Lisbon-based Irish quintet pôt-pot follow up last month’s single ‘WRSW’, covered here by Backseat Mafia, with new single ‘S3xtape’. Of course it’s not written like that but given the tender sensibilities of the faceless corporations in charge, we are loathe to fog up their glasses with anything vaguely considered lewd or risque. But regardless of the nomenclature, this is another thoroughly satisfying slice of heavenly Arctic chill that glitters with an uber cool sparkle.
A simple instrumentation creates an ominous atmosphere with the distant vocals repeating lyrics mysterious and dark over and over, creating an hypnotic fugue:
You don’t have to say
What you are
You don’t have to say
What you are
I already know
The music builds up slowly, layer by layer, feedback swirling in the ether, dark and chilling.
Mark Waldron-Hyden from the band comments:
This song came from a spontaneous jam between all of us, not written by myself like the other tracks. Elaine named it half as a joke when we first saved the phone recording and despite efforts to rename, nothing else stuck.
What was lovely about this track was that the lads wrote their parts but gave me full control to orchestrate the song as I wished, and trusted me with the bits they wrote to make a full track, which really meant a lot to me. I guess the song title stayed as it’s essentially a song that came from an intimate trust between us, which lines up with what should be involved in making a sextape I suppose — intimate trust between parties that whatever each person brings to the scenario will be treated with respect, but that’s me taking a retrospective look on things.
The lyrics also stem from themes of trust between people — a quiet, unspoken understanding of each other’s idiosyncrasies “You don’t have to say what you are, I already know” repeated over and over.
Glorious stuff – like a meeting of Cabaret Voltaire with Interpol in a dark alley filled with a brooding intensity:
The above footage was created and edited by Louise Gaffney.
‘S3xtape’ is out now and available via all the usual channels.
It comes off the newly announced debut album ‘Warsaw 480km’. Out through felte, it will be released on 19 September, and you can pre-order through the link below and here.
Waldron-Hyden says of their sound:
Ollie [Oliver Smith] and Sara [Sara Leslie] are experts at getting the most out of one pedal, a shitty amp, and a guitar they borrowed, a result of innate talent and years of experience; they use some modulation for dronier passages, but it’s their playing styles and understanding of ‘the vibe’ that are the secret ingredients.
pôt-pot are Elaine Malone (she/her), Sara Leslie (she/her), Mykle “Ollie” Oliver Smith (he/him), Joe Armitage (he/him) and Mark Waldron-Hyden (he/him).
Feature Photograph: Celeste Burdon
