Safe Suburban Home come together with Pool Sharks, making everyone question not only our washing habits, but the 9-5 grind of our early 20s.
Ah, that brilliant little question bubbling around Twitter. Truly what has the internet come to? And what has come of it? A superb new track, ‘Do You Wash Your Legs in The Shower?’ Indeed, I do. But you didn’t need to know that. That tiny momentary action for the two legs attached to the rest of our body. The question is, do you simply let the water sink down to your legs, or do you in-fact make the effort of washing those two wet scrawny legs? That is what Pool Sharks are putting to all of us. Through their latest track, so rightly titled, ‘Do You Wash Your Legs in The Shower?’
Pool Sharks are a Yorkshire band who in 2018 came together. Aiming to provide an absurdist take on the expectations on who they are and what they stand for. Looking at their early 20s as the starting point of realisation into romanticism of dreams and reality. Humour matched with post-punk indie vibes, funk and jangle pop.
This song is more than just a humorous link to the everyday stream of Twitter life, it is an observation into the avant-garde. A compound look into the 9-5 grind. The rat race of life. The Dolly Parton’s ‘Working 9-5’. 'Working for the man'. ‘I need that money honey!’ All of those profound statements. The fact of being an imposter. We are all imposters in our 20s Pool Sharks tells us. That limited experience and shedding away those romantic views of the world.
The sense of ownership people feels, the fact of irrelevant independence when you work that dreaded daily grind. It’s quite timely in the fact, what do we feel about our jobs anymore? The days rolling back to working class rights for jobs and simply melting away at the pain of earning a few mere pennies. There is a sense of alienation against the satirical humour within the song. A statement and opinion are often best heard through a joke. You are able to digest it a lot easier. Bands of the past who have stood-up for working class rights proudly state their working classness. Yet, the ability to say exactly what needs to be said in a funny way is brilliant.
There is a sense of relation to the man in the standard grey suit, wandering through his dull career like he is David Brent. Everyone has that inner David Brent. It takes bands like Pool Sharks to state exactly what people are thinking. Or in other cases, what other people simply do not want to think.
With an obvious indie feel, there is a sense of Gang of Four, not only in the post-punk vibes. Also in being politically accurate for the age. Pressure is felt throughout the song, a sense of abrasive finger tapping against a Dr Pepper sweetness. Modern vocals resemble Sports Team, where it feels like they are screaming yet talking at the same time. Spoken word in song is something to admire, it isn’t often pulled off, but Joey Whitehead sure does.
You will feel post-punk vibes in this tune, not least with the feel and actual ability to make you think. Which, as modern bands try to do, most don’t succeed very well. However, this is a tune that I have gone back to time and time again. Unpicking and developing on emerging themes I can find.
I find myself illustrating and linking multiple bands to this one track, while they also stand on their own. They are very much like some early 1980s indie bands, The Loft comes to mind but as do Teenage Filmstars, with a sense of early electronica of The Apples and preppy grunge that applies a punk feeling. Again, we can look to The Cure, it is a staple band in any music lover’s world. The Cure is not only an inspiration for music, it is for life. (Tad bit dramatic? I beg to differ!) I am glad it is not yet another band gaining there be all and end all inspiration from The Smiths. This song may have a sense of lying about in the disconnected part of one’s own identity, but it is far from that in sound. It is diverse and well-executed, bouncy and depressing all at once. It is a staple to this year, a feeling of multiple examples in genre, including a feeling of beat with spoken word, grunge and post-punk. A loveable tune that has an underlying sense of the avant-garde with a real opinion on life at the moment.
Pool Sharks are exciting, they are swimming the ocean of music, experiment, indie-rock and post-punk and serving it up in the form of a glorious Safe Suburban Home cassette.
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