UK Post-Punkers Home Counties Re-Introduce Themselves On “The Home Counties”
Since returning from their busy touring schedule, UK post-punk act Home Counties have announced their sophomore EP In A Middle English Town is set for release this coming February via Alcopop! Records. Giving listeners a first taste is the self-titled, synth-led burner “The Home Counties”.
Produced and mixed by the band’s guitarist Conor Kearney, the new single rings true to both their sound and personality as a band, with flashy synthesizers and guitars making for exciting sonic details, while the punchy, witty lyrics add a certain charm. About the song, vocalist and guitarist Will Harrison adds, “The song ‘The Home Counties’ is set in a small town somewhere in the South of England and centres around a generic married couple and their daily existence. It is about mundanity, claustrophobia and suspicion of everything outside of the semi-detached. The characters are placeless and nondescript, emblematic of the uniformity of middle-class people across the commuter belt.”
“Self-producing ‘Modern Yuppies’ and ‘White Shirt’ during lockdown definitely gave us time to flesh out the Home Counties sound and build a firm idea of where this project is heading next”, continues Harrison. “It was exciting to create these wacky synth-driven singles and that’s definitely something we’ve taken forward into this EP. It was always the plan to go a bit mad with those singles and then finesse the sound for the EP, reintroducing the rawer live elements and returning to the studio as a 5-piece“.
As for the name, the band add, “We’re often labelled as a Bristol band but we left uni a few years ago and then found ourselves stuck in our hometown in Bucks for a year during the pandemic. The name Home Counties didn’t hold much significance when we formed, but being back here for the past 12 months made us reflect more about our sense of place here. The EP isn’t directly about our experiences – it more lives in a semi-fictitious and generalised idea of Middle England.”
Listen to the single below:
