Landing on the nascent Secret Friend imprint, which across a smattering of releases (the latest Max Winter release for one) is rapidly establishing itself as a worthy arbiter of fresh, avant-pop taste, the new single from Norman D. Loco is loaded with textural complexity and puckish intent. Much like the aforementioned Winter, the four members of Norman D. Loco refined their skills at a ‘fancy’ music school, in this case Guildhall conservatoire. And it’s clear that these scholarly pursuits are being put to good use.
Rooted in luminous lo-fi psych pop circulations – much like the scratched-up prettiness of feeble little horse – ‘i want a beer’ resembles a music that has been churned up and reconstituted over and over, its mangled remnants then hand-stitched together to form a mesmeric and bespoke piece of art. Each section of the track is marking a whole new territory from the last – a whacked-out effect here, a rocking fuzz section here; enjoying one lead vocalist, try a second! And inflating all these beguiling patchwork aesthetics, the lyrics are also wildly scattered, ranging from the morose, to the benign, from the throwaway, the philosophical, to the plain absurd: (“do you want a lighter? // suddenly you’re a biter” is a crazy parting lyric).
And the facetiousness of it’s title becomes quickly apparent upon the dropping the needle. Beneath all the playfulness and performed nonchalance, at the track’s core lies a beautiful bittersweet yearning for something greater, and the slight feeling that maybe, just maybe, Norman D. Loco want something more than just…beer.
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