Leeds collective Living Body are pleased to announce “NO DEBT”, their second single of 2023, alongside a live session video and 11-date UK headline tour.

Following summer tour support shows with Owen (Mike Kinsella of American Football), Holiday Ghosts and Dolores Forever, the band are touring as a 5-piece with two drummers, honing their inimitable blend of blissful synthpop and harmony-driven, groove-laden indie/pop/math/shoegaze with their new single, a future classic in the up-and-coming genre of debt-abolition-rock.

Inspired by the US president’s campaign pledge to eliminate student debt and its subsequent crumbling under the weight of right-wing and corporate influence, in its simplest sense ‘NO DEBT’ is a song about how all education should be free, as songwriter Jeff T. Smith elaborates:

“The commodification of education creates schisms whereby capitalism deems certain types of learning as more valuable, while others are told by the UK prime minister to “retrain or find other jobs”. Whether it be neuroscience, engineering, queer theory or 17th century textiles, there is inherent value in expanding the overall breadth and scope of human knowledge. Much in the way that no one should be in debt for receiving health care, no one should be in debt for learning something, anything!”

“NO DEBT” also examines how multinational tech companies increasingly insert themselves into everyday life, challenging the need for traditional higher education while undermining reality and human connection. On the song’s closing line ‘funny, you replied, “Google it”’, Smith notes:

“On one hand, who really needs a university education when you can find the answer to anything on a screen in your pocket? But should we really place our entire basis for truth in the hands of one large profit-driven corporation? Ultimately, this poses quite serious future concerns surrounding our relationship to truth, facts, deepfakes, AI and corporate power.”

The live session video, filmed at Echelon Coffee Roasters in Leeds, showcases the band’s unique use of interlocking vocal, guitar and bass melodies and dense double-drumming polyrhythms.

Upcoming Live Dates:

October 21: Cardiff – SWN Festival
November 1: Brighton – the Prince Albert (w/ Perch)
November 2: London – New Cross Inn (w/ Rubie & Winifer Odd)
November 3: Birmingham – the Victoria (w/ Overcliff)
November 4: Bristol – the Exchange (w/ Lifter)
November 16: Newcastle – Cumberland Arms (w/ Waves of Dread)
November 17: Glasgow – Glad Cafe (w/ Come Outside, Codist)
November 18: Stockton-on-Tees – Songs From Northern Britain #10 at the Georgian Theatre
November 22: Salford – the Eagle Inn (w/ Real Terms, Oort Clod)
November 23: Liverpool – Kazimier Stockroom (w/ Real Terms)
November 24: Nottingham – JT Soar (w/ Real Terms, Kaliugah)
November 25: Leeds – Wharf Chambers (w/ Real Terms, Jooloosooboo)

Watch the live session HERE.