WL//WH Tracks Of The Day: ASSISTANT & GOODBYE WUDAOKOU “Flowers / Sky Lantern” 7inch single

Track Of The Day ASSISTANT / GOODBYE WUDAOKOU

Assistant and Goodbye Wudaokou are kindred spirit pop groups,

“who make beautiful, nostalgic, melodic and sometimes melancholy indie pop, beloved by a tiny but enthusiastic corner of the international pop underground.”

Diverging from the usual CD format, the Brighton and Manchester camaraderie embraces the immaculate and artful, as well as coloured, in this case, 7-inch vinyl for a very limited 2-track split-single, “Flowers / Sky Lantern” via YYZ / Laurie Records and mastered by Ben Holton (Epic45, Birds In The Brickwork, My Autumn Empire, The Balloonist).

Formed in the early 00s, East Sussex‘s Assistant, the long-time enduring three-piece combo, led by Jonathan Shipley, finally came out of the darkness in the last few years, “stands proudly in the lineage of Sarah, C86, Felt, and St Etienne.”

“First I thought about the flowers that we grew / then I
grasped the intimacy we knew / and I found you stood
there in front of me.”

Worthy sampler of a pristine and tuneful 80s pop-informed songwriting that combines freshness, intimacy and playfulness, “Flowers” is rooted on brisk and sharply crystal clear, emotional jangly guitar work, in a thread with “that striped sunlight sound”, that infectiously interacts with cheery female ‘do do do’ harmonies, earnest worried male spoken words and layers of emotional longing, to bring to life a sentimental winter band trip about old friends healing, reconnecting, and facing the return to everyday life.

Mancunian singer and composer Mat Mills, as Goodbye Wudaokou, crafts heartfelt lo-fi Indie and Dream Pop, scattered with Shoegaze, Jangle and US Indie Rock sheens, “stands proudly in the lineage of Yo La Tengo, Sebadoh and Hood”.

“I keep reaching out for what I cannot see / I keep reaching
out for what I’ll never reach”.

An heartfelt excursion into the melancholic, depressive and moody songwriting of Elliott Smith, Bill Callahan, Declining Winter, and David Berman (the Silver Jews), “Sky Lantern” is a rumination on loss and grief through a lens of the world moving on.

Engulfed in a sparse, sober and visceral minimalism, strummed and arpeggiated sparkling acoustic guitar chords with desolate keys, underline soft, wistful, aching male vocals, with high halos, mourning the loss of a loved one and despairing over fading memories.

Keep with Assistant / Goodbye Wudaokou: