NATIONAL PLAYBOYS RELEASE ANOTHER HIT OF NOISY GOODNESS WITH NEW SINGLE ‘FRAGMENTS’

SINGLE REVIEW | NATIONAL PLAYBOYS – FRAGMENTS by Tom Whittleton

Edinburgh based post punks National Playboys are dishing out a new slice of noisy goodness in the form of their hot off the press single ‘Fragments’.

A bass intro, reminiscent of Interpol or the sliding punch of Krist Novoselics work with Nirvana, starts the tracking building on the dark coil spring energy to come. Short bursts of guitar noise screech through the mix as mechanically precise drums tie it all together.

A sense of dread is building through the song as vocals echo out in a Bauhaus-esque drawl. “There’s blood on the dancefloor” opens the track which sets an instant gothic tone, continuing to add an uneasy allure to vocalist Kyle McFarlane delivery. Strummed reverb chords give a shoegaze angle and hi-hat rhythms let that tension increase your blood pressure. A repeated line of “Let the bodies hang, Let the bodies hang” in the bridge connotes that Birthday party era Nick Cave spite.

The band go quiet, leaving only drums from Megan Pollock and the vocals to linger in the air. Bella Lugosi’s dead but these lot are defibbing what’s left. Like all good post punk tunes, what goes up most come down and after a short false breakdown leaving you hanging, the Scottish dark wavers drop the hammer and howl into a final crescendo. McFarlane gives his vocal chords a workout almost gargling with his baritone growl. Razor blade guitar waves cut out leaving an echo of reverb then silence.

I write a lot about post punk or post-post punk (somebody please give it a name) and it has fast become my niche. Its a genre with near endless possibilities but almost too many bands. It’s rare to see a new band sticking to short but punchy tunes without waxing too poetic or putting on their best Mark E Smith impression. National Playboys are doing it with a classically gothic style that you could still see a crowd of eyeliner wearing trench coat fans having a boogie to.

This isn’t going to reinvent the wheel. But post punk isn’t broke, so don’t fix it. I still like my frontmen emotive and growling you can never be too cool for school, these lot are keeping it tight and punchy just in time for the bell.