Body Horror have announced their debut EP ‘At The Nepo’, out October 30, and shared a new single, ‘The Nepo a Go Go’.

The band have roots in Powys, Tottenham and Birmingham, with Gethyn Thomas on vocals and guitar, Bart Williams on synths, drum machine and samplers, Michael Hanley on bass and Dan Ahlstedt on drums. ‘The Nepo a Go Go’ takes place in a fictional club, though what Thomas is writing about is rather less imaginary. “I’ve always liked songs about places. Like ‘Copacabana’ by Barry Manilow,” the band explain. “They’re usually hokey. But I wanted to take a song about a fictional venue/club and try to use it to talk about the rampant nepotism I see in the London music scene.” The song is actually the second half of a two-part idea. The first, ‘At The Nepo’, is about arriving at the club. ‘The Nepo a Go Go’ comes once the narrator is inside and starts wondering where he fits into the same world he is criticising. Part one introduces the place with the line, “A womb with a view, the heirloom umbilical.” By the second half, Thomas has turned the question back on himself: “just another Westerner with a seriously privileged appendage.” That self-implication makes the idea considerably more interesting than a simple complaint about somebody else getting an easy ride. Musically, the track is built around drum machines, synths, bass and a repeated guitar figure, with Thomas delivering the words in a clipped, rhythmic style. It moves like something intended for a club, although there is very little celebratory about the place being described.

The forthcoming four-track EP was produced by Syd Kemp, whose previous work includes recordings with Thurston Moore, Caroline, The Horrors, Crack Cloud, Sinead O’Brien and Spiritualized. Body Horror have already had support from Steve Lamacq at BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Wales, while their live history includes European touring, dates with Alabama 3 and shows with Maquina. They have also previously recorded with Faris Badwan of The Horrors.

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