Neutrals

First pressing on baby blue vinyl with fold-out newspaper lyric sheet and bonus postcard. Expected to ship on or before the May 31st release date. If you order this along with other items we'll ship your order when everything is in stock.

About the LP bundle:

Because of an odd quirk of record production timings and our release schedule, we have THREE new Slumberland albums coming out in May. Since we know that a fair number of you might want to purchase all three we're offering a special deal that includes color vinyl copies of all 3 albums. You'll save a bit on each record, but with all three being shipped together you'll save even more on postage.

This bundle includes:

SLR 280 Lightheaded "Combustible Gems" blue vinyl LP

SLR 283 Neutrals "New Town Dream" deluxe blue vinyl LP w/newspaper & postcard

SLR 285 Lunchbox "Pop and Circumstance" pink vinyl LP

Dream… or nightmare? That's the underlying question posed on "New Town Dream," the second LP from Bay Area trio Neutrals, as guitarist/vocalist Allan McNaughton's lyrical narratives expand on the world first built on the band's 2022 EP "Bus Stop Nights," offering snapshots of mundane lived realities in the "New Towns" that proliferated in the UK during the '60s and '70s. "New Town Dream" conceptually voices the psychic tension of that era, of being pushed toward the margins and becoming just another cog in a deeply broken machine.

The band's musical touchstones are squarely situated in the timeline of doomed Thatcherism that followed from the late '70s to late '80s. "Wish You Were Here" and "The Iron That Never Swung" jangle with a razor-edged rapid strum to rival The Wedding Present; "That's Him on the Daft Stuff Again" and "Travel Agent's Windows" nod to the Television Personalities' naive, kaleidoscopic mod melodies streaked with cynicism; "Steven Proctor Bus Conductor" slowly unfolds from verses in the dark, rhythm-forward spirit of Josef K to transcendently Pastels-esque pop choruses with sugary-sweet (but slightly deadpan) backing vocals from bassist Lauren Matsui. Perfect C86 sounds for often hellish C24 times!

— Erika Elizabeth