Tag: Sam Willmett

The Bug Club – “Every Single Muscle” review

This is the 5th studio LP from Caldicot, Monmouthshire, Wales, United Kingdom duo The Bug Club. Consisting of guitarist/vocalist Sam Willmett & bassist/vocalist Tilly Harris, they emerged earlier in the decade off 3 extended plays & a couple albums preceding Sub Pop Records signing them a few years ago already. Their debut for the label On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System & the pairing previous full-length Very Human Features were both positively received, returning 12 months since the latter for Every Single Muscle.

“Miss Wales 2012” begins with this chugging garage punk intro referencing a competition both Tilly & Sam have actually won whereas “A Good Day for Dying” made for an apathetically humorous 3rd & final single. “Make It Count” finds the pair trading lines with each other over indie rock instrumentation depicting 2 lovers who have absolutely no idea what to do just before “Cut to Black” takes inspiration from both NEU! & Sparks for 90 seconds.

Meanwhile on “Full Range of Motion”, we have The Bug Club taking a page out of the Minutemen playbook for a post-punk revival tune with some occasional slacker rock undertones while “Pretty as a Magazine” bemoans the fact people don’t know what to do with their own bodies a lot similarly to what “Make It Count” did earlier. “Look Like Me” sings about each member’s own appearance while on “How Can We Be Friends” explains that both members are preoccupied with others.

The title track ends the 1st half of Every Single Muscle on some egg punk vibes singing about feeling strong in all ligaments of their bodies while “Shiny & Wet” experiments with a bit of a blues rock sound wanting to see one’s organs since apologies don’t mean shit to them. “Semi-Automatic” treads garage punk territory explaining that they only play guitars & give 0 fucks while “In My Short Life” sings about them using chart toes in times of distress.

“Watching the Omnibus” hits us with a a garage rock-tinged lead single filled with self-deprecating lyrics & after “It’s Our Manager David” shrugs off literally every single question their manager asks the band regarding what they’ve been doing with their day, the 2nd single “Yours (If You Want Me)” gives off a more introspectively tender & anxious approach singing about how neither one of them necessarily want to be adored.

The song “All My Clothes Fell Off” winds down the last moments of Every Single Muscle slowing down the pacing to build up towards a crescendo reminiscent of classic rock music while the penultimate track “3rd Best Friend” sings about an individual they loved like a close colleague. The outro “My Uncle Warren Drives a Passat” switches things up replacing the guitars with pianos singing about how if all of us were made for dying alone, then neither one of them belong here.

Looking at themselves more in a way an alien might probe a captive specimen on an intergalactic gurney instead of introspection, The Bug Club’s 3rd opus under the Sub Pop banner improves above both it’s predecessors sounding noticeably punkier than their previous output. The human form & condition are both prodded & inspected from every angle throughout the course of Every Single Muscle blending indie rock garage punk, garage rock revival, egg punk, post-punk revival & slacker rock.

Score: 4/5

Keep up with @legendswill_never_die on Instagram & @LegendsllLiveOn on Twitter for the best music reviews weekly!

The Bug Club – “Very Human Features” review

The Bug Club is an indie rock duo from Caldicot, Monmouthshire, Wales, United Kingdom consisting of guitarist/vocaliat Sam Willmett & bassist/vocalist Tilly Harris. Emerging earlier in the decade off 3 EPs & a couple full-lengths, they would go on to sign with Sub Pop Records last summer for their previous LP On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System becoming widely received for it’s additional influences of garage rock along with post-punk revival & slacker rock. It’s been over 9 months since they made their debut for the label & are back in time for summer on their 4th album.

“Full Grown Man” picks up on the garage rock vibes singing about not knowing how to live alone whereas “Twirling in the Middle” incorporates more raw, energetic, simply employed, sloppy & fuzzbox-distorted guitars to do the rocksteady. “Jealous Boy” was a great lead single choice addressing expectations & comparisons with a loud-quiet-loud garage rock structure to it leading into while the vividly post-punk “Young Reader” suggests you don’t have to live like this since it’s a matter of principle.

Sam & Tilly experiment with glam rock during “Beep Boop Computers” singing about interpersonal relationships & experiences just before the title track subtitled “Muck” combining some of the folkier spoken word elements of Rare Birds: Hour of Song so they can concentrate deeply on one’s place in the world today. “When the Little Choo Choo Train Toots His Little Horn” pleads to be dunked in the water again due to them still feeling like monsters while the 2nd single “How to Be a Confidante” teaches everyone what they gotta do to become a close friend.

“Living in the Future” heads back to the garage taking pride in themselves for being overly focused on what might happen down the line instead of the current moment, but then “Tales of a Visionary Teller” refuses to show the taste of bitter practice offending their inner senses under any condition. “The Sound of Communism” aesthetically has an admirable Paul McCartney flare to it having fun with no regrets until “Blame Me” admits to them not believing in social consciousness with some catchy guitar melodies.

The 3rd & final single “Appropriate Emotions” manages to pull the suitable moods for a homosapien to feel in situations like the one they’re in as we speak sounding completely removed from the human experience as they possibly could’ve & despite “Have U Ever Been 2 Wales?” not being included, I still wanted to give it some props for being a joyous new ode to The Bug Club’s beloved home country chock full of regionally referential songwriting.

Presenting themselves as a collective mind even with only 2 members remaining, the band’s Sub Pop sophomore effort expands on the experimental tones of their 1st offering for the label getting more layered & complex than they did almost a year ago. Steve & Tilly create more of a pastoral atmosphere with the raw indie rock, post-punk, garage rock, slacker rock & occasional glam rock production, amplifying the storytelling through the songwriting looking closer at the smaller things in life & delving deeper into the creativity they’ve connected themselves to almost a decade after forming.

Score: 4/5

Keep up with @legendswill_never_die on Instagram & @LegendsllLiveOn on Twitter for the best music reviews weekly!