We Are Avengers: Midbrow/Revolution

Originally published in LeftLion magazine.

For their second single this year on Farm Yard Records, We Are Avengers – now expanded from a trio to an elegantly turned-out six-piece – have dipped their toes into funkier waters, without surrendering any of the tight songwriting and arranging skills that flavoured their debut release, Trouble.

You can hear this most clearly in Revolution, which pits a loping backbeat against choppy, bluesy guitar and a discreetly swelling Hammond organ, in a way that bears comparison with Nineties trip-hoppers and acid-jazzers such as Young Disciples. The slinky, spacious and deftly restrained arrangement makes a neat counterpoint to Midbrow, the lead track. Here, a brooding bassline ushers in stately, rippling piano, funk-rock guitar, and ambient strings, forming a suitably cinematic backdrop for Emily Martin’s smouldering, torch-song vocals. “Can we make an agreement”, she pleads, while a ghostly chorus coos in the background. Natalie Duncan’s already a fan; there’ll soon be plenty more.

Listen on SoundCloud.