York-based alt-electronic duo, Haxby Swango, recently announced their signing to Yorkshire electronica label, Anonymous Records. The band will be releasing their latest EP ‘The Lately Low’ under the imprint on 28th November 2015, a collection of songs mixed and mastered by the legendary producer Howie Weinberg (Nirvana, Beastie Boys, Best Coast).

 
On the signing, Anonymous Records co-founder, Stewart Moss comments: “When we first heard Haxby Swango, we knew that there was something special here; they’re not your average electronic duo - we are really enthusiastic about this signing!”

 
“We are really excited about the future!” adds Jack Swango, keyboardist “A label for electronic music is really progressive for Yorkshire, and the North in general. We are really happy to add colour and strength to the Anonymous Records movement.”

 
Aside from their striking approach to the visual aesthetic of the project, the pair’s radically free and forward-thinking electronica sees them carving out a very particular niche within the subculture; these aren’t dance floor bangers - influenced by the sounds of their youth (a grimy diet of hard dance, hard rock and rap) it's best to think of them as The Cure in a nightmarish alternate reality where they’d been influenced by Die Antwoord, Grimes, The XX and Smashing Pumpkins.

Placing as much importance on cultural and visual influences as on musical ones, Haxby Swango also cite Japanese anime and J-pop culture as big aspects of their personality. Its colourful and vivid imagery is most obviously present in their monolithic mega-disco soundscapes that trigger a whole range of senses at once, sometimes to the point of over-stimulation.

Title track 'The Lately Low' is a prime example of their astute and often melancholy lyricism, a Lynchian sideways look at contemporary pop music that's stuffed with disturbing imagery and strange tangents. Vocalist Hutchy's distinct Northern drawl tumbles out piquant one-liners like the confused lament of "I dragged my dog around for days after it died in lonely strides, in rememberance of the eyes I used to confide into" and the pithy sign off "all is love, all is pain, in the contours of the rain."

Blending elements of electronica, trap, hip hop, house and alternative rock, this multi-coloured genre-clash is surely one of the most unique sounds to ever emerge from Yorkshire.

 
Live dates TBA.

 
‘The Lately Low’ EP is released on Anonymous Records on 28th November 2015 – preorder here.
 
 
 
 
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Haxby Swango are:
 
Guitars & vocals – Hutchy Swango
Keys – Jack Swango