New Music

London’s Fake Turins reveal new cut ‘Down!’ ahead of their debut EP on Hideous Mink Records.

The track offers a sense of escapism as much as a deep groove to bathe in.

Words: Karl Johnson | Photo: Mars Washington

At the tail end of 2019 North London outfit Fake Turins decamped to the market town of Farnham to record their debut EP with long-time friend and producer James Traylen. Little did they know that a global pandemic was looming, and their newly recorded single ‘Down!’ would become more relevant than ever.

“‘Down!’ started off as a very personal poem outlining my experience of grief and the self-hate or depression that can come with it” states vocalist Dominic Rose. The band’s latest single is for sure an ode to the dancefloor but the beating heart of the track offers a sense of escapism as much as a deep groove to bathe in. The raw strut and percussion channels New York City in the late 70s, while clarinet and saxophone float with a floral psychedelia – though lyrically its grounded in the hypervigilance of today’s society.

An unstoppable bass groove and interlocking drums meet an immovable subject matter, one which will define the lost year of 2020. “The chorus allowed us to tap into that visceral catharsis by screaming ‘down’ until we ran out of energy” outlines Rose. ‘Down!’ tackles collective grief, on it’s recording you hear the guttural screams of ten individuals channelling their own anxieties. “The pandemic has left us with a need to mourn both those that we’ve lost and the lives we thought we’d lead” states Rose.

The “windowless basement studio” where the tracks were recorded live has provided a damp darkness which has rubberstamped the sound of the EP – capturing the personal exorcism within. Fittingly it finds the light of day off the back of a deeply traumatic period of modern history. The process seemingly turned into group therapy. The anguish carried from spring-loaded lives in London to the studio’s remote location, has oozed into the collective screams that haunt the track – personal tension or grief feels immortalised by the recording, yet somewhat washed away and healed by the collective power of the process. ‘Time Flowers Now’, Fake Turins’ debut EP, arrives July 23rd through Hideous Mink Records.