negative thought ring out honestly and then show it a little compassion, give it a purpose. It’s not always bad to rage, cry or be a Pollyanna.”
Current Affairs tour dates:
July 20th – Glasgow, Stereo
July 21st – Birkenhead, Future Yard
July 22nd – Sheffield, Delicious Clam/Clamlines
July 23rd – Cardiff, The Moon
July 24th – Nottingham, JT Soar
July 25th – Bristol, Crofter’s Rights
July 26th – London, The Lexington
July 27th – Oxford, Divine Schism
July 28th – Leeds, Wharf Chambers
July 29th – Newcastle, Lubber Fiend
July 30th – Edinburgh, The Wee Red Bar
Keep your mind open.
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[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]
