Regressive Left, founded on London’s shaky social grounds by three childhood friends, Georgia Hardy of Spilt Milk, Will Crosby and Simon Tyrie, debuted live only last year on the bill with PVA, Scalping and Porridge Radio. With a name like this, they’re bound to have some political shenanigans circling their art rock-infused, post-punk repertoire, inspired by mundanity and inequality of life in a city. They explore more of it on their newest single, ‘Take The Hit’.
The band are not your average next-door radical bunch. They may have been fooling around with Nietzsche on their electrifying debut single ‘Eternal Returns’, but their deadpan humour and over the top experimentation with wry vocals and layered electro-disco distortions give a nod to DEVO’s smart-ass social commentary and the self-conscious and detached sound of Talking Heads or Gang of Four.
On ‘Take The Hit’ they shamelessly expose soul-laundering mechanisms of the neoliberalist elite performed on the masses; always either being blamed for adjusting to the system or imposed-from-above bigotry. Regressive Left are art-pop hitmen aiming at the big fishes, avoiding casualties. They do everything from swanky, jazzed-up, electro beats blended with wonky guitars to non-stop bouncy loops, teasing you to indulge in a disco hour, start a riot or, preferably both, as they perform their ironic philosophy in lyrics, ‘Who stopped the rain?/I question everything’. This is all only to conclude that it’s tricky to set free a pre-programmed society, ‘so default on the mortgages/and default on the contracts’. While that requires some more deciphering, Regressive Left have cracked a code of what makes a captivating, anti-capitalist, sophomore release.
Words: Alex Brzezicka // Photo: Luis Kramer
‘Take the Hit’ is out now and can be purchased and streamed via Bandcamp.