Released: 30th September 2020
Rating: ★★★★★
Have you heard the good news? Walt Disco are here to spread the queer indie gospel. The ‘Young Hard and Handsome’ EP blends sweeping, church-choir vocals with indie and New Wave, in a way that’s both alluring and defiant. It’s finished off with a smear of glitter and a slash of lipstick, of course. Walt Disco will tell you to bugger off and blow you a kiss while they’re at it. Case in point; the single ‘Cut Your Hair’, which takes the common refrain oh-so-cleverly thrown out by gammons everywhere and turns the arrow back around to reduce the heckler to less than nothing. Walt Disco will not be condescended to.
Theirs is not an exclusive club, either. While the glam turbo-banger that is ‘I’m What You Want’ beckons the listener closer into Walt Discoworld, it’s EP opener ‘Hey Boy (You’re One of Us)’ that is the real statement of intent here. The band throw open the church doors and beckon in all the people like them, to dance in the pews and drink all the sacramental wine. This is the underlying theme of ‘Young Hard and Handsome’ – defiant joy, and a refusal to be afraid of difference. Walt Disco aren’t looking to be an exclusively queer band, but it’d be foolish to claim that isn’t part of it. With this EP, they carve out a space for queer culture in the more commonly straight indie world, and bring in the best of both.
Liam Konemann
