{"product_id":"gichard-chins-for-lefty-lp-vinyl","title":"GICHARD - Chins For Lefty - LP Vinyl","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #ff0000;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLP - Limited Edition 180g Black Vinyl. Only 300 copies pressed. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eChins For Lefty\u003c\/em\u003e is the debut album and first recording by \u003cstrong\u003eGichard\u003c\/strong\u003e, a new duo chronicling the absurdities of end-stage capitalism and mouldering social rituals from their vantage point in Glasgow, Scotland. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded primarily in the band’s home studio straight to tape, Chins For Lefty combines gorgeous, ramshackle melody, DIY kosmische punk, drum machine + synth and, in vocalist\/lyricist \u003cstrong\u003eLisa Jones\u003c\/strong\u003e, an absurdist commentator on the human condition as it navigates the anxieties of the modern world. Instrumentalist \u003cstrong\u003eChas Lalli\u003c\/strong\u003e’s swirling music accompaniment stitches an evocative mix of musical styles, the ragged wind beneath the lyrics’ wings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlthough the duo first collaborated in their previous group \u003cstrong\u003eDragged Up\u003c\/strong\u003e, their disparate musical and artistic backgrounds make for an alluring mix in Gichard. Lalli has spent the last 20 years in the Glasgow underground, most notably in the noise rock group \u003cstrong\u003eVOM\u003c\/strong\u003e, while Lisa Jones’s practice was in poetry and spoken word. Beginning as co-vocalist in her previous band, in Gichard her lyrics are centre stage; the vision concocted alongside Lalli amounts to a total world-build.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChins For Lefty scans almost like a novel, with each track elucidating a skewed universe that bears only some resemblance to the one you and I partake in. Like all works of fiction Gichard’s songs are rooted in reality and the lived experiences of its authors, but here characters are exaggerated, social mores and habits are pulled apart to reveal their inherent alienness. Universal emotions are laid bare, the bright light of anxious examination searching out every hairline fracture in our relationships. Distorted and cracked, the mirror that Gichard hold up to our world is also pretty damn funny. Opener \u003cem\u003eCholesterol Test\u003c\/em\u003e launches an expansive, cosmic guitar and synth intro that belies the Tascam-tape recorder it was recorded onto, like a Chromatics cut substituting anxiety for overt sexuality. Here Jones intones an apology to a non-responsive recipient, in the medium of a long voice note forensically deconstructing an interaction from the night before. Over punk guitars and shuffling, lo-fi drum machine splutters, the narrator in \u003cem\u003eAsking The Apes\u003c\/em\u003e “prefers things to people” before being taken hostage in the city zoo to confess an obsession which consumes the protagonist, ending with the immortal two liner “I sleep in a cocoon of old newspapers at the end of your street \/ And I think I have been fired from my job,” On album standout \u003cem\u003ePosthumous Hologram\u003c\/em\u003e, the narrator is faced with a human simulacra, in this case an undead pop star; the face of the encroaching technological singularity. Yes, it does requests, it can do My Way in 200 different language options. But what are the implications? While you’re left pondering, the alternating deadpan verse delivery and undeniably catchy chorus keep you company.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy the time \u003cem\u003eBreak Up With Johnny Dogbirth\u003c\/em\u003e rattles into view, the band are satirising a suburban inanity blown up to cartoon proportions, soundtracked with a drawled musicality that recalls Rowland S. Howard’s post-Birthday Party balladeering. This\u003cbr\u003eapproach is furthered on Human Resources: over an angular guitar+bass track, Jones’s short story recalls Dry Cleaning’s erudite lyrical post punk. On \u003cem\u003eSoft Face\u003c\/em\u003e, Lalli’s guitar and drum machine are swathed in echo and delay, as Jones dissects\u003cbr\u003edating rituals with a west of Scotland drollness. \u003cem\u003eHamming It Up\u003c\/em\u003e brings a porcine perspective in a short story that begins with the line “I was breastfeeding discreetly in the service station. She didn’t mind.” What follows is a passage punctured with\u003cbr\u003ecanned laughter and a narrative involving tribute acts, modern farming techniques.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBrilliant first single \u003cem\u003eYour Private Hell\u003c\/em\u003e closes the album, the closest the group get to earnest perhaps, filtered through a surreal central Scottishness. While \u003cem\u003eYour Private Hell\u003c\/em\u003e might seem like a sardonic take down of romance, perhaps it’s the very distillation\u003cbr\u003eof love in all its awkwardness, selflessness and weirdness. Here there’s a distinctive Glasgow-ness to this doomed romance: the protagonist falls for an outsider, offers them cheap jarred hot dogs and carbolic soap (the infamous, excoriating soap dished\u003cbr\u003eout in schools and government buildings throughout Scotland), offers to cover up a murder, stalks them in the all-night Spar. It’s a short story of intrigue, murder and the irresistible pull of self-sacrifice to share in someone else’s suffering. If that’s not love,\u003cbr\u003ewhat is it? \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is it, then: the world as narrated by Gichard. Absurd, laugh-out-loud-funny and maybe even with a little earnestness mixed in, just don’t look too hard. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Night School","offers":[{"title":"LP - 180g Vinyl","offer_id":57707550277977,"sku":"SDZ-13717","price":29.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0588\/3455\/0945\/files\/Gichard_-_Chins_For_Lefty.jpg?v=1775064840","url":"https:\/\/spindizzyrecords.com\/products\/gichard-chins-for-lefty-lp-vinyl","provider":"Spindizzy Dublin","version":"1.0","type":"link"}