There’s something lurking just underneath the sound surface of Working Men’s Club that provides an unlikely embrace. The English band create the type of electronic-pop that elicits a different genre affiliation tag with each listen (or quite likely, each write-up), where moods emanate from empty spaces and emotions twist and crawl between crystalline synths, detached-cool vocals, and silver-tongued beats. It’s increasingly tough to stand out in this growingly crowded musical field pulled under by darker waves and whatever comes after punk, but Working Men’s Club find hope in the shadows and make a sharp case for distinction with an engrossing new single out this week (April 27) titled “Circumference.”
Already cast as one of the more standout releases of this still-young year, “Circumference” is the second track to be featured off the group’s forthcoming sophomore album Fear Fear, set for release July 15 via Heavenly Recordings/[PIAS]. It follows their 2020 self-titled debut, and encapsulates a sound that can only be made by disaffected youths in Northern England — in this case, the need-to-Google market town and civil parish town of Todmorden in the Upper Calder Valley of West Yorkshire.
“The first album was mostly a personal documentation lyrically, this is a blur between personal and a third-person perspective of what was going on,” says Working Men’s Club’s 20-year-old singer and songwriter Syd Minsky-Sargeant. “I like the contrast of it being happy, uplifting music and really dark lyrics. It’s not a minimal record, certainly compared to the first one. That’s because there’s been a lot more going on that needed to be said.”
Minksy-Sargeant adds: “We just set out to make the best-sounding album we could.”
So far, so good. Get into and within “Circumference” below.