Working Men’s Club have just released new single Valleys, which is set to be the opening from their self-titled debut album, following preceding singles A.A.A.A., White Rooms and People and Teeth. The new track is most similar to the major electronic and synth leanings of the latterly mentioned Teeth, with it’s highly intoxicating drum loop and dance-centric synth patterns. The lengthy, considered intro of Valleys sprawls enough for each element to be enjoyed fully, an undulating synth-line joining the core drum machine/synth set; resurfacing in it’s trippy glisten throughout. The opening vocals, given much tension by the hefty intro, then come to the fore: with frontman Syd Minsk-Sargeant singing “Trapped inside a town inside my mind” and the even weightier “This Winter is a curse/the valley is my hearse/When will it take me to the grave”. These lyrics centre the track around the isolation felt around a small town, and the intensified isolation and claustrophobia felt since late Winter’s onset of lockdown, with Minsky-Sargeant saying: “Valleys is probably the most honest song on the record and I guess sets a premise for the rest of the album, growing up in a small town and trying to escape. It was one of the last songs we finished, we couldn’t quite get the right string sound despite layering up about 4 synths up then Ross brought in his fixed LE string synth and it sounded perfect for the song.” Valleys wanders to an impossibly melodious close similarly to it’s intro, with the ominous synth line resurfacing, and a gurgle of other affecting electronic noises coming into furore of the mix.
The track’s claustrophobic pull and sonic need for repeated listens perfectly imitates the isolated nature of the area in which the frontman spent lockdown, with Syd explaining that Valleys was “one of the last songs I wrote before going into Sheffield to finish off the record. Having been in lockdown since the end of Winter in Todmorden it seems like there couldn’t be a more appropriate time to release this song.“
The band have also shared a video for Valleys directed by Niall Trask, shot in their familiar environs of Calderdale, with the original concept from Working Men’s Club‘s Mairead. The new release is also joined by a number of remixes and instrumental versions, including those of dance act Confidence Man and producer Graham Massey, plus bonus track Golden.
Listen to the single here, or watch the video below.
