Look past the awful band name and there’s a lot to like about Publicist UK.
Pulling off the tricky task of being catchy and weird, this post-punk four-piece (most of whom are in metal bands like Municipal Waste and Revocation) use unsettling tunes and atmospherics to get across the quirk, without needing to be wacky and distracting.
The Joy Division and Beastmilk comparisons are inevitable, but there’s a less frantic atmosphere than the former, and none of the hedonistic attitude of the latter.
Instead, you have a brooding aura of melancholy, a sense of being on the outside looking in and feeling miserable about it. It’s like the soundtrack to watching your friends being successful and in love when you’re single, miserable and broke. The only downside is that it feels more chin-stroking than probably intended. If they can make it sound more visceral than cerebral, this would be a triumph, rather than just the very good record it is now.
