Glasgow post-punk troupe Book Klub share pure despair on their new single, “Life of Me”
Since 2019, Book Klub have been steady members of the growing Glasgow and Edinburgh punk scene while releasing all but three singles to match their high wire performances. The group’s sound is a darkened shade of gothic vocal inclinations and shoegaze guitars amid a backdrop of urgent lyricism by frontman Reece Robertson.
On their latest single, “Life of Me,” Robertson seems to be at the edge of his sanity as he recounts a tale of a friendship on the ropes. The quartet infuses call and refrain pop sequences into grand melodramatic pieces that illustrate the direness of Robertson’s lyrics. “Would you die for the life of me?,” gasps Robertson, the passion of his delivery recalling Iceage’s Elias Ronnenfelt from that band’s early punk days. Robertson seems as though he’s destined to fall into the abyss with each word he recites, the struggles of friendship being too much of a burden to carry.
“‘Life Of Me’ is a song we wrote pre-lockdown and has long been a favourite of ours, especially to play live. We recorded it in September 2020 with Paul MacInally at 45 A-Side studios in Glasgow,” writes the band in a press release. “In the studio, we wanted to expand on our previous material, and try more varied instrumentation like some industrial percussion, synthesised elements, saxophone and orchestral samples. Along with the video accompanying the track, ‘Life Of Me’ is the first piece of what we have in store this year.”