Probably best known as the guitarist with Maximo Park, Duncan Lloyd is always one to keep his fingers in many pies; busying himself with a variety of side-projects including Decade In Exile, Nano Kino and solo work under his own name.
It is the latter which draws our attention as the other week, Lloyd released new album, I O U O M E. The follow up to 2008’s Seeing Double, warm, scuzzy and cathcy, it is a hooky, fuzz-laden barrel of indie joy. Demonstrating all those attributes (and more) in three-and-a-half-minutes is latest single ‘Heart in Delay’. It is a frenetic and urgent burst of scuzzy, fuzzy guitar pop with grunge-meets-shoegaze tones, with catchy hooks slicing though the sludgy distortion. As always with Lloyd, this is all tempered with an immediate warmth from his hushed vocal which is also permeated with a sense of intimacy, melancholy and understated optimism. Another fine example of what Lloyd is capable of and marvellous intro to the new record, if you have yet to acquaint yourself with it.
You can give ‘Heart in Delay’ the once over below and I O U O M E is out now, and you can listen to it here.