The Barratts to celebrate release of new EP Holding Up The Queue with headline Black Prince gig

The Barratts release their new EP on Friday. .

Indie quartet The Barratts release their new EP Holding Up The Queue this week – six tracks which bring together tales from a fictional town the band has created for the record.

The EP consolidates three singles which have been released this year alongside three new tracks.

And, to celebrate the EP’s release on 12” vinyl by Eight Limb Entertainment, the band is headlining a gig at The Black Prince this Friday.

Talking about the record, frontman James Faulkner said: “While we were recording, we realised the songs all seemed to come from the same place and seemed to evoke the same setting somehow.

“Although there’s a broad array of sounds on there, we felt that the spirit of the music and the lyrics seemed related to each other and this concept came together of setting the EP in a fictional town.

“The vinyl comes with a map and a sort of brief, word-of-mouth history of the place, which we called Blackham St. Jude’s.

“I like to think there’s a narrative in there, but I’d rather people made their own minds up on that, or just view it as a series of vignettes, like finding a long-lost photo album under the floorboards, or a night of vaudeville on wax.”

The Barratts have been working on the EP for the last year and a half and recorded Holding Up The Queue with Mark Cann at The Lodge in Northampton and Tom Whitney at Moosum Studios in Wellingborough.

They recorded the six tracks live in the same room together, finding it enabled them to capture the right energy for the collection of songs they had written.

Since July, they have released three tracks from the EP - Garden Hopping, The Black Spot and Rowan Tree Blues.

These are joined by Spanish Influencer, Wrapped In Gold and Semi-Detached.

Faulkner is joined in The Barratts by guitarist Brandon Essom, bassist Kyle Homer and drummer Evan Bridgstock.

Essom said: “We feel the three singles capture the over-arching mood of the record, although it’s definitely something that lends itself to being listened to as a whole.”

Faulkner describes the band’s latest single, Rowan Tree Blues, as already being a live favourite for fans and band alike.

“It concerns a local lad’s infatuation with a local witch who passes him by daily, but is aloof and unattainable.

“It could be seen as a hymn to femininity and its bewitching power, or a serves-you-right to the misguided narrator, who must clearly change (or cut down the Rowan Tree outside) to have a chance of coming close to this elemental force.”

Talking about EP closer Semi-Detached, Faulkner explains it’s a “melancholy folk song” of sorts, adding: “I imagined it as the sort of thing you’d hear someone singing to themselves in a bus stop at four in the morning, thinking about the doors that have closed in their life and whether they’re still on the latch.

“Almost like a melancholy folk song, but taking a leaf out of that book with flashes of a kind of optimistic opportunism.

“That said, there are lines concerning loss in a broader sense and the fact that it’s universal. The title of the EP also comes from this one and it ends with a macabre twist.”

For Holding Up The Queue, The Barratts teamed up with Eight Limb Entertainment, who have released records by acts including Baby Lung, Sarpa Salpa, Phantom Isle, Rolling Thunder, Low Girl and Megalashhh.

They are also due to release the debut album by bloody/bath in November.

Talking about teaming up with the Northants label, Essom said: “We were really excited at the opportunity to have a vinyl pressed with Eight Limb, they’ve done a lot of good work with local artists over the past few years.

“It’s good to get this EP recorded on vinyl, it’s been an idea in our heads since we started making music together and these songs are definitely the right ones for it.

“Not to mention, it’s just great having something tangible to hold.”

To celebrate the EP’s release on Friday, The Barratts are teaming up with Rolling Thunder and Chargr for their first headline gig at The Black Prince in Abington Square since 2022.

Homer added: “Release shows always feel extra special and it’s a good opportunity to celebrate with our mates and the local scene more generally.”

Turning to the future, The Barratts hope to continue to tour to promote the EP.

Tickets for the gig at The Black Prince on Friday, October 4, cost £3 in advance via www.wegottickets.com/event/630676 or £5 on the door.

For more information visit https://eightlimbentertainment.com and https://linktr.ee/thebarratts_