“There’s no point looking back when it’s an insult to the present. There’s no point looking front when it might never happen.” – The Watanabes – An Insult To The Present – Spoiled And Nostalgic EP – November 2016.
When I started Sonic Breakfast, I had no ambitious, blogging master plan. I never thought that I might travel the world on money made from it, get rich quickly or live happily after.
I’ve not been disappointed.
But, undeniably, unearthing new acts to write about has given me many pleasurable moments; e-mails of thanks received from bands living all around the world who I might have stumbled across in late-night listening sessions and simply had to feature.
That was definitely the case with The Watanabes. I can’t quite recall when I first saw the video to ‘Yuriko Yuriko’ but I knew I had to write about it (here). I remember how exciting it was that other readers of Sonic Breakfast seemed to agree that this was something special.
Last week, a new E-mail from Duncan (of The Watanabes) popped into my mailbox. He has a generous writing style and is clearly a very decent human being. I was pleased to discover that The Watanabes are releasing a new EP, Spoiled And Nostalgic, at the end of November. I was even happier to discover that the lead single from it, Over Romantic, is already in circulation and has a video to go alongside it.
This is a band that can do no wrong in my eyes. Or at least, the only wrong that they can do is to wear their hearts a bit too much on their sleeves and possibly over-complicate their romantic liaisons. And that’s OK in my book. From the opening acoustic flourish that leads into the confession that ‘I’ve got myself into a bit of a fix‘, this is a tune that draws you in and then holds your interest as it builds and builds. It has a beautiful, forlorn resignation within, a positive kind of melancholia and a video that I can’t help but keep watching on repeat.
The other three tracks from the EP grow on you in similar ways. In my favourite, ‘An Insult To The Present’, we find The Watanabes in reminiscent mood, thinking back to days gone by and wondering if the dreams of those times have been achieved. They conclude in the only way possible to live for the moment.
I think Sonic Breakfast readers will like this.
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