A smouldering ruin of a fierce panda one sheet

The Band: NATIONAL SERVICE

The Release: THE ‘FOREIGN LOVE’ EP

The Format: DIGITAL EP

The Label: fierce panda

The Release Date: OCTOBER 12TH 2018

The Digital Link: smarturl.it/natservice_flove_ep

The Tracklisting:
1. ‘FOREIGN LOVE’ (feat. Calluna)
2. ‘ISLANDER’
3. ‘TIMID KISSES’
4. ‘LOOKING FOR YOUR LOVER’
5. ‘FOREIGN LOVE’ (oldisland remix)

The Truth: the brilliantly, and indeed militantly-monikered NATIONAL SERVICE are still very much a four piece outfit creeping from the shadows of North London. They consist of Fintan Campbell (vocals / guitar), Daniel Hipkin (bass / vocals), Iain Kelly (guitar / vocals) and Matthew Alston (drums). ‘Foreign Love’ is their brand new five track EP which is fronted up by the title track, another quiet giant of a tune from this gently crushing quartet.

The opening is awash with warm pads and crystalline guitars, like the colour slowly draining from an old photo, while the vocal pours out, intimate yet distant, remembering a time that once was. The song then gently lifts into the bands’ signature fluttering cross-rhythms and howling melancholy until the bridge - a dense, melting wall of sound.

Calluna frontwoman Heather Britton’s larkensong vocal then haunts the reprisal of the first verse. Heard a second time it imbues the bitter, hollowed lyrical sentiment. The listener awakes amongst the smouldering ruins of a love, long since abandoned, ears ringing from its final requiem.

The ‘Foreign Love’ EP features previous singles ‘Islander’ (lush, languid) and ‘Timid Kisses’ (lurid, lunging, a Lammo fave) and new track ‘Looking For Your Lover’ which encapsulates their sense of restrained intensity. Much like an ancient Egyptian architect mulling over the precision of the pyramids, for National Service it’s all about the patient build. The EP is topped off by a suitably abstract and stirring remix of ‘Foreign Island’ itself by oldisland.

Better still, 'Foreign Lover' is part of the esteemed and gently steely-eyed Second fierce panda EP Club wherein six new acts release six new EPs throughout 2018 with the support of Arts Council England.

Come see National Service serve their live nation when they support panda labelmates Sad Boys Club here:

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 6TH 2018
LONDON CAMDEN ASSEMBLY
(w/ Sad Boys Club + Svetlana Smith)
https://www.facebook.com/events/294396354488894/

www.facebook.com/nationalservicemusic
www.fiercepanda.co.uk