Noise Annoys: exmagician back with new album, fresh tunes from Beauty Sleep and Problem Patterns, Belfast gigs for Jesus Lizard and Swami & The Bed of Nails

Exmagician – Sit Tight (album, self-released)

EIGHT years between albums might seem like a long time, but Belfast psychedelic indie-pop merchants exmagician are in good company in the protracted procrastination stakes with the likes of David Bowie – nine years between 2003′s Reality and his posthumous swansong, The Next Day – and The Stone Roses – five years between their 1989 debut and The Second Coming.

Luckily, as with Bowie, Sit Tight has been worth our wait.

Anyone who enjoyed 2016′s Scan The Blue, which marked former Cashier No 9 duo Danny Todd and James Smith’s debut as exmagician, will surely dig their belated follow-up, which amplifies the laid-back yet limber vibes of its eclectic instrumentation-laden predecessor.

Its recent pair of lead singles are also the first two tracks on the record: Danny’s glam/funk slinker Sharpen These and the hazy/lazy Beckian ballad Keep Your Nose Clean from James will have successfully reassured long-time fans that all is well in the exmagician camp, while also piquing the interest of those who were still in their teenybopper years when the last record came out.

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The album builds on that promising start while continuing to trade off songwriting responsibilities between the pair throughout the rest of its seven songs: Dulliard is a twangy, Beatles-y, birdsong-flecked psychedelic cowboy ballad, Guidelines delivers a playfully struttin’ disco-strummer with choice Farfisa organ vibes and a glorious uber-catchy chorus swell (surely another single contender?), while Instinct serves up an easy-breezy, twangy-guitar-laden psychological stocktake of life in a supposedly post-conflict society (maybe) to round off side one.

The flip-side kicks off in style with the slow-burning Storyline’s shimmering, shoegazey existential lament, followed up by the similarly woozy and contemplative Losing My Flair and the upbeat Pistol, a dose of deceptively upbeat crystalline psychedelic indiepop.

The record concludes in fine style with Danny’s swoonsome, burnt-out ballad, Coast, a gentle, twinkly musical love letter to the sanctuary of home which should leave listeners with a warm glow of peace and contentment.

“Come right in,” he sings, “where the world don’t frighten me, and sit tight.”

As comebacks go, the belated return of exmagician is one you maybe didn’t know you needed – until now. A quick listen to Sit Tight should help you realise that they’re still as slanted and enchanting as ever – fall under their spell once again at exmagician.bandcamp.com.

Beauty Sleep – Big Sky (single, self-released)

BEAUTY Sleep are another band making a welcome return to active status at the moment. Having recently kicked off the next chapter of their career with the excellent single BIG + BAD, the Belfast synthpop duo are back once again with another top new tune in the form of Big Sky (clearly, they are now in their ‘big’ period).

“We wrote Big Sky after attending Primavera Festival in 2022, where we genuinely felt the stress of the pandemic leave our bodies as we danced to music we love with a crowd of gorgeous humans, friends old and new,” say Ryan and Cheylene of their soaring new feelgood summer hit.

“So it’s a cathartic song. About the magic of connection, how beautiful things can be. To take you on a journey from stressed and uninspired to euphoric and free. We hope it becomes the summer moment for all who listen to it – that feels like where it’s supposed to live.”

I think that is the sentiment, and indeed the song, we all need right now. Get involved with Big Sky now via beautysleep.ffm.to/bigsky, and pay attention here for news of more Beauty Sleep activity in the hours, days and weeks ahead – including a new video for their latest song filmed on their recent trip to Croatia.

Problem Patterns – I Think You Should Leave (single, Alcopop!)

CURRENTLY preparing to take the Glastonbury Festival by storm, Problem Patterns have a brand new banger in their locker in the form of their fantastic new single I Think You Should Leave – a celebratory ode to their home city of Belfast which is so good, they won’t be wasting it on the unwashed English hordes this weekend.

No, instead the quartet are holding back the live debut of what is very much a belated sequel to the Stiff Little Fingers anthem Alternative Ulster until they can play it in the heart of Belfast while supporting Jake Burns and co at their annual Custom House Square bash.

“Everybody leaves and nothing changes, I’ll stay here and create the spaces” they holler on the song commissioned by RTÉ Radio 1′s series The County Measure, which asks Irish musicians to pay musical tribute to their home counties – in this case Co Antrim and, by stealth, Belfast.

Shout along now then get it bought at problempatterns.bandcamp.com, and don’t miss the hearfelt/hilarious video for the song at youtube.com/@ProblemPatterns featuring sights, slams, pints and hip-hop dance routines, plus cross-community bonding a-go-go and guitar solos atop car bonnets.

Grab it, take it, it’s (y)ours, etc etc.

GIG RADAR: Jesus Lizard and Swami and The Bed of Nails in Belfast

AS IF getting to see the mighty, unexpectedly reactivated (again) Jesus Lizard making their Belfast debut wasn’t exciting enough, the fact that promoters to the stars Strange Victory have had the foresight to book said gig at the Limelight for my birthday on January 14 is just the icing on the (birthday) cake.

Having caught David Yow and co for the first time in Dublin on their last Irish visit – almost literally, given how the Jesus Lizard man crowd surfed right to the back of the venue – they immediately went on my ‘must see again’ list, so what better time to do that than while simultaneously lamenting my increasingly long lost youth amongst other jaded middle-aged types?

Much of the same crowd will probably be in attendance at another Strange Victory-backed show on September 20 of this year, this time at the Ulster Sports Club: John ‘Speedo’ Reis, he of Hot Snakes/Rocket From the Crypt/Drive Like Jehu fame, is back with new outfit Swami and The Bed of Nails and a brand new single, Privacy, which sounds not unlike Buzzcocks covering The Queers.

Sign me, and indeed you, up for both shows via strangevictorypresents.com.