Some of us at GIITTV are big fans of bands who pack a brooding intensity, eager to impart the nihilism and desperate ennui of rubbish modern life. But sometimes an act comes along that simply oozes big, smile-inducing fun and you can’t help but fall for their charms.
SuperGlu from Manningtree in Essex are such a band. Their double guitar-driven sound walks a fine line between bubblegum-pop and Sonic Youth-style noise, delivered with an irrepressible bounciness and rich vocal harmonies that fill you with the joys of being alive. When we witnessed their live show recently, including two cobweb-blowing early appearances at the Great Escape, we were greeted by a flurry of fuzzy energy incongruously interspersed with singer/guitarist Ben Brown’s startlingly accurate impersonations of exotic birds and general complaints about the restrictions of Wetherspoons cuisine.
But there is substance beneath the surface too. ‘Weekend’, recorded at Punch studios in Ipswich, might sound like an entirely apt soundtrack to drunken good times. But listen carefully and you discover the story of a relationship in crisis, as each partner experiences the same weekend through very different eyes. Comedian Tim Vine once commented that when he read ‘The History of Glue’ he couldn’t put it down. We reckon you’ll probably find SuperGlu have a similarly compulsive effect on you.
