Autocamper announce debut album, due 11th July on Safe Suburban Home and Slumberland Records
Debut album from new Manchester-based pop four-piece.
FFO The Pastels, Frankie Cosmos, Comet Gain, The Smashing Times, Sharp Pins
Autocamper
Announce debut album, What Do You Do All Day?
Due 11th July on Safe Suburban Home
and Slumberland Records (US)
Share new single "Again" - Watch the video here
Live dates throughout the summer
Manchester’s Autocamper are the perfect pop antidote to the city’s predictable post-punk machismo. Like a Northern kitchen sink rendering of The Vaselines’ call and response motif, their world-weary reflections on bedroom tiffs and hungover misdemeanors capture the jangle pop spirit of the ‘80s without the C86 revisionism.
Today, they announce debut album What Do You Do All Day?, due 11th July on Safe Suburban Home and Slumberland Records (US). To accompany the news, they unveil new single "Again".
Speaking about the song, Autocamper share: "Again felt like the best track to release to signal our foray out of ‘cassette pop’. Lyrically, it rides the contradiction between feeling inadequate and finding happiness in the beauty of other people and how that can make you feel awful and great at the same time. It comes from a very sincere place. Musically, I think we've cemented our individual sound as a band here, leaning far less on our influences."
Autocamper - "Again"
Video: https://youtu.be/7-G9ZBPNXEU?si=0VvFDdxjFo37vD6t
Stream: https://li.sten.to/autocamper-all-day
Album Preorder:
https://autocamper.bandcamp.com/album/what-do-you-do-all-day
Autocamper were formed on a crisp, autumnal evening in October 2022; via a combination of mutual friends, anonymous internet ads and chance encounters at an Umbrellas’ gig (future Slumberland Records label mates). Honing their sound across the ever-dwindling practice spaces of the city, much of the album was thrashed out between the backrooms of pubs, half-constructed studio spaces, and a (now demolished) disused commercial kitchen unit. Though a true DIY sensibility permeates the music and ethos of the band, their debut LP sees them step up a level from previous self-recorded releases.
“Some of us hadn’t been in bands before Autocamper, and when you listen to recordings we took from practices early on you can hear that in how we’re playing”, they share. “All the songs on the album were written once we’d become mates and gotten really comfortable playing together, and also played a lot of gigs. I think there’s a nice sense of growth from the first stuff we put out on Bandcamp to the songs on the new record.”
Vocalist and guitarist Jack Harkins adds, “I put on my sunglasses and manifest that I am a decadent millionaire popstar, like Lee Hazlewood meets Bryan Ferry, and the hits come flowing out.”
Live Dates
22nd May – Manchester. Soup Kitchen
24th May – Bristol Goes Pop
21st June – Sheffield, Hallamshire
4/5th July – Manchester Pop Festival
July 11th to 27th – UK Tour, TBA
9th Aug – Preston Pop Festival
14/15th Nov – Malaga Pop Festival
Recorded at Glasgow's Green Door Studio and produced by Chris McCory of Catholic Action, What Do You Do All Day? sees Autocamper shed their bedroom pop roots, while retaining the candid, bittersweet sincerity of earlier singles. Jack Harkins' casual lilt often resembles a less baritone, Northern English iteration of Calvin Johnson, countering keyboardist Niamh Purtill’s soft, whisper-like timbre. This classic dynamic runs through the album, yielding a tenderness that strikes a perfect balance — never too cloying, and offering a modern twist on the unpretentious earnestness found in '60s sunshine pop of groups like The Millennium.
A good melody is inherently sincere as it originates from an authentic emotional space. In the case of Autocamper, memorable melodies are abundant, shaped by an impressive collective knowledge of music's past, present, and future. Their sound is both nostalgic and fresh, combining the DIY pop sensibilities of Sarah Records with the jangling, melodic impulse of James Kirk-era Orange Juice, while also capturing the heartfelt songwriting of Curt Boetcher and Sandy Salisbury.
Autocamper’s music explores, “that feeling of melancholy in a location, piece of work or interaction with a person” shares Jack. “It's that sick in the stomach optimism. It seems to be an oxymoron of a feeling but makes you feel alive. This comes hand in hand with sincerity. I think people can tell if you're being honest in songs and I think people enjoy it more.”
Autocamper are
Jack Harkins (guitar, vocals), Niamh Purtill (keys, vocals), Harry Williams (bass) and Arthur Robinson (drums)
Preorder:
https://autocamper.bandcamp.com/album/what-do-you-do-all-day
Tracklisting
1. Again
2. Red Flowers
3. Map Like A Leaf
4. Foxes
5. Proper
6. You
7. Dogsitting
8. Somehow
9. Linnean
10. Street View
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