I actually saw Hairband in the short time they performed together, and enjoyed them so much that I bought their debut EP in October 2018, not knowing at the time it would prove to be their only release on vinyl*.
From Bandcamp:-
Hairband are a new five piece group from Glasgow who, on their debut recordings, have distilled the joy and bittersweet trials of youth into 5 songs that bend to no rules but the ones they make up as they go along. Deeply immersed in their local DIY scene and featuring members of groups Spinning Coin, Breakfast Muff, Lush Purr and Kaputt, Hairband’s take on pop music is their own, so natural yet odd-shaped, carefree but meticulously constructed that it feels like no one has quite made music quite like this before, celebratory and joyful.
The press release accompanying the EP offered these words:-
“The music here presents as streamlined pop but bubbling beneath the hooks is audacious instrumental work. Indeed, the tension at the heart of Hairband’s music is a group who can play without it sounding like a big deal. Is this a Glasgow thing, because Orange Juice were a bit like that, Sacred Paws too. Hairband even try on a little Marquee Moon-era Television on Sassy Moon and make it fit like the best charity shop find ever.”
A touch hyperbole, perhaps, but there is no denying that Sassy Moon is a decent listen – as indeed are all five songs on the EP.
The reason for the * earlier on?
An email from Monorail Records the store partly owned by Stephen Pastel, arrived at the beginning of last month advising that Under The Plow, the debut recording from Hairband, only previously available on cassette and download, was getting a limited edition pressing on vinyl. It has duly been ordered.
JC
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 