Furrowed Brow: Literature and #nofilter
‘Last time we spoke I was lamenting not having a little Tascam cos I'm in love with that tapey sound, but buying one, maintaining it and learning how to use it still felt like way too much work so we found this little analogue place Guerrilla Studios in Stockport to record our songs. It has a Tascam 16 track reel-to-reel and a Tascam mixing desk which both hit my g-spot hard... I got my Tascam after all!’ – Richey (Furrowed Brow)
A lot can change in less than a year, and it has for Furrowed Brow. The band are back with a new line-up, a new single called ‘Jill’ and lead singer Richey is happier with their sound than ever!
Furrowed Brow. From left to right - Evie Chalmers, Ruairi Coyle, Richey Ostrowski, Marc Ciufo Green and Meg Robinson. Image Credit: Natalie Ciufo Green.
We previously wrote about Furrowed Brow in 2021 for their single and music video ‘Punctual Punk’ and its B-Side ‘The Narrative Of Hugh Gordon Pym’. Following the release of ‘The Endless Shouting Tomorrows’ and their eight-track cassette ‘What Good’s A Hat Without A Mirror?’, we caught up with the band for their last single ‘I Threw The Bathwater Out’ in May 2022.
The new line-up for the Manchester quintet sees Richey Ostrowski, guitarist Meg Robinson and bassist Evie Chalmers joined by Marc Ciufo Green on keyboards and Ruairi Coyle on drums. As seen in the recent Sab One Shot live video of the band’s performance at AMP Studios in London, the new members have real chemistry with the existing band, also adding their voices to the mix along with Evie and Richey.
Image Credit: Natalie Ciufo Green.
It’s this line-up that recorded their latest single ‘Jill’ and it’s scathing B-Side ‘TikTok Twat’. Richey talks more about recording their new music at Guerrilla Studios:
‘The guy there Paul was great to work with and knew his shit, it was a dream really. The most time-consuming thing was setting up all the amps, mics and instruments to make sure we had everything sounding right cos obviously when you're recording live in the same room with everything bleeding into each other you can't really go back and change things like you can with a digital setup. We went through a few songs to warm up and then hit record, we did both tracks in two or three takes. We did overdub the main and backing vocals after but that was right at the end of the day - we had so little time left we did all of them first take, with one little punch-in I think.’
“The lead track 'Jill' I wrote after reading a book of the same name by Philip Larkin, set in the early 40s. It's about a very shy young man who arrives to study at Oxford - he's somewhat intimidated by university life and retreats into writing letters to himself from his imaginary sister, Jill. Bit weird I know. One day he sees a girl in the library and - guess what - she looks exactly like the Jill he'd imagined. And guess what - the girl's name is Gillian! Over the next few weeks he desperately tries to find her again. When he does... well let's just say he makes a tit of himself. It's not an especially great book but it got me thinking.” – Richey
Beginning with spacey organ from Marc Ciufo Green, Furrowed Brow’s tape-recorded sound is dry and crisp, capturing the new quintet’s chemistry exactly as it should be – without compromise and without the extra bullshit. But their performance here is better than ever before.
There’s an air of The Stranglers in Furrowed Brow when Meg Robinson’s Telecaster tone is combined with Marc’s swirly keyboard solo. And Ruairi Coyle brings a new energy in the usual standing position that is expected of Furrowed Brow’s rhythm section, with more precision and dexterity than this band has ever had.
‘Oh! Jill are you really there, take no heed of my distracted stare, it all began as a trivial lie, when you brought me back from the edge of life.’
But the mainstay of The Brow is the inspired delivery of its frontman. Rhyming his lyric throughout, Richey has written a catchy and fun take on the source material, describing the protagonist John as ‘A lonelier worm you couldn't find, severed in two but still alive.’ Another signature part of Furrowed Brow’s sound is the shouting backing vocals from Evie Chalmers, bellowing every other line as if their mic isn’t hooked up. It’s incredible to think the vocalists captured so much character merely in their first take, when technology often affords the artists of today endless goes at the perfect vocal.
‘The B-side 'TikTok Twat' is a silly song about social media. I downloaded TikTok a few months ago to see what all the fuss was about and, unsurprisingly, it was shit, people miming to things and jigging about in a really cringe effort to accumulate likes, or shares, or whatever it is. But it seemed the absolute natural progression of the world order, which is quite a sad thing really. I know I'm a complete idiot for not getting the band on there because it's such a powerful marketing tool but I just feel I've completely reached my limit; Instagram is soul-crushing enough, I just cannot handle any more.’ – Richey
As seen in the Sab One Shot video, Ruairi clip-clops the intro of this song, rolling the dead horse of social media into town for their B-Side ‘TikTok Twat’. Similarly, Evie’s bassline ping-pongs in jest, all setting the stage for Richey’s tirade against one of the world’s most popular digital platforms.
Image Credit: Florintein.
‘Got so many filters on, my face looks barely human. Bathroom mirror sex attire, for the validation I require.’
In his lyric, Richey covers many aspects of the TikTok persona, including the opening lines above, and the growing trend of sharing extreme trauma with a humorous slant, ‘Tragic attempts to be amusing represent my self-abusing.’ With all these words thrown around, Richey reiterates that Furrowed Brow is clearly not one for this crowd, ‘All the cute bands get it right, stay online, stay on side. Words must surely not include obscenities - well fuck you.’ And through it all, the band mocks Richey’s subjects with Muppet-esque backing vocals.
There are simply too many excellent lines in ‘TikTok Twat’ to quote them all, but it can be summed up with the closing lyric of the first verse; ‘A perfect life is a perfect sham, we all know this from Instagram. But after all it's worse than that, I've just become a TikTok Twat.’
What you hear in these two songs is a real representation of Furrowed Brow as they appear in their live sets. Short of recording a full gig for release, this is the closest a listener can get to having The Brow in their living room. Richey highlights everything that’s great about Furrowed Brow in 2023:
‘The recordings sound so good though... they're full of little blemishes and mistakes which, for me, is what gives recordings their essence. Also, generally, the parts are just played so much better. We have a new drummer and a new synth/organ player now - Ruairi and Marc - and they're the absolute dog's bollocks. We're starting to feel like a proper band rather than a joke one now.’
So when are they releasing a live album?
Image Credit: Natalie Ciufo Green.
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The works of Furrowed Brow are available to download and stream on their Bandcamp page.
Alternatively, stream Furrowed Brow on Spotify.
Follow Furrowed Brow on Facebook and Instagram @furrowedbrowband, and on Twitter @furrowedbrowMCR.
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