London’s Cosines are back with Commuter Love / Disclosed Stories 7”, their follow up to their debut single Hey Sailor Boy! / The Answer. Once again on the unstoppable Fika Recordings label (home of Tigercats, Making Marks, the Smittens) which is becoming known as the beacon of what’s cool and classy coming out of the indie pop underground in the UK.
As with their debut Cosines schizophrenic nature is their strength with being able to float above the current indie pop crop by infusing elements of baroque pop, krautrock, sunshine pop revival, glam rock, and synth-driven new wave while never taking so much from any genre to bog themselves down and lose sight of crafting perfect pop hits.
The A-side Commuter Love is the tale of someone who spends their days commuting to work set to a glam rock and romp. It’s an icy cool song about train commutes with nods to Blondie’s pouty pomp and Goldfrapp’s sultry stomp. Lyrics we can all relate to set to verse chorus verse, it’s a hit all the way to the top to help ease your working week and those daily travels. You know the moments where you are sitting there and you slip into your mind and you realize you are stationary and your life is passing you by. Time wasted in transit from station to station all to sit stationary at work at a desk or monitor only to get home to be so tired you are sat stationary again flipping from yet another type of station to station. You have more knowledge about the characters on tv and their lives than those of your friends.
The B-Side Disclosed Stories walks the line between sunshine revival, motorik krautrock-isms and stoic soul. It’s like if Camera Obscura was influenced by Neu! and fronted by Kirsty MacColl. The song recalls a place we’ve all been at some point where you have that one friend which is so close you think maybe it could work out, but you can’t ruin what you have. You are there for each other sharing those stories and times that are pure frustration watching each other make mistakes. You think if the person you were with was like them, but you know it will end it heartbreak if you did.