Luft - The Punch and Judy Man b/w Into the Park Luft

‘The Punch and Judy Man’ once again sees the Berlin-based five-piece working with Luke Haines, a union that increasingly makes great artistic sense given their shared interests in post-new wave pop dynamics and subject matter that scratches the facade of the routines of English suburban life to reveal hidden charms both romantic and malign. Frontman, Tom Dougall, of course has a history of this kind of approach, having also served as the singer in cult-favourites TOY for over a decade, though his choice of imagery and songwriting now feels sharper than ever, the nostalgic references to a bygone era only vaguely disguising the sense that all might not be well. “Behind your back the song’s begun, hear the trickster play the fool” he sings, and with it plugs into that classic British tradition - be that in the songs of Black Box Recorder and Pulp or the films of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh - of uncovering something more sinister lurking amidst the apparently banal.