Initially the project of Leeds’ Owen Brinley, Department M has developed into a growing concern, a full live band in fact that includes Tommy Davidson from Pulled Apart By Horses. They’re a creative bunch too, having already released record owns the Too Pure singles club and Fierce Panda in the last two years, and now they return with a new single, Bleak Technique, which drops on limited 7″ vinyl on August 7th via Hide & Seek Records.
The James Kenosha (Rhodes) produced track features Vessels Sno Fox on guest vocals, and is the second track taken from their forthcoming debut album. Its origins are described by Brinley as being “…steeped in a kind of 21st century paranoia I’m noticing so many people around me starting to feel. With the onslaught of social media and technology tracking our every move, our lives don’t feel particularly private anymore and that can be a difficult feeling to shake. The song is an expression of wanting to immunise yourself from the perceived threats of a post-internet world…’I’m only phantom, I’m only neutral’.”
It opens up with these bubbling synths,but it’s almost immediately taken over by this mathy drumming and funk filled bass-line, with the treble turned up. They’ve moved on from their previous brooding selves now, incorporating liberal amounts of smart pop and catchy melody. There’s still, right there in the background though, the threat of something dark and moody. For now though, Department M have turned up a sugary, synth filled, guitar topped, treat.
http://www.deptm.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/departmentmband
