The setting – your lockdown living room. The time – 36 seconds after dropping the needle on Blanketman's National Trust EP. The scene – chaos, as the Manchester-based indie-pop darlings crescendo into the joyous, crashing chorus of 'Beach Body', the first song released from their debut EP and the one that really got the hype machine churning.
It's a hell of a way to open proceedings, the EP's biggest hit of energy that resonates time and again across the rest of a record mostly made up of hooky good-time indie. Nowhere is this more obvious than on standout track and latest single 'Leave the South' which accompanies expertly jangling guitars and an addictive wandering bassline with a genuinely entertaining lyrical story of, well, leaving the South. Frontman Adam Hopper explains that while at university in Reading the idea of moving back up North felt like an answer to all his problems – "I laugh at that now", he says, adding "although the water really does taste better up North…".
Completing the trio of well-received singles, 'Harold' is enjoyably off-kilter but seems somewhat pedestrian compared to the Stone Roses-esque 'The Tie' and the slinky guitar lines and "aa-wooooo" vocals on 'Dogs Die In Hot Cars', where the Sports Team comparison becomes unavoidable. It's hard not to draw a line between Blanketman and the Middle England romantics, and the two collide most obviously on the EP's title track; but where Sports Team would doubtless make this a twee little number their Northern competitors approach it with a wry humour ("you may laugh at me and say it's not very working class, we'll see who's laughing when I've got my season parking pass") which coupled with their beguiling guitar lines and song structures makes it another strong track on an already strong EP.
There's a reason Blanketman have popped up everywhere from
Radio 1 to the Daily Star's 'Ones to Watch 2021' list – with a real knack for a
leftfield take on sunshine indie and pithy lyricism that almost always avoids
cliché, it's time to jump on the Blanketman train, which is almost certainly
heading North.
Words - Joe Ponting
Blanketman official