This review is months late, so overdue I am including a bonus review of the bands Christmas single at the end of the album review. 20th Century is the second album by think tank indie D.I.Y. supergroup Swansea Sound who feature Rob Pursey, Amelia Fletcher, Huw Williams, Ian Button and Bob Collins. This album is the follow up to the already classic debut album Live At The Rum Puncheon.
The album opens with the bands recent single Paradise that has there knowing insider look at the modern world, as Paradise has been Digitized like everything else, we are in hock to the lithium gods, with sweet harmonies, jangly guitars and analog sounding synths that are obviously digital.
Seven In The Car has the sound of a teenage tragedy, as you and all your friends bundle into one car to get to that perfect small town night out, what could possibly go wrong. While they wonder why they had spent all night propping up the wall looking at the floor instead of on that magical dancefloor trying to not let their neuroses get the better of them.
Keep Your Head On is a great duet between a couple who only want to talk to people who think we are heading towards Dystopia, if we haven't arrived yet, be careful as the dark forces gaslight you, fooled by the gauzy melody into believing things might be ok one day soon.
Click It And Pay is an anthem for the buy now generation, who see it, click it, buy it, this is urgently hurtling towards the paypal button, they celebrate being able to pay on your watch, phone, nose flute etc, as we all need more stuff, so click it and pay and get yourself a Swansea Sound album.
I Don't Like Men In Uniform is a very 80's sounding indie builder that makes clear that Men In Uniform are often a big problem, they don't want to be in the army or the Police force, although claims that any of this lot were the baddest person in town is a jaw dropping claim, coming from the nicest mildest musos around.
Twentieth Century shakes its head in despair, as they make sure they are not sell outs or turncoats who can't be bought, just read Amelia's recent letter to Spotify and the Government to know how much they mean this. As they urge us all to come together to fight the powers that be, we should all join the Swansea Sound revolution.
I Made A Work Of Art but I'm not gonna share it, yeah cool right, well if they showed it to you, you probably wouldn't know what to make of it, right, this knowing look at the share everything generation. This artwork is probably trending on Tik Tok, Threads and Insta as we speak. Now where is that book I wrote and never shared.
Markin' It Down is in celebration of going and buying your music second hand, Huw asking, have they got the new Yard act album yet, yep boxes of them, what cool records should you get next, with Amelia making some brilliant suggestions, how could you resist, open your wallet and buy everything Amelia tells you to buy, as everything's been marked down.
Punish The Young is full of pithy advice, on all the ways the youth of today need to be punished for the crime of being young and thinking those of us over 50 are no longer relevant, how very dare they, the wistful sounds of growing obsolescence.
Far Far Away they are rushing to get away, get to somewhere new, even if they are rather tired of walking everywhere, not even a wall of jangly guitars can raise their spirits.
Greatest Hits Radio gets down and funky, nicking guitar and basslines all over the place, as they discuss the mind numbing radio stations that don't have DJ's, playing the same 50 songs over and over, in almost the same order, at the same time every day, as they seek to fight the algoriddims of despair, trying to escape the clutches of sputtyfi and all those other creeps, who seek to take all the money that should be going to the musicians, working at the musical coalface.
The album closes with the wistful sounds of Pack The Van all about the joys of being indie super gods still playing the same tiny venues they did 35 years ago, playing music for all the right reasons, dreaming of one day being back on top.
Find out more at https://swanseasound.bandcamp.com/album/twentieth-century https://swanseasound.bandcamp.com/merch/christmas-card-cd-and-lp-bundle https://www.facebook.com/swanseasound
Bonus single
Santa Bail Me Out is a rare streamable Swansea Sound single, while showing the bands charitable side, all profits from streaming of this singe will be distributed to the 10 highest earning artists on Sputtyfi as the band want to help it, in its core mission to help redistribute more revenue to the rich. If you buy the single on bandcamp it comes with its own Christmas card.
Santa Bail Me Out is a clattering austerity indie song for anyone who suffers from Xmas anxiety at the cost of it all, hoping Santa will deliver the readies to get them through the season to be jolly, while telling the kids how to right a letter to Santa, this is even more knowing than the songs on the Fred Schneider Xmas album that's just been re-issued.
The Life We Led takes them back to the glory days of shopping in department stores, with angelic harmonies celebrating Christmas eve, as they look back longingly at visits to Santa's grotto for a Christmas treat, that now almost no longer exists when you buy everything from a rainforest.
Nadolig, Pwy A Wir? Is a Welsh language version of The Life We Led it's a bit gentler and more bucolic, instead of Huw taking lead vocals Catrin Saran James does as they all hope for a season of good cheer rather than penury and despair.
