BACK in October last year, Luminous Plectrum were fortunate enough to feature Manchester-based four-piece The Disappeared.
Thankfully, they are back with a fresh bunch of tighter sounding quintessentially British indie-pop songs and fortunately they've lost
none of the relevance, attitude and urgency that made them firm favourites here in the first place.
'First up is Eight Miles Down', a song lead singer Jeremy Santhouse says is on the uncommon topic of suicide - sparked from the untimely death of a friend.
He said: "My friend's untimely, self-caused death shocked me in a way that I couldn't have foreseen.
"For starters, I was more angry than sad. I wanted to shake him by the shoulders and shout at him for being so selfish, and for causing so much anguish to those around him. Hence the song’s opening line is 'I can't believe my ears, what the hell were you thinking?'".
"The middle section of the song contains two ancient honorifics for the deceased: “may your memory always be for a blessing on your family” and “may your soul always be bound up” (…traditionally finished with… in the bonds of eternal life or similar words.)"
'Eight Miles Down' may be driven by warming guitar pop, but Jeremy's tender lyrics superbly and carefully depict the emotional rollercoaster of grief.
Although the song has been birthed from an unfortunate scenario, it shows Jeremy's writing is evolving.
Crafting a pop song on the death of a friend must be a difficult process, but Jeremy does it with confidence and 'Eight Miles Down' is now surely a benchmark for better things to come.
Another new effort is 'Some Trusts (Are Self-Evident)', a song with an important message, according to Jeremy.
He said: "'Some Truths...' started life as a letter to my step-son. I wanted to show him that, whoever you are, wherever you live and whatever you believe in, some things in life are always, objectively, right.
"The song's message is this: if we as a wealthy, modern-day, society can’t help those around us who need it, whether it’s the sick, the young, the elderly or those less well-off, that failure diminishes us all.
"I'm not alone in this view. The huge growth (and success) of charity telethons and high profile benefit concerts in the last 25 years shows there is a general recognition that sometimes other people do need our help. And, more importantly, that the rest of us can do something about it.
"The title is a play on the start of the US Declaration of Independence, which states: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.'"
The final new song from The Disappeared is 'Make Me Rich, Don't Make Me Poor' - a good old-fashioned love song straying away from the darker side of their material.
Jeremy said: Written one evening from a set of lyrics that emerged almost fully formed, this song was intended to be played on a single acoustic guitar.
"It's very unlike anything I've written before; no references to death, politics, social injustice.
"It's an old-fashioned love song, nothing complicated.
Got me lots of extra “boyfriend points” from Mrs The Disappeared too. I’m in her good books for this one."
The Disappeared are back with a bang and Luminous Plectrum are grateful they shared their new material with us. We can't wait to find out what they come up with next.
You can listen to The Disappeared's Summer 2011 material by clicking here.
IF you would like to be featured on Luminous Plectrum, e-mail luminous_plectrum@hotmail.co.uk or follow us on Twitter - @luminousplectrm
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