{"product_id":"formal-sppeedwear-punch-card","title":"Formal Sppeedwear - Punch Card","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eStoke-On-Trent’s most tuned-in and turned-out trio are releasing debut album Punch Card, which might be the avant-garde pop record of the year.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDriven by a desire for sonic collage and bolstered by lateral thinking, ‘Punch Card’ is a crafty lesson in how, with touches of masterful manipulation, the collision of opposing forces can cause sparks to fly and an irrepressible need to dance. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Our aim is to undermine anything leaning too far one way or the other. We shoot for homogeneity - if it sounds good and its component parts can't be pulled out, we’ve matched the job description,”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e they say of finding balance in their desire to ‘pull the rug’ musically whenever listeners least expect it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMuch like the typo in their name, now proudly worn by the band as a badge of honour, the result is an album of happy accidents that truly embody their audiences’ visceral knee-jerk reactions. The cut-out windows of an eighties protocomputer punch card that line the sleeve offer a portal into Formal Sppeedwear’s universe.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAfter signing with melodic in 2023, the trio’s now sold out 2024 debut EP - a self-titled, self-produced 12” sample of elastic bass arrangements, leaping guitar motifs and sparse, un-assuming percussive work - picked up notable fans at BBC 6 Music and helped to secure shows around the country with the likes of Fat Dog, Preoccupations, Warmduscher and Divorce. A legion of listeners grew, barraging Instagram DMs curious to unearth the mystery behind their idiosyncratic, off-kilter lyrics – usually a product of Beck’s phonetically-associated wordplay.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eProlific in their output, the band diligently produced Punch Card themselves with mastering from Paul D. Millar (Slug Bug). Led by a preference for sonic variety, they even discarded three tracks not belonging on the record; not because they didn’t fit - but because they did. Through their boomerang voice notes and a sense of telepathy that only college friends bonded by Neu! and Yellow Magic Orchestra could possess, they explain; \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“There’s definitely a subconscious level to what we do but it’s always driven by what works sonically. The real challenge becomes how to recreate it live.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBlame those tracks which formed quickly when raw ideas and lyrics flowed from jam sessions in their Tremolo rehearsal room. Jagged, punchy ‘Indecent’ was largely improvised by the trio as a single recorded live take, and ‘The Ballad of DCB’ (avid bookworms in Stoke may have an inkling as to the meaning behind its acronym) was wrangled from a spritely brink of uncertainty after twilight tinkering powered a plethora of jangling guitar lines. Live staple ‘Wait (Hatchet Gets a New Hide) serves as collage of ideas and melodies harking back to the early days of Sppeedwear, completed on a Tascam 488 cassette recorder. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut, between joyfully jarring twists and turns, it is a rare moment of wistfulness which offers the biggest hint to the album’s wider Punch Card themes. A turning point in the recording process, finale ‘Friedrich Backs Up Nothing’ shimmers with strange atmospheres and sound-manipulated cellos; lyrically considering how history might react to the world today.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormal Sppeedwear may look and sound something like pop, but Punch Card emerges through collision, constraint, and chance - much like the stamped out geometry that inspired its artwork.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Melodic","offers":[{"title":"DINKED LP","offer_id":53990149914966,"sku":"MRM-05560","price":28.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1000\/6088\/9430\/files\/STANDARD-ARTWORK.png?v=1779724346","url":"https:\/\/monorailmusic.com\/products\/formal-sppeedwear-punch-card","provider":"Monorail Music","version":"1.0","type":"link"}