You Could Have Both meanwhile, features a quite thrilling spoken word section (the album’s most obvious nod to Jarvis and company) which references “C C Baxter in Wilder’s Apartment” and the perils of listening to “Saint Scott Walker on headphones on the bus”. Swallow Tattoo has the irresistible opening line of “Give me a good film noir and a bottle of gin, I’ll be happy just to stay inside” before featuring Jackson purring “you fill me with inertia, I still want to jump your bones”. Penned mainly by Cox, they’re clever, literate and articulate. What sets the Long Blondes apart from their contemporaries is their lyrics.
Whatever the subject matter, it’s a brilliant song. It appears to be about a well meaning older woman offering an abused girl some companionship but by the time the pay off line of “oh how I’d love to feel a girl your age”, you’re more of the opinion that it’s about a predatory lesbian. As Dorian Cox settles into a ‘none more Johnny Marr‘ guitar style, Jackson belts out “Nineteen, you’re only nineteen for God’s sake, you don’t need a boyfriend”. With hardly a second to draw breath, they then drop effortlessly into one of the singles of the year, Once And Never Again. It could be ridiculously pretentious in anybody else’s hands but it works perfectly here. Opening track Lust In The Movies perfectly sums up what they’re all about – opening with a thrilling blast of feedback before galloping head first into a giddily addictive melody which has the chorus of “Edie Sedgwick, Anna Karenina, Arlene Dahl”.
Those people expecting Arctic Monkeys part 2 will be sorely disappointed, but they’re certainly a band rooted in Sheffield’s seedy glamour – you can trace a lineage from Cabaret Voltaire, The Human League, and most explicitly, Pulp here and it’s a sound that’s brought deliciously up to date by The Long Blondes. Yet ask the average person to name a song by them, and they’d probably struggle.Ī deal with Rough Trade has changed all that though, and one of the longest gestating albums of recent years has eventually been released. They appeared in style magazines, they won awards as the best unsigned band in Britain and The Guardian even named lead singer Kate Jackson as a style icon. Touted for a long time as the other great band to come out of Sheffield in the last few years, it was easy to forget that The Long Blondes actually made records.
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