Leeds six-piece Volk Soup will release their debut album, 10p Jazz on 3rd October via Dipterid Records (digital and vinyl) and Cruel Nature (cassette).
Today, we are debuting their new single ‘Friends’, listen below. Striding through brooding and wiry post-punk with noisy dissonant interludes decorated with bursts of free-jazz intensity. ‘Friends’ stomps gleefully and louchly into primally hollered crescendos that reminds me of The Birthday Party, it’s a glorious catharsis that explores the tumult of friendship and social disconnection.
Catch them in action at their album release show in Leeds on 3rd Oct before they head to France and Belgium (full info/live dates below..).
Vocalist/guitarist Harry Jones says of ‘Friends’: “A song written in a time between friendship. A time when I had drifted from the friends of my youth and had yet to meet the people I call my friends today. It was a bitter and resentful time. A time when a kindred spirit was hitherto unseen. These were the lonely years when I had few to share ideas with. Now I have too many and the song rings slightly false.
“The opening verse possesses some paraphrasing from a quote in Jacques Tourneur 1946 film Canyon Passage. The misanthropy and pessimism with which the quote is laced really chimed with me at the time. I think I’m a little less doom-laden now than I was then. That said, I do still feel that it is of some importance to surround yourself with people whose faces you’d like to see when the ship goes down. Perhaps the sexiest song on the record?”
Volk Soup formed in early 2020 in Leeds, founded by Harry Jones (vocals, guitar, lyrics) and Ryan Walker (bass). The project was quickly paused by the pandemic, delaying their first live performance until October 2021. By that point, they had added drummer Luc Gibbons and recorded their earliest material as a raw, angular three-piece. As they gained momentum on the Leeds underground circuit, the band expanded to a six-piece in 2022—bringing in Ryan Geach (saxophone), Luca Vitale (trumpet), and George Orton (guitar)—and along with the new members came a broader, brassier, more unpredictable sound.
Live dates:
OCTOBER
3rd – Chemic Tavern, Leeds ALBUM LAUNCH (tickets)
28th – Le Cessonnais, Saint Brieuc, FR
29th – Penny Lane, Rennes (supporting KEG), FR
30th – L’Avant Scène Bar, Bordeaux, FR
31st – Water Moulin, Tournai,
DECEMBER
4th – Soup, Manchester^
5th – Kazimier Gardens, Liverpool^
6th – Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds^
^with Gaol Bird
Photo credit Tom White
