Song: Blackaby – What’s On The TV? review

by Chris Hatch

London-based guitar pop outfit, Blackaby, explore the drudgery of a life that’s on the cusp of turning stale on the title track of their new EP, What’s On The TV?

Over a couple of bristling, punky minutes, lead singer, William Blackaby, finds himself shunning ruminations on life’s big ideas, and instead focuses in on the Loachian, kitchen sink quandaries of domestic life – ‘What’s on the TV?’ he asks, ‘Is there milk in the fridge, is the bathroom pretty clean?’ Lyrically, it hints at Blur’s End Of A Century and Pulp’s fascination with the mundanity of everyday minutiae, but musically it’s a much more lively affair – pairing a brisk, upbeat slab of indie-pop with the kind of sing-song melody that The Vaccines captured hearts and ears with on their debut.

While the characters in What’s On The TV? have an air of acceptance about their unexciting lives, Blackaby seems keen not to dwell there with them, and instead subscribes to the same, attention-span-defying notions of this month’s 2nd Grade album, Hit to Hit. ‘It’s short so that you don’t get bored’, says William Blackaby, and he’s dead right – the plight of the bored, listless, unsatisfied Homo sapien has rarely been documented with such vigour.

Blackaby’s upcoming EP, also titled What’s On The TV?, will be released digitally through Hand In Hive, and on cassette through Sad Club Records on 24th July.

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