In terms of new music for 2020, you could do a hell of a lot worse than look out for the new single from Dogtooth due to drop on the 22nd of February.
Despite still being in the first flush of youth, they have already been around for aeons. Like Ash and Silverchair before them, releasing music in their early teens, their “A Way of Life” EP coming out in 2015. The CD cover spoke “mod” and their original track A Way of Life had a sub David Watts rumble to it as they espoused a similar tale to The Red Eyes This is My Life. Elsewhere the two covers – The Stone Roses, I Wanna Be Adored and Dr Feelgood’s Roxette showed musicianship and promise beyond their years (13 & 15 at the time of release).
Fast forward 5 years and their youthful exuberance is overflowing on new track Cut. I was blown away by the track on first listen, and the joy doesn’t abate on subsequent listens. The track positively crackles with explosive energy. Their sound has developed over the intervening years, Cut does just as its title suggests. Sharp edgy riffing and driving melody slicing through the competition, the band carving their name into the memory of anyone that hears this. With incisive direct tunes like this, Dogtooth deserve to be huge.
For the full Dogtooth experience, you can catch the band live in Glasgow’s Stereo on 22nd February.