Swansea Sound are named after the now defunct radio station of the same name who were bought out by some miserable corporation that rebranded the station and took away its soul. The album wasn't really recorded at the Rum Puncheon as that infamous Swansea pub closed down years ago.
Swansea Sound are the latest band to feature Rob Pursey and Amelia Fletcher of Heavenly, Catenary Wires et al along with Hue Williams who was in the Pooh Sticks with Amelia and Ian Button from Wreckless Eric.
The album opens with Rock N Roll Void a bittersweet song about how pop music changed there lives from The Ramones to The Kinks and the void they now feel, as this cool slightly punky powerpop really gets going and they tell us about the early band they formed and make sure we know this album is going to be a lot of fun.
I Sold My Soul On Ebay and they don't mean your soul records, but more about how you sell yourself to the corporations who never pay back the effort you put in, especially if you put you music on Sp*ti*y while sounding like the spiky end of Bis.
I'm Ok When You're Around is a great indie pop love song that has less snarky lyrics than most of this album, but also allows Amelia a very cool vocal part to reply to the general pleading in the lyrics. But the best part is the exchange about kicking the butt's of online fascists.
The Poohsticks is a tribute song to the band of that name by Swansea Sound who of course feature two members of that most revered and overlooked band that I often got confused with The Paddingtons for some reason, this is droll and quite affectionate and will hopefully make one or two people seek them out.
Let it Happen is about just saying yes and doing things, joining bands, going to gigs having a good time, not saying no, don't miss out, go for it and Let It Happen.
Je Ne Sais Quoi is a slightly spiky and rather bouncy song of love, lust and that indefinable something that you have, and this band certainly has that in spades.
The b-side opens with Pasadena a reflective song of the things they've never seen including the legendary Rose Parade in Pasadena, that I have several of the postcard brochures for from the 1940's, that I recently inherited from my mum, that makes this song a bit emotional for me, this is a bit of a tearjerker for me, a quite wonderful song to sob away too while wondering why mum never went to see her aunt Rose in Pasadena.
Indies Of The World is one of the singles from the album and is about the Indie revolution both the good and bad sides of it as they encourage everyone to start their own label and just go out and do it, or failing that go and get a deal with a cassette label in Indonesia like they have.
Corporate Indie Band is about the wrong sort of Indie, the bands that think they should be treated like they are on a big label with per diems and everything, while making the fans queue for autographs, or pay extra for meet and greets at gigs in venues that hold less than 200 people and super dodgy press releases while selling themselves to the highest bidder in the advertising world.
Freedom Of Speech asks some good questions about how to keep your Freedom Of Speech and the things you shouldn't be using that freedom for, especially in the wake of the pandemic as they wonder where the bands and there people are, with some cool girl gang backing vocals.
Angry Girl has plenty to be angry about as they drive their parents insane over this chugging beat and almost beat group style vocals.
The album closes with the bands theme song Swansea Sound that starts as a slow reflective acoustic indie song and slowly becomes more electric as they wonder what the first song of the set will be, this swirls and builds and really should have been played on Swansea Sound radio at drive time.
Find out more at https://www.hhbtm.com/product/swansea-sound-live-at-the-rum-puncheon/ https://www.facebook.com/swanseasound https://swanseasound.bandcamp
