UK duo, Drab City whose debut album Good Songs For Bad People will be released on June 12, via Bella Union. Alongside this news the band have shared a striking self-directed video for first single “Working For The Men.”

A heady air of dislocation envelops Drab City’s debut album, where songs of innocence and experience merge with dub, hip-hop, dream-pop and jazzy soundtrack vibes to intoxicating effect. Drab City are fixated on social alienation, violent revenge, and (perhaps) romantic love as salvation; topics not new in music, but listening to Drab City in 2020, one is struck by how uncommon they’ve become. Lyrically, these songs often project punkish angst and resentment.

“Working For the Men” is a degraded service worker’s revenge ballad, imagining male tormenters brought to a violent end. “Hand On My Pocket” tells of a destitute, wandering youth. One night she meets a stranger on a desert road, and is told of a nearby city where a soft, rich citizenry make easy targets. Class war is palpable. Other songs are more opaque, but seem to speak of being the black sheep of the family, or being weighed down by the dullness of hometown life. Yet, the casual listener might not notice the violence as the music itself is far from abrasive.

From Drab City:

One night fated to be slept
on the streets of Drab City
turns out lasts entire generations
We both drop dead
hungry each night
under foreign stars
Hair matted and mashed into the sidewalk glue
grime, spit, snot, olive pits, ashes, spoiled cream
We sleep huddled in the thinnest linens and dream
startlingly beautiful stuff
like ships with eight sails
and fifty canons mooring at the quay
or even just Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

When the landlord pays a visit he arrives
cheerful and singing in a flute like voice
an underdeveloped, simple and predictable tune
He wears boots like Robin Leach
And at the back of the skull
Wakes us with a kick
Then we’re off and away digging
other people’s ditches all day

We’re staring out the big window
in thisTurkish bakery
on the dirty boulevard
after sunset
blank, silent
and sucking the last of the grounds
Probably everyone around here wants us to die
Our feelings are unfashionable
Creative little groups of artists and influencers pass
carrying uniquely scented wallets

Everybody’s got nice stuff but me
I want a stereo I want a TV

Well I guess that’s everything
Avoid the authorities, live free, then die when it’s cool

Sincerely,
Drab City

Drab City
Good Songs For Bad People
track listing

1. Entering Drab City
2. Working For The Men
3. Hand On My Pocket
4. Another Time
5. Devil Doll
6. Troubled Girl
7. Just Me & You
8. Problem
9. Live Free & Die When It’s Cool
10. Standing Where You Left Me