The Nightingales release their first studio album since 2022’s much-praised ‘The Last Laugh’. Celebrated in the excellent Stewart Lee-narrated film King Rocker of 2020, where the curtain was raised on the magic of the “long serving punk/alternative rock volunteer” (The Quietus) Robert Lloyd, The Nightingales are as pertinent as ever as they release a poignant tirade on modern times heralded, quite rightly, as ‘The Awful Truth’.
Released on April 4th on Fire Records, their new album ‘The Awful Truth’ is a modern mutant music hall interpretation of the day’s news, a haunting jolt into realism narrated with all the angst of an insistent, slightly dishevelled late-night newscaster.
LISTEN TO ‘THE NEW EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES’
“They genuinely sound more vital than ever.”
UNCUT
Opening cut, ‘The New Emperor’s New Clothes’ is an upbeat immersive eruption with a thumping percussive piano holding proceedings in order; think the Velvets meet Fairport Convention in a crowded boozer, still waiting for their man.
Robert Lloyd enlarges: “A stream of consciousness. Initially inspired by the tawdry but tractable trend of the vacant, voluntarily egged on by ego hungry politicians, pop stars, beauties, ballers, ingrowing haters and hard-nosed influencers. One hundred percent on point with the nonsense of neo populism and savagely edited to fit the music, it is far from silky, it is futile and silly. Real rock ‘n’ roll.”
‘Same Old Riff’ recalls Bowie’s ‘Queen Bitch’ rekindling the class war struggles and throwing sharp focus on the national unrest in the summer of 2024.
“The powerless are the problem, as if, as if”
‘The Men, Again’ begins with Beefheart mayhem before spilling onto a funky dancefloor adding fuel to an already raging blaze. Meanwhile, the band namecheck themselves trying to recall their WiFi password;
“With lyrics inspired by The Nightingales’ drawing on their post punk attitude, sharp wit and often sarcastic observational style.”
Under such scrutiny, Robert Lloyd’s acidic one-liners trace the collapse of modern society, retaining the harmonious warble of a veteran pub crooner infected with the growl and grouse of The Fall, Nick Cave and at times Beefheart reincarnated.
‘Just Before’ languishes in a more spacious ambience, a moment of clarity, of taking stock, that sits among tales of piss artists and princesses whose morning-after breath and recent memories are something to behold.
Cinderella’s “classic” anthem ‘Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boo’ becomes a disturbed nursery rhyme riff on ‘The Gates of Heaven Ajar’; the stuttering solo on ‘The Best Revenge’ strips paint; while ‘Warm Up’ ends as if it’s about to break into HMS Pinafore.
“When the fun stops, I don’t stop…
In the early 80s they enjoyed cult status as darlings of the credible music scene and were championed by John Peel, who said of them – “Their performances will serve to confirm their excellence when we are far enough distanced from the 1980’s to look at the period rationally and other, infinitely better known, bands stand revealed as charlatans.”
Their time has indeed come.
2025 Live Dates
21 May: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK
22 May: Think Tank, Newcastle, UK
23 May: Stereo, Glasgow, UK
24 May: Deaf Institute, Manchester, UK
25 May: Castle & Falcon, Birmingham, UK
27 May: Exchange, Bristol, UK
28 May: Chalk, Brighton, UK
29 May: Junction, Cambridge, UK
30 May: Oslo, London, UK
31 May: Bunkhouse, Swansea, UK