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National Service
National Service Meltdown On New Ep!
24th September 2019
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A crackingly clanging fierce panda one sheet

The Band: NATIONAL SERVICE

The Release: ‘MELTWATER’

The Format: DIGITAL EP

The Label: fierce panda

The Release Date: OCTOBER 4TH 2019

The Digital Link: orcd.co/nationalservice_meltwater_ep

Tracklisting:
1. ‘CONCRETE’
2. ‘DRIFTING APART’
3. ‘WITCH TRIAL’
4. ‘LAST RITES’
5. ‘MELTWATER’

“To say ‘Meltwater’ is ambitious would be selling it lightly, this is a band honing their craft already but also, and most importantly, learning, expanding and inventing from the beginning. I can’t wait to hear them live, and definitely recommend listening and finding out more right here, right now.” - www.criticalpopcorn.com

The Truth: the militantly-named NATIONAL SERVICE are four troopers camped out in North London. They consist of Fintan Campbell (vocals / guitar), Daniel Hipkin (bass / vocals), Iain Kelly (guitar / vocals) and Matthew Alston (drums). 'Meltwater’ is their brand new EP on fierce panda, and features five tracks racked with emotion and laced with controlled mayhem.

This first single off the EP was aptly named as ‘Concrete’ set a nocturnal metropolis scene, complete with a driven pace and interspersed with flashes of strings. There was also a cracking clanging guitar motif holding the whole caper together. Second single ‘Witch Trial’ – released on August 30th - follows a similarly itchy path, all baritone vocals and swelling angst building up a mighty head of sonic steam.

Not for nothing do the band’s notes note that: "The elegantly named ‘Meltwater’ promises to give its listeners a pilgrimage of what it means to err, love and reflect. National Service performs not only an experience of emotional wisdom but punctuates the experience with tones of the modern city and the gravities of contemporary identity.”

The ‘Meltwater’ EP follows in the gently upset musical steps of last year’s casually frantic ‘Foreign Love’ 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:

DECEMBER 7TH NEW CROSS AMERSHAM ARMS
Kick Out The Jams & End Of The Trail present The Deptford Mix-Up No. 3

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

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