The Orwells - Who Need You

The thrashiest, brattiest new band on the planet just got a whole lot meaner. The Orwells have never been the type to apologise. Second EP ‘Who Needs You’ wasn’t ever going to be hastily filled with half-measures. There was just about as much chance of that as seeing Emeli Sandé shirking the opportunity to appear at a national event. The Orwells? They’d rather gatecrash a Presidential inauguration than sing aloud to the flag. Everything’s performed on the band’s own terms, hence why this latest EP is crammed full of childish covers and hell-raising anthems.

‘Who Needs You’ is defined by its opening title-track and some subsequent odes to fellow grit-endorsing bands. Misfits and Black Lips receive the homage treatment. The Orwells’ very first haphazard studio recording was a cover of The Strokes’ ‘Barely Legal’. Similarly tightly-wound and chockfull of harsh pronunciations, every speck of scuzzy force from each of the band’s forefathers is duly honoured.

But it all falls back to the opener. Think the unhinged energy of FIDLAR, minus the bongs and the skateboards. The Orwells are still kids, covering the songs of their heroes. Sooner or later fellow young’uns just leaving school (let’s call them mini-Orwells) will be covering the hell out of ‘Who Needs You’ and all the unapologetic records that’ll shortly follow.