Now that our feet are firmly in the new year, we take a look back at 2017’s greatest songs.
They don’t look like you’d find them on a farm…
Far from it. This Rough Trade-signed four-piece are from the very urban climes of south London (Peckham, to be precise). The name doesn’t even have anything to do with those farmyard dwelling creatures – the band got their moniker from comedian Bill Hicks’s ‘Goat Boy’ character.
Does his humour pervade their music too?
You can definitely hear traces of Hicks’s satire and social commentary in their songs. ‘Scum’, in particular, is a cutting piece that opens with singer Clottie Cream asking ‘How can an entire nation be so fucking thick?’
Hold on… Clottie Cream?
Yep. The four band members all have nicknames like that. Clottie (or Lottie, as her parents probably call her) is joined by LED (guitarist Ellie), Naima Jelly (bassist Naima) and Rosy Bones (drummer Rosy).
Cool epithets, deriding lyrics – they must be a punk band?
They’ve definitely got some punk spirit to them, but their music is a little harder to pin down by genre. Recent B-side ‘Mighty Despair’ is a sparse song that feels like they’ve strayed into dance music territory (albeit very skeletal and gloomy) via a ton of hi-hat, and debut single ‘Country Sleaze’ is glorious, grubby garage-rock.
Where can I hear more?
Currently, you’ll have to make do with four songs (the aforementioned three, plus the hypnotic ‘Crow Cries’), but we should be getting an album next year. Keep your fingers crossed and get down to what’s bound to be a sweaty, sharp night at Corsica Studios on November 13 in the meantime.
