Liverpudlian two-piece Her’s craft the kind of perfect oddball pop that has seen them already draw effusive praise from the blogosphere for their colourful craftsmanship.
Ostensibly off-kilter enough to slide into the headphones of anybody with a penchant for Ariel Pink or Mac DeMarco, Her’s go above and beyond the current British indie vocabulary on new song Marcel.
Starting with steely slides and lackadaisical arpeggios, on Marcel Her’s play surf music in the loosest sense. It’s a sun-bleached reverie along a desolate Pacific beach, an old transistor radio blaring its soft strains out of an abandoned bar to a bale of breezy turtles.
Originally called David Seaman, the song’s name was changed after a shopping trip to a thrift store where, in a lucky dip basket full of wallets, they found the wallet of a man named Marcel. Made curious by the cheesy 80’s identity pic inside replete with porn star ‘tache, the group took to the internet to find Marcel was deceased. Though a tribute to its namesake, Marcel is really a song about love, confusion, and the gamut of emotions and impressions we have to run before we figure someone out.
Both members, Norway’s Audun Laading and Barrow-born Stephen Fitzpatrick, originate from sleepy coastal towns, but circumstance brought them together in Liverpool where they found they had a mutual connection over odd humour and outsider art. The last six months have taken them on a whirlwind trajectory. Only three singles into their career and Her’s are already proving to have an irresistible knack for songwriting and performing.
It’s not easy to be an indie band in the UK and to be exciting nowadays, but Her’s do it with aplomb.
