New single out from indie legends Spearmint, called Feels More Lonely, taken from their new album Chase Me on their own hitBACK label. Shirley Lee (who writes the songs) describes it as "classic upbeat Spearmint New Wave pop which explores the contradictions around feeling more lonely the less alone you are," and says it references both Cheers and Elvis Costello's Oliver's Army. They sound like a band who are very comfortable doing their own thing – there's a real sense of who they are behind this one, and that gives the whole track a pretty assured, confident feel.
Spearmint have been going since their 1999 debut A Week Away, with the same line-up throughout – Shirley Lee, Simon Calnan, James Parsons and Ronan Larvor – and Chase Me is their eleventh album proper, and the 65th release on hitBACK. They're reunited with producer Rhodri Marsden (Scritti Politti, Cardiacs) for this one, and Lee says the album tells "a story of success, disillusionment, disconnection, peril, and resurrection," built around three chases across a city at night. "The story would make a good movie I think," he says, "but we don't know how to do that, so we did this."
Chase Me comes out digitally, on CD and on limited vinyl via WIAIWYA, the vinyl edition including a 24 page lyric book with photos and illustrations. It follows a headline show in London.