AUSTERITY RECORDS down in Brighton is one of those grassroots labels with a nose for coming excellence – doing, to paraphrase the Creation compilation – god’s work.
And boy oh boy, have they ever hit the ground running in 2021 with recent signings, Tape Runs Out.
Tape Runs Out are a seven-piece who formed in Cambridge in 2012 and whose collective signatures Austerity knew they had to secure, as the label’s Garry Saunders recounts: “We were all over it as soon as they sent the demo in!
“I listened to ‘Hospital’ on a Sunday morning and [Austerity staffers] Jim, Matt and I were bouncing off each other as soon as we heard it – metaphorically, of course!”
Take a listen to the languor of “Hospital” (we’ve embedded the video below) and you’ll see why; it’s sleepy-eyed and properly British-indie beautiful, and if you’re of a certain age or inclination, will make you scramble for references like The Field Mice and Brighter and maybe even a little bit of Pacific, and just swoon again for indiepop that comes to you on a 7″ in a plastic bag with a two-colour fanzine included. There’s maybe a touch of Sparklehorse and the Grandaddy in the mix too. But, all that aside: insert self-referential expletive here, that’s a tune.
And you think you’ve got the measure of the song, and then the hairs on the back of your neck prickle as a whole collective chorus of backing harmonies kick in, boy and girl next door-angelic, and it’s all just a bit too harmonically delicious, in the way The Dream Academy’s “Life In A Northern Town” is, and you play it again and again.
The next best thing to that placky-bag 7″ is this: Austerity are issuing a cassette-only EP, Ghost Fruit, on February 19th; eight tracks, of which “Hospital” is just one. There’s only 25 of the cassette. You can get your order in here.
Follow Tape Runs Out on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Bandcamp and follow Austerity on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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