It Hugs Back return with their third LP on May 6, Recommended Record, released on Safe & Sound Records. You can pre-order the album here, and we’ve got the entire thing exclusively available to preview below:
Following up on last year’s Laughing Party, the LP was self-recorded and produced by the band last summer, and signals a heavier direction for the band. We spoke to the band a few weeks ago, ahead of their slot at Wire and the Quietus’ DRILL:LONDON festival, where the band’s Matthew Simms, also a member of Wire, said: “[N]ot many people outside of us have heard it yet but the few that have all suggested it’s a more ‘instant’ sounding… with more punch and clarity to the mixes than before… I’m pleased if so, the main reason is probably that we’re getting better at making the things!
"This is our third album, recorded in the same room with pretty much the same equipment, although unlike the last record which was recorded over a long stretch of time and made up of all sorts of bits and bobs of songs, jams, noises, loops, this album was a more concentrated band effort, and Will plays drums on every track, which really adds a lot.”