#411
Comrade Hat - Go To Waste
Monday 23rd January 2017
They say: “Hopefully without desecrating the mystery of the creative process, I can tell you that Go To Waste is a song I wrote... a while back, produced by reconstruction from the bottom up.
I suppose the main influences come from old school jazz pop, like Gaucho era Steely Dan or Prefab Sprout. But instead of just aping a 70s/80s sound I embraced contemporary ones, just as the above did in their day - in my case, pop/rnb/dream pop/electronica.
Then I put an epic wig out in it... because I get to do that. And because it fits the theme - a rebuff to the (just beyond attainable) 'motivational' clichés of the social media age, an ode to such simple joys as wallowing in your memories and cutting yourself some slack.
As with more or less everything I have released, I recorded it at home. Very grateful to Daryl Coyle, synth consultant, and frequent collaborators Siobhan Shiels (Great White Lies) and Ruth McCartney for their haunting backing vocals.”
We say: "It’s a cool slice of after-dark jazz pop from Comrade Hat, known by day as Neil Burns. The glass-smooth production shimmers with the essence of ‘80s yacht rock, albeit with a modern soft-focus feeling.
This is no simple nostalgia trip either, with Go To Waste feeling utterly fresh throughout and not a hint of ungainly irony. Occasionally drifting into minor-key psychedelic voyages is no bad thing either – it’s a track to luxuriate in after all, an RnB rumination."
Comrade Hat's latest EP, Old Amsterdam, is available to buy now.
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