Already dubbed the best unsigned band in Britain by no-lesser pop scholars than [a]Blur[/a],[a]Murry The Hump[/a] are the latest band to link the words Welsh and cool.
Hailing from Aberystwyth, the clues to their roots are many. They write about S4C, singer Matthew Evans has the strange phrasing of someone singing in a second language, and they have a song called ‘Green, Green Grass Of Home’. Put that flag away, though, because it has nothing to do with Tom Jones. This version is about scoring high-quality drugs and sounds like Syd Barrett hanging out in Twin Town. It’s Murry The Hump all over.
Occupying the same skewed pop mindset as Super Furries and Gorky’s, Murry The Hump can’t quite decide what genre to be. So art-punk mixes with vague hip-hop, rampant psychedelia rubs up against indie and everything throbs with a desire not to be pigeonholed. Which, along with mountains of free narcotics and obliging groupies, is obviously every band’s greatest wish. But few carry it off with the fidgety style of Murry The Hump.
It seems entirely natural that ‘Colouring Book’ should be frazzled country and new single ‘Thrown Like A Stone’ blissfully lilting pop pastoralism. In fact, the only thing that makes no sense whatsoever is why they haven’t yet got a deal. Start printing the T-shirts now – ‘Blur: Know Their Onions’.