The Band: NATIONAL SERVICE

The Tune: ‘CONCRETE'

The Format: DIGISINGLE

The Label: fierce panda

The Release Date: JULY 19TH 2019

The Digital Link:orcd.co/nationalservice_concrete

The Truth: the militantly-named NATIONAL SERVICE are a four intense troopers from North London. They consist of Fintan Campbell (vocals / guitar), Daniel Hipkin (bass / vocals), Iain Kelly (guitar / vocals) and Matthew Alston (drums). 'Concrete’ is their brand new single on fierce panda, and precedes an EP – their second - called ‘Meltwater’, due in October.

This first track is aptly named as ‘Concrete’ sets a nocturnal metropolis scene, complete with a driven pace and interspersed with flashes of strings. The vocals keep a consistent familial eeriness, running the listener with escalating pace and finally resting them back into the sparks of guitar from the start. The cyclical structure and the somewhat haunting lyrics ultimately push the listener back in a place of the uncanny: a formative experience running through the city at dusk. There’s also a cracking clanging guitar motif holding the hold caper together.

‘Concrete’ follows in the gently ferocious footsteps of tracks with names like 'A Little More Time' and 'Timid Kisses', which was made the BBC 6Music Recommends Single Of The Week. Like the rest of the forthcoming ‘Meltwater’ EP it was recorded at Saccharine Studios (a brutal monolithic and possibly haunted converted factory/mill type thing in the Docklands) down in Woolwich over five (long) days in March 2019. These sessions proceeded under the watchful ears of John Bisset, keyboardist/producer of Calluna fame.

Ever eloquent, National Service say it points to a marked shift in direction - a precise and succinct snapshot of how the music is developing: “It’s lusher, angrier, more urgent, with deeper layers of instrumentation, more ambitious production, more collaborative composition, more expansive and desperately-longing-to-be-blasted-out-of-an-arena-sized-PA walls of sound noise etc. We felt it was definitely a strong manifesto in terms of what to expect from a live show, as that is effectively what you’re listening to.”

If you want to contextualise, the band say they have been listening to a lot of Big Thief, The War On Drugs, The Twilight Sad, Wych Elm and Interpol of late. Now come see National Service march onwards here:

JULY 4TH 2019 LONDON KINGS CROSS LEXINGTON (with DYGL)

SEPTEMBER 4TH 2019 LONDON HACKNEY SEBRIGHT ARMS (with China Bears)

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