The Long Blondes - Weekend Without Make Up (Rough Trade)
UK release date: 26 June 2006
Housewife whining isn't usually the kind of material that makes for ceiling-straddling New Wave indie, but here we see Sheffield's increasingly feted The Long Blondes somewhat re-writing the rulebook. As their first Rough Trade single ebbs with an already trademark angularity, a mystery, lyrical intrigue unravels in cartoon noir style.
Kate Jackson's homebird is more catsuit-clad femme fatale than apron-bearing kitchen dweller, and as she sings of the travails of having a negligent husband, you fail to conjure him as anything other than a smokescreen for our girl's exotic nightlife. "Where do you go when you finish work? / You should have been home an hour ago" Kate sings, trying not to break her luminescent nails around the ironing board, before practically abounding through the front door on a seething wave of contradictory guitar glamour.
The formulaic is the first thing out of the window with the Long Blondes, and with this convoluted nugget we raise our glasses once more to their supra-stylish revolution.
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