Hearing the birth of a band is a pretty rare thing; usually, the bedroom demos are a retrospective experience once you’ve consumed a couple of studio albums and have reached new depths of obsession. Being faced with the very first demo that London-based band Superficial Kitten have come up with, then, is a new angle – and a fascinating one. What’s immediately striking about ‘Zebra’ is its intrigue.
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It’s messy, yes, grounded by heavy-handed chords and just about in time, but Honor Louise and Nicky Rush hold it together with the dash of mystery that hovers around their online presence (which so far consists of colour gradients and “coming soon”), and is embodied in the chorus: “do you feel the Devil’s fingers running down your back / are you black with white stripes / or white with black”. ‘Zebra’ is a track that refuses to show its hand in its bare-bones sound and shadowy lyrics, but it’s also a sign of a band that could be very, very exciting in the year to come. Keep an eye on them on Twitter and Tumblr.
Words by Priya Bryant