For a song about such a serious topic as global warming and it’s detrimental effects on our planet’s fauna, Environmental by Bristol band Ead Wood is actually quite an up-beat, catchy, quirky, little number.
Ead Wood are Ed Soles (vocal/guitar), Pete Woollaston (lead guitar), Chris Howarth (bass) and Dave Weir (drums). They’ve been together for a little while now having released the four track EP Beige Dreams in 2018, and followed that up with the singles Plum Cake and Skin (2019). They are establishing a notoriety for creating songs with a laid-back, warm, indie guitar-pop sound coupled with thoughtful, amusing lyrics.
The song starts with a very deliberate lo-fi fuzzy guitar sound, twinned with muffled drums and distant vocals. Singer Soles informs us about how the way we are treating our planet is having a negative effect on his mental health – ‘These days, these days are making me ill’. With its off-beat rhythms and edgy guitars Environmental, puts me in mind of some of the C86 bands, not the shambling ones, but the more musically adept artists like Mighty Mighty or Razorcuts. Ability coupled with intent.
According to Soles the song is about ‘The detrimental effects warm winters have on hibernating animals such as hedgehogs. The second verse is ‘Jonah and The Whale’ envisioning what Jonah would find in a whale now, mainly an array of plastic crap’ or as he says in the song – ‘A pair of flippy-floppies. an old hat and a used towel, a pack of Foster’s, a Bic lighter and a Frosty Jack’s’.
If you are a fan of angular post-punk, power pop tunes by bands like XTC; and you like songs with witty lyrics about thought-provoking topics by bands in the mold of Wire or They Might be Giants, then Environmental by Ead Wood will be right up your street. I recommend you walk it. Just don’t drop any litter while you’re about it.
Environmental is out as a digital release from 17/3/2021. It is taken from Ead Wood‘s forthcoming EP – Songs in The Quay of Sea which will be out in June and available in vinyl from Brutalist Records.
Ian Dunphy.
Halfway 2 Nowhere 