The Cribs – “Swinging At Shadows”The Cribs – “Swinging At Shadows”

The Cribs, the British power trio made up of brothers Gary, Ryan, and Ross Jarman, have launched their new Sonic Blew Singles Club series. Every month, they’re releasing a new 7-inch containing two unreleased tracks from the sessions for their 2020 album Night Network. As Gary Jarman explains:

Basically, after 3 years away from the road we just ended up with SO many songs built up in the vaults that we wanted to try doing something different and interesting with them! We had a bunch of extra tracks from the Night Network sessions which we finished and mixed over lockdown… and then the extra downtime led to us coming up with several new songs also. Of course we could have just put them all to one side and held them back for a new album or whatever, but that doesn’t seem like much fun…

Back in the day, we were always a band that were known for our B-sides — a concept that is pretty much irrelevant nowadays…we know that the fans miss this, so setting up the Sonic Blew Singles Club seemed like the ideal solution — we get to clear the vaults, and people get a guaranteed new single plus B-side every month.

The first installment in the series, “Swinging At Shadows,” is here today. “‘Swinging At Shadows’ was recorded in LA during the Night Network sessions, and was earmarked as an early single from that album — but in the end we decided to hold it back,” Gary Jarman adds. “It seemed like an obvious choice for the first single from the Singles Club as it’s a big summery pop song — super fun and upbeat, with some throwback ‘woah-oh’s in the chorus…” Listen to it below.

The “Swinging At Shadows” 7-inch is out 9/24; you can subscribe to the Sonic Blew Singles Club here. The song’s B-side, “Taken To Tualatin,’ features former drummer Sleater-Kinney Janet Weiss on backing vocals:

“Taken To Tualatin” was written during the dark days of the first lockdown, whilst the Oregon wildfires were raging and blocking out the sun. It’s one of the most personal songs I have ever written. Janet Weiss (Sleater-Kinney/Quasi) joined me on backing vocals — it’s an honour to have her involved — not only is Janet one of my closest friends, she also has one of my favourite singing voices in the world, and writes amazing harmonies.