There's nothing quite like a hometown hero, and indie-rockers Uninvited are set to be yet another jewel in the crown of incredible talent coming out of Glasgow. Made up of vocalist/guitarist Gillian Dhlakama, vocalist/bassist Taylor-Ray Dillon, guitarist Bex Young, and vocalist/drummer Fiorenza Cocozza, the four-piece are a dream come true for fans of noisy guitars, excellent live shows, and super cool queer people in music. "I Feel A Bit Weird" is their first EP, preceded by one banger single after another, and the extended length allows them to push their sound further than ever before, and it's awesome.
"Gonna Get Better", first released at the start of August, opens the five-track run. The moody, classic pop-punk inspired belter takes upon the intimidating task of voicing how feels to watch a friend struggle with their mental health with equal parts gentleness and frustration. The singalong chorus builds up to the line "But I'm way too young to handle this, and you're way too smart to fall for this", perfectly encapsulating how too many of us have felt, but not been able to put into words. It takes skill to put something so difficult into 3 minutes and 15 seconds, but Uninvited succeed in a way that would suggest decades of experience. Musically, the song is on-point too, with the stop-and-start instrumentation and acapella sections harkening back to pop-punk's glory days. It's a fantastic track, what a way to kick off a debut EP.
"Friends With Massacre" was released back in March, and I'm pretty sure I'm responsible for at least 20,000 of its some 32,000 streams since then on Spotify. Offering a shot of adrenaline after the emotive "Gonna Get Better" - buzzy guitars, an instant earworm of a hook, and Coccozza's military precise drums propel the track's unrelenting groove. For me, it's the highlight of the EP - but nothing I can say compares to hearing the thing itself. If you listen to only one song from "I Feel A Bit Weird", make it this one, but to be safe you really should listen to the rest, because I have never claimed to be coming from an objective standpoint here.
"Here's Looking At You, Kid!" returns to the introspective lyricism and pop-punk influences of "Gonna Get Better" - this time dealing with a "cynical, critical" unrequited love. Most of the track is pretty high in energy - but a short acapella section following a brightly melodic guitar solo is what really elevates it - providing a second to breathe before the hooky chorus pulses back to life. It's sort of reminiscent of fan-favourite earlier release "The Party Song", and "Here's Looking At You, Kid!" will surely go down just as well as it's spiritual sibling.
Speaking of fan-favourites, any time Uninvited have teased a release in recent memory, people have all but begged for it to be "Portrait Of A Femme" - and it's finally here. The wait was worth it, sometimes songs you've heard live fail to deliver the same intensity and energy in the studio, but "Portrait" sounds just as good in my room as it does in King Tuts. The shortest song on the EP, "Portrait" is a dizzying rush of queer attraction, Uninvited really said that the Mona Lisa is a lesbian, and gay people went wild.
"Survivor's Guilt" closes out the EP, and it's devastating. The track is a heartbreaking ode to the potential loss of a best friend, focusing on the uniquely melancholy emotions surrounding these situations. The line "You and I were supposed to grow older" painfully calls back to "Gonna Get Better" - and being able to bookend the EP with these two inextricably intertwined songs only makes the whole body of work more special and meaningful. "Survivor's Guilt" ends on a hopeful note, and it's the sort of moment that could change the trajectory of someone's life.
Overall, "I Feel A Bit Weird" is an incredible, thoughtful, and achingly authentic body of work. Listen now - you won't regret it; if not for the brilliant lyricism or sublime instrumentation, but for the bragging rights of being there "before they got big", because it seems almost inevitable for Uninvited.
Catch them supporting Vukovi at the Cathouse:
30/11/2023
1/12/2023
Slay 🫵🏻😎
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