Despite being heralded as Britain's 'most musical city' just last year, discounting the innumerable dub/ragga/2-step/house/disco DJs (delete as appropriate, or just genre-hop as they mostly seem to do anyway) that the West Country hub boasts "bands" come at a premium. And were you to subtract those affiliated with Geoff Barrow's fabled Invada Records, there seem to be about as many even vaguely distinctive bands out and about as there will be yobbos at Primavera Sound this weekend. Not very many, and probably not enough... Potentially to play said Catalan bash this time twelve months down the line are Towns. Having only come together musically last February, and with only two tracks out and about, this year would always have been nonviable although their brand of woozy, watercolour soundscape ought imminently to have teeth chattering, particularly having bleeped, blipped and cropped up on the NME Radar just yesterday. Apt escapism from much aural mundanity, Towns intertwine a rich tapestry of '90s nostalgia, incorporating a Blind Melon-like wafting vocal absenteeism, a pair of siblings (Adam and Miles Hastings man the rhythm section) and incontrovertibly unabashed harmoniousness. Heads Off is largely reminiscent of Ride before egos frayed into infinite strands of idiocy, as intricate coos offset veritably spine-shuddering drum thuddery. TOWNS - Heads Off by TOWNSmusic
Fields meanwhile is considerably more oneiric, like Super Furry Animals losing it on chlorophyll: a heads in the clouds, feet firmly on the pedalboard waft of Suede-ish swathes of retrospection-doused perfection. TOWNS - Fields by TOWNSmusic
Towns play Bristol tonight (Feed Me with Your Hiss) and tomorrow (Dot to Dot) EARLY at the Louisiana Bar, 2pm. For more info, the official site of sorts can be found here.
