London group Child’s Pose is a sincerely engineered take on the nervey, British post-punk of the late ’70s and the knife’s edge cat-walk of early ’80s new wave. Despite its nostalgic touch-backs, Child’s Pose’s sound is refreshingly nimble and moves without a hint of pretense. Their debut EP Eyes to the Right is over far too quickly at only four songs total (and under ten minutes total run time), but by your second spin (and you will want to spin it again) the jittery grooves and elastic dips of the chords and choruses will feel as familiar to you as worn-in pair of pajama pants.
Child’s Pose’s line up includes some familiar faces from the London punk scene, combining the talents of members of Sauna Youth, Woolf, Sarcasm, and Nekka into something slightly unpredictable, as it bends and contorts in accordance with the whims and curiosities of an idiosyncratic logic. I’ve read some name-checking of Sauna Youth concerning Child’s Pose’s sound, and while the rationale for this is self-evident, the comparison doesn’t quite capture the spiked quality of these compositions- their approximate quality to a stripped back Lizzy Mercier Descloux b-side, or the fact that they sound like they should be label mates with Mecca Normal.
If you’re looking for a blissy diversion this afternoon with just enough of a bite to wake you out of your mid-afternoon stupor, then you can give Child’s Pose’s Eyes to the Right a listen below via Bandcamp.
Get a copy of Eyes to the Right on vinyl from Thrilling Living Records here.
