“The Last American Virgin” is the latest single from KATZ, a trio from Manchester, UK, self-released this New Year’s Day, as the first single of their upcoming EP to be released on February 3rd.
The band consists of Ben Williams on vocals and guitar, James Bradbury on lead guitar and bass, and Archie Wilkinson on drums.
The track is a bittersweet tale of lovesickness, inspired by the film of the same name, with an energetic mixture of surf-rock, indie pop and, punk, proudly DIY and Lo-Fi, as it was recorded “in an attic bedroom of a shared student house” according to the band, directly into cassette on a TASCAM 244, the venerated 4-track portastudio.
It starts with a frantic guitar strumming of 2 chords for a short while, an almost metronomic drum joins in, then the first verse comes, summing up the song for us:
Dreaming of her
Wishing I could be with her
She sees other guys
Wish I could make her mine
The pace of the song is energetic, the urgency emanating from it is nothing short of infectious, standing in sharp contrast with the melancholy and disillusionment found in lyrics, like the chorus:
Maybe it’s just me, maybe I’m not your type
why’d you have to tell me you’re mine
Maybe it’s just me, maybe I’m not your type
why’d you have to feed me these lies
Towards the end of the song, the drums play a machine-like staccato and Ben lets out a wistful falsetto, almost like a lament, before ending the track with a final chorus.
The end result is a lively tune, a song that contains elements of a potential classic: a universal pop song theme, a relentless tempo, and tight musicians whose sound seems embarked on a mission, we won’t hear the last of them for sure.
Qneydl 