shame builds momentum on new single “Nigel Hitter” [Video]

South-London post-punk outfit shame has shared their fourth and likely final single “Nigel Hitter” in anticipation of the release of their sophomore album Drunk Tank Pink on January 15, 2021 via Dead Oceans. 

Drunk Tank Pink will follow their debut LP Songs of Praise from three years prior and promises similar unyielding feelings of unrest. As the group of early and angsty twenty-something-year-olds continues to build on their previous singles “Water in the Well,” “Snow Day,” and “Alphabet,” “Nigel Hitter” delivers with a heightened urgency and nothing held back.

An off-kilter drumbeat and tambourine kick-off what frontman Charlie Steen calls “one of the vital organs of Drunk Tank Pink.” As an eccentric electric guitar joins the obscurity, so do Steen’s vocals displaying shades of an American comparable, Parquet Courts. 

Steen fittingly begins with “like the wheels a bus, it just keeps on turning,” which thematically, plays into what Drunk Tank Pink is supposed to be about: readjusting to a regular routine again after returning home from touring. 

As melodic guitar licks mimic Steen’s raw and reckless vocals, they part the way for a swampy, bass-driven finale. Despite a punchy and provoked tone, shame’s clever compositions in “Nigel Hitter” make for a pleasant resolve. “A necessary pulse,” says Steen. “A world of percussion and joy lies within.”

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