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LP
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UTR 160LP
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The Pheromoans are tenants of an unruly domain. Over the last 18 years the group have evolved from garage rock primitivists to auteurs of their own curious sound; a frothy brew of loose electronics, refractory rock and humdrum musing. Their songs are mutable, capricious, unreliable narrations, often withholding as much as they reveal. Russell Walker's understated vocal has always been the band's unifying focus, it is wry, unsparing and willfully honest. Walker's lyrics are an observational tour de force, sometimes droll, yet often tipping over into unlikely pathos. With previous releases on Upset The Rhythm, Convulsive, and Alter, The Pheromoans return with lucky album number 13, entitled Wyrd Psearch. It was recorded in Lewes throughout 2023. This was undertaken by founding member James Tranmer, his keen instinct for how the band should sound shaping many of the creative decisions. Joined by new guitarist Henry Holmes, the five-piece doubled down on a decidedly breezy, melodic approach. Scott Reeve's drumming is ever brisk, whilst Daniel Bolger explores AOR peripheries on keyboard and bass. Walker claims that the album's title is an expression of his frustration at the ubiquity of people claiming things are eerie or weird/wyrd in the present cultural milieu. The artwork for the record is designed as an actual word search too, a knowing nod to how everyone grapples for meaning amongst the absurdity of each day. The overriding impression given by Wyrd Psearch is of a band renewed with ideas. There's no trouble finding the right words, they're hitting their mark, keeping up with the commentary. Wyrd Psearch is a document of The Pheromoans mastering their unquiet moment. Limited 180g black vinyl. 500 copies worldwide.
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LP
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ALT 046LP
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For the last twelve years, The Pheromoans have occupied their own peculiar niche in the UK's DIY music scene. County Lines is their fifth full-length and takes in each aspect of their past sonically, providing a wry tonic for today's heady exhaustion. More of life's banalities and stale daydreams are given a good airing in Russel Walker's lyrics. Delivered with the usual droll lethargy, he's a septic entertainer par excellence who teases out just enough of the very real horror of the UK's current predicament to keep his aggrievements charming. At times -- see "Troll Attack" -- it's a crushing lament. County Lines weaves Walker in and out of meandering guitars and crude drum machines that waltz and tumble with live drums. Brittle synths light the way to the album's aggravated sections, which ever so gently hark back to the group's earliest recordings. The penultimate piece, "Ultra Skies", offers the clearest trace of The Pheromoans' past. The frenzy edges us into a reverberating trance, pulling a sucker punch like an inconclusive nightmare. Orange vinyl.
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LP
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ALT 024LP
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The Pheromoans present their fourth album, I'm On Nights, following 2012's Does This Guy Stack Up? (UTR 054CD/LP) and 2014's Hearts of Gold. A largely electronic affair, this ten-track LP -- recorded in Manor House, Northeast London -- refracts vocalist Russell Walker's stony poeticisms through a lens of analog synths while etching drum machine clicks and spaced-out keyboard ditties into the bigger picture. Guitars and bass still make an appearance -- helmed by Christian Butler, Alex Garran, and James Tranmer -- but they've mostly been eclipsed by the scrappy, artificial beats that now underline Walker's diary-like, ennui-soaked rhymes. Album opener "Wizard" -- with its blocky, "Bizarre Love Triangle"-esque intro and unnerving pins-and-needles crackle -- jolts the listener awake with charges of experimental noise. Then there's the plaintive synth pads on stripped-back tearjerker "ION" and the acid squelch of "Depressed Thunderbird." Because, with I'm On Nights, musical touchstones take on a myriad of cult guises, shifting from downbeat minimal wave to a hypothetical vision of Dan Treacy crooning caustically over "Mari" by Martin Rev. That's not forgetting, of course, the influence of an outlier crop of new wave-y post-punk bands including Datblygu and Young Marble Giants. And, as always, there's the requisite nod to all things DIY. Walker says he hope this direction will create some distance between the band and a certain demographic, characterizing the album as "an attempt to alienate further the other dads at the nursery gates who kept slapping my back firmly and saying 'nice work keeping our music alive compadre', and trying to graft their aviator shades onto my forehead and contorting my fingers into the devils headset." With titles like "Don't Spread It Round College" and "Brad's Crush," the bulk of the LP's lyrical content reaches back into Walker's 16-to-18-year-old psyche, as he explains: "It was at J. Sainsbury (Produce) in Uxbridge where I discovered the joy of working alone at night unimpeded and free to delve further into my hitherto unexplored imagination...!!" And it's this theme of (oft night-time) employment that cuts through ballpoint scribbles of Walker's quotidian missives. Hailing from the holy trinity of England's most southern locales -- London, Brighton, and Hertfordshire -- The Pheromoans consist of Russell Walker on vocals, Christian Butler on guitar and electronics, Alex Garran on bass and electronics, James Tranmer on guitar and electronics, Scott Reeves on drums and electronics, and Dan Bolger on keyboards.
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CD
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UTR 054CD
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The Pheromoans are a six-piece experimental rock band from the South East of England who deal in deadpan DIY music. Wedded to the mundane, surreal reportage of our lives as reflected in the media, their music manages to address the truly restless boredom of everyday life. These are songs from underneath the ergonomic desk, a glimpse through the commuter window, blasted through with brilliant suburban sunshine. Over the last three years, the band have put out a slew of releases, including numerous EPs, 7"s and three albums through labels as diverse as Night People, Convulsive, Sweet Rot, Monofonus Press and their own imprint, Savoury Days. These releases largely focused on a ramshackle, wayward rock ethic, underpinned by lyricist Russell Walker's dry, observational musings. Does This Guy Stack Up? witnesses a slight departure from their sound of old. With the recent addition of keyboard/violin player Dan Bolger to the band, their songs have leaned into a more pop-balanced realm, with the band's experimental tape collage approach sounding more natural than ever. The bass (Christian Butler aka The Octogram), drums (James Hines) and guitars (James Tranmer, Alex Garran) together forge a coherent foundation for Walker's voice to ramble amongst the radiant synth and electronic flourishes. Central to the appeal of The Pheromoans are Russell Walker's insightful, often wonderfully humorous, self-deprecating lyrics that paint a picture of all of us as outsiders. Finding much material in the slow and steady decline of the 21st century and its vain pursuits, Walker isn't afraid to rattle the cage of populist politics. With Does This Guy Stack Up?, The Pheromoans deconstruct a very English sense of ennui and in doing so show us its nonsensical building blocks. This album proves The Pheromoans are at their best when shooting from the sidelines.
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LP
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UTR 054LP
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LP version, limited to 750 copies. The Pheromoans are a six-piece experimental rock band from the South East of England who deal in deadpan DIY music. Wedded to the mundane, surreal reportage of our lives as reflected in the media, their music manages to address the truly restless boredom of everyday life. These are songs from underneath the ergonomic desk, a glimpse through the commuter window, blasted through with brilliant suburban sunshine. Over the last three years, the band have put out a slew of releases, including numerous EPs, 7"s and three albums through labels as diverse as Night People, Convulsive, Sweet Rot, Monofonus Press and their own imprint, Savoury Days. These releases largely focused on a ramshackle, wayward rock ethic, underpinned by lyricist Russell Walker's dry, observational musings. Does This Guy Stack Up? witnesses a slight departure from their sound of old. With the recent addition of keyboard/violin player Dan Bolger to the band, their songs have leaned into a more pop-balanced realm, with the band's experimental tape collage approach sounding more natural than ever. The bass (Christian Butler aka The Octogram), drums (James Hines) and guitars (James Tranmer, Alex Garran) together forge a coherent foundation for Walker's voice to ramble amongst the radiant synth and electronic flourishes. Central to the appeal of The Pheromoans are Russell Walker's insightful, often wonderfully humorous, self-deprecating lyrics that paint a picture of all of us as outsiders. Finding much material in the slow and steady decline of the 21st century and its vain pursuits, Walker isn't afraid to rattle the cage of populist politics. With Does This Guy Stack Up?, The Pheromoans deconstruct a very English sense of ennui and in doing so show us its nonsensical building blocks. This album proves The Pheromoans are at their best when shooting from the sidelines.
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