Ahead of their much-anticipated debut album The Heart Wants What It Wants, Late Transmissions starring Eve Quartermain unveil a new track – the gloriously bombastic I’m Done With London – where the sound of Shirley Bassey collides head-on with John Barry-style orchestral drama.
It’s a dramatic but mischievous lament, delivered with absolute gusto by vocal discovery Eve as she looks back on her time in the big city. “At first it was a party, but parties don’t go on for years,” she reflects, admitting it’s rude to turn down pills and booze when they’re offered, before sourly realising “When the party’s over, you’re just one more loser”.
It’s a rallying cry for anyone worn down by life in Zones 1-6. The final defiant line, “I’m done with London … but London’s not finished with me”, will hit home for plenty of the capital’s nine million inhabitants having one of those days.
In stark contrast to the widescreen orchestral drama of the track, the video deliberately keeps things low-key. Eve sits in a pub, drink in hand, quietly ruminating on her London experience – unnoticed, or perhaps deliberately ignored, by the surrounding clientele.
Behind Late Transmissions are David Balfe and David Hughes – two friends who last played together in the Merseyside post-punk scene. Balfe, playing with Big In Japan and The Teardrop Explodes, went on to be a producer, publisher and founder of both Zoo Records and Food Records (signing Blur and Echo & The Bunnymen among many others). He reunited with Hughes, his former band mate in proto-synth act Dalek I Love You, out of a shared love for the orchestra-led classic pop of the likes of Scott Walker, John Barry, Shirley Bassey and Dusty Springfield.
Hughes’ work post-Dalek included playing with OMD before transitioning into a highly successful long-term career scoring TV and film, including Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, skills upon which he has drawn for Late Transmissions’ technicolor film sound.
The undoubted star of the album, however, is the incredible vocal talent of sensational discovery Eve Quartermain. This torch-singing femme fatale combines angry power with cracked vulnerability and a noirish fatalism – hers is the pounding heart of the album. Pre-order here
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