Indie-pop’s latest all-star collaboration saw JOE PERNICE join forces with TEENAGE FANCLUB front man NORMAN BLAKE at the turn of the year , when the duo kick-started their project under the collective moniker THE NEW MENDICANTS with nine shows down under.
Hence (surely) the rather precise title of this 6-track debut EP that features an offering from each half of the dynamic duo's much acclaimed back catalogue alongside a clutch of original compositions; all of this slotting in behind the lead track, a somewhat bizarre (but obviously appropriate) cover of the early 1990's INXS single 'This Time'.
This all-singing, all-twanging - all-acoustic - introduction to the new two-man team must have taken, ooh, all of half a day to record - but at least it mirrors the format of the veteran pair's two-man 'unplugged' live shows as they globetrot their way between Oz and the homelands of both men - the EP's UK release date coincides with a cluster of live dates across Britain.
Fans of either original group will no doubt home in on the stripped-down versions of Pernice's 'Amazing Glow' and Blake's 'I Don't Want Control Of You' with the same sort of intrigue that will motivate them to attend the gigs.
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Despite my scepticism and prejudice surrounding anything that could be described as a 'side-project' (surely the ultimate in supercilious pomposity), the tour remains a mouthwatering prospect: the undisputed pedigree of both men is ultimately the deciding factor here. I remain confident that the live shows will be a shit sight better than this makeshift, almost half-arsed release.
THE NEW MENDICANTS appear in the UK as follows:
8th Cambridge, Cambridge Portland Arms
9th Bristol, Colston Hall 2
10th London, The Lexington
11th Nottington, The Glee
12th Birmingham, The Glee
13th Manchester, Deaf Institute
14th Hebden Bridge, Trades Club
15th Glasgow, Mono
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