Leg Puppy are once again Han Solo to Joyzine’s Chewbacca as they give us another video exclusive, this time for the track ‘(Detroit) Bitter Sweet Social Distancing’ taken from the album A Guide to Social Distancing released earlier this year:
“After ‘A Guide to Social Distancing’ was kept off the Number 1 spot by Lewis Capaldi, Leg Puppy decided to take his anger to the streets of Surrey. Causing mass destruction, this is a man who is alone in the world, he doesn’t care.”
The video is a less pushy nod to The Verve’s ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ video and if you’ve ever wondered how people react when a man in a clown mask walks down Egham High Street then this will give you your answer and, judging by the wide-eyed looks on some kid’s faces, they may have sneaked a look at Stephen King’s ‘It’.
The track itself pays homage to the fact that Detroit is a place fecund with musical royalty such as The Stooges, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Motown Studios and Muddy Waters who were either born there or settled there. Leg Puppy talk about ‘Detroit’ being influenced by Berlin Techno and the music festival Love Parade and, to my ears, I also hear a dark trawl through the moody end of trip-hop; think Kruder & Dorfmeister around the time of The K&D Sessions. Apart from a swirling neon-desert hiatus in the middle, track is broad and deep and features a 4-on-the-floor stomp and the odd ability to seem fast and slow at the same time; no mean feat. It’s one of the stand out tracks of the album and I would highly recommend checking out this and the album.
Review by Paul F Cook