FEATURE:
Spotlight
there are lots of new artists coming through people have their eye on. In a sea of competition, it can be hard to decide which are worth sticking with. One band that everyone needs to be aware of are Current Affairs. Even if their name might not stand out too much, then their music certainly does! Comprised of stalwarts of the music scene, Joan Sweeney, Gemma Fleet, Andrew Milk and Sebastian Ymai, everyone needs to check out this amazing band. They are getting a lot of buzz and salutes from the music press. Ones that will definitely make a mark through this year. I am going to get to some interviews. First, The Guardian proclaimed Current Affairs as one to watch last year:
"Post-punk and new-wave blending outfit Current Affairs is an assemblage of veteran musicians: Glaswegian frontwoman Joan Sweeney (formerly of bands Aggi Doom and the Royal We); bassist Gemma Fleet (the Wharves, Order of the Toad, Dancer); drummer Andrew Milk (Shopping, Pink Pound); and on guitar Sebastian Ymai (Comidillo Tapes, Pissy, and Anxiety). With diverse roots – Ymai is from Chile and now based in Berlin, while Fleet and Milk are from London – it’s Glasgow, with its celebrated, longstanding DIY music scene, that the stalwart alt-rockers have claimed as their own musical nucleus.
A version of the band first emerged in 2019, releasing the EP Object and Subject, but it was only after Ymai launched Spite House, an initiative created to highlight female-led and queer music, that today’s iteration of Current Affairs was born. Ymai was driven to launch the project in response to the masculine vibe that proliferated in Glasgow’s gritty live scene at the time. “The motto was: ‘Everyone’s welcome, but don’t get it twisted’,” Sweeney said in an interview with Loverboy magazine. “I think that sums it up quite well.”
Their forthcoming debut album, Off the Tongue, promises an unpredictable, 10-song ride, beset with sudden lane changes and hairpin turns. “Current Affairs is where I can burn the world down one minute and then push for brighter things the next,” says Sweeney. “It’s not always bad to rage, cry or be a Pollyanna.” Perhaps there’s wisdom in this whiplash”.
I am going to come to a review for their must-hear new album, Off the Tongue. It follows 2019’s Object & Subject. Whether you class them as Post-Punk or categorise them in another genre, it is clear that Current Affairs are having an impact on the Glasgow DIY scene. What they have put into the world so far is really distinct and amazing. With so much attention on London artists, it is good to shine a Spotlight elsewhere. Snack Mag in July. In the four or so years since they released their early material, they have developed as a real force and district voice. Such a tight-knit and stunning band that will make big steps this year:
“Since releasing their first collection of tracks in 2019, Current Affairs have leaned into gothic new wave undertones that colour their raucous post-punk. After a Covid-enforced break, working together through the Spitehouse Collective – a Glasgow project promoting LGBTQ+ and female music-makers – they are getting ready to release their debut LP, Off the Tongue, and embark on a UK tour.
SNACK caught up with Joan Sweeney (vocals, keyboard), Andrew Milk (drums), and Gemma Fleet (bass) to chat about their restless new album, Glasgow’s DIY music scene, and what it means to be post-punk.
Since you were working on Off the Tongue for quite a long time, how did you ensure that the music still felt fresh and raw and spontaneous?
Joan: I think one of the things that was interesting about doing it this time was that little snippets were getting sent around, like little phone recordings and things, and then nothing was really fully done until we could practise together again. Then, when we could practise together again, we had a couple of weeks to get things together properly, go and record them and then it was done! So maybe that’s why: it all just came together at the last minute.
Andrew: Yeah, I think the sound that you get is probably us still feeling quite new to the songs ourselves when we were recording them. Because usually you’d have maybe a year of playing stuff live to really get down to what you want it to sound like on record. And part of the spontaneity might be the fact that we couldn’t go out and play them live.
I’m interested in the role that location plays in your music. Do you feel that Glasgow or Berlin or any particular place has had an influence on you as a band?
Gemma: Glasgow is really accommodating for making music. For me, it just seems like people are up for doing it which is a novelty! Getting a practice space isn’t a really hard thing, it doesn’t cost millions of pounds like it does in London. And there’s a real passionate commitment to music, so people are going out and doing it in their week. Whereas everyone has to work so much just to simply live in London, that’s quite hard to do.
Joan: There’s always connections [with Glasgow and Berlin]. But there’s also connections here with DIY circuits around the world. We put on gigs, other bands in Glasgow put on gigs, we put on people from abroad, and they put us on abroad. It’s always been more about finding like-minded people from wherever they are, rather than right on your doorstep.
You’re often described as a post-punk band. And that’s a label which you hear all the time these days about lots of different kinds of bands. Do you feel that it’s overused? Do you feel it’s an apt description of what you’re trying to do with your music?
Joan: We’ll all probably have slightly different opinions on this. I’ve always thought about post-punk as basically just being ‘after the first wave of punk’. So to me, it’s when people are going a little bit deeper into their influences, or getting a bit better at their instruments. But it’s still got the punk ethic of ‘just give it a go’. So I don’t mind it. And a lot of my favourite bands would probably come under that umbrella, even though they don’t necessarily sound like each other.
Gemma: I think genres are so broad but sometimes they’re helpful for people, because we’re absolutely bombarded with music everywhere. And it’s sort of annoying as a musician, but if people can say ‘it’s post-punk, for fans of…’ then you sort of have a bit of idea whether you might like it, and probably helpful when you’re trying to navigate the absolute tonne of music available in the world!
Andrew: I don’t feel like it’s necessarily an overused term, I think it’s used accurately. There is just that breadth and that amount of bands that would fit under it. I mean, that’s why post-punk as a genre is never-endingly inspirational and brilliant to dive into, because it is everything post… punk!”.
Before getting to a review for Off the Tongue, The Skinny chatted with Current Affairs. As they prepared to tour the U.K., they were discussed the tracks off of a sophomore album that stands alongside the best of last year. Dividing their time between Glasgow and Berlin, this scintillating quartet are accruing a wave of new fans. Their music is that which needs to be heard:
“Current Affairs' new album Off The Tongue is, as they put it, "the kind of music you can shriek and dance around your bedroom to". The Glasgow-and-Berlin-based four-piece fuse dark, gothic sounds with new-wave pop sensibilities and plenty of post-punk edge – the result is 10 tracks that will have you out of your seat shouting about the injustice of it all one minute, and bobbing your head back and forth the next.
With Off The Tongue out now and a UK tour kicking off in Glasgow this weekend, the band – Joan Sweeney, Sebastian Ymai, Gemma Fleet and Andrew Milk – talk us through the album track-by-track.
Introducing Off The Tongue
"Off The Tongue took a long time to get itself out there and at the same time seemed to happen pretty urgently for us. We started writing the album during lockdown, writing and sharing parts over voice memos, but it didn’t fully come together until we could. Over a couple of practices and few days recording with Ross McGowan at Chime, that was when they took their shape, made sense and got exciting. In fact, most of the band hadn’t even heard the final vocal melodies until recording; Ymai and Gemma were so shocked they burst out laughing. I think there’s a life to the album because of that, that we didn’t tend to labour on the elements too much. Not to say we’re flippant though, we care very much.
"The sound of the album switches and changes a bit, but overall we want it to be the kind of music you can shriek and dance around your bedroom to. Our influences come through naturally from the music we listen to and learned our instruments from (which isn’t always exactly the same as each other) and I think that’s what makes it our own rather than sounding like a cover band, although it is admittedly retro. For me [Joan], writing the album was a chance to flesh out my feelings, give them purpose and find them some community. Different songs had different intents, but across them all is a wanting to build something more in a new way. If we’re witnessing the end of our present conditions, then there could be hope in that for people who think like we do. And if you do, we’ve got you!”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Catriona Clegg
I will finish with a review for Off the Tongue. The Quietus gave their impressions of a remarkable album that I would recommend to everyone. Even if I only discovered Current Affairs last year, I am committed to seeing where they head next. One of our bets rising bands. Make sure you follow this band on social media. Check out their music. A fascinating group whose music really sticks in the mind:
“After years of releasing singles and EPs and making tweaks to their line-up, Current Affairs are solidifying around their debut full-length. Off the Tongue is a scrappy slice of post-punk from beginning to end. Energy is the watchword, with scraping guitar and yawping vocals, anchored by strong, rubber band snapping bass lines throughout the album.
Despite starting off with red herring sci-fi electronics, Off the Tongue makes a quick shift to guitars whose sound borrows heavily from the late 80s. While it’s tempting to conclude that this is a guitar band, it’s singer Joan Sweeney’s vocals that feel like the main catalyst – they are equal turns sharp, defiant, encouraging, and like they might start some fires along the way.
This brash aesthetic comes through loud and clear on ‘Casual Radicals’; even with one of the spikier guitar lines on the album, Sweeney’s vocals still lead the charge, channeling a tone similar to Siouxsie Sioux on lower-fi recordings. The attitude in her vocals conveys a real feeling of power that can also be heard in ‘Regardless’, where a subdued but insistent rhythm provides a tense background to her pointed delivery. “Take your time / but don’t waste mine” she sings – and it’s easy to imagine her target as an ex-lover or a prolific naysayer – before the synths bubble up behind an excited chorus.
Even though there is that feeling of power emanating through the songs, it doesn’t stop a bit of sass or fun from peeking their way through. Current Affairs have found a way to fuse a low-key positivity into their songs without it ever becoming cloying.
The height of this joyous, high energy abandon is ‘Get Wrecked’. Its stomping verses extolling the value of starting from scratch careen into a guitar-driven chorus where Sweeney demands “Turn your wits about!” The frantic pace is kept up on a taunting outro where the guitar and keyboards pull focus from each other like they’re trading insults.
Album closer ‘Her Own Private Multiverse’ is the most muted song on the album, with ringing guitars and a more earnest, less boisterous vocal from Sweeney. Even then, she’s still coaxing and assuring: “you’re an original / a stellar individual”. There’s more of a cool detachment than some of the frenzy or rallying cries of the rest of Off the Tongue, but the album closes out with the feeling that band are firmly in your corner”.
I am excited by all of the artists who are emerging and releasing some truly amazing music. I feel that Current Affairs are going to have a very busy year. If they are not on your radar then do make sure that you follow them. Following the release of Off the Tongue, Current Affairs are a band on…
MANY people’s lips.
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Follow Current Affairs
