Hugging brilliant!
A winning mixture of jangly acoustic guitars, swirling synths, hand claps and parping harmonica 'Hugging My Grudge' is the perfect soundtrack to the late summer / early autumn. An ode to those who are happiest when complaining about pretty much anything, it's sweeter than a stick of Brighton rock and twee-er than the collected works of The Field Mice.
This single is undoubtedly one of the finest moments from the band's consistently excellent debut album 'The Best Party Ever' and it sees the Aylesbury duo firmly establishing themselves as England's slightly quirkier answer to the 'Kings Of Convenience'. Songwriter Peter's crisp, clean guitar work owes a debt or two to Johnny Marr / Roddy Frame and his clever arrangements make the most of lyricist Jof's pleasantly melodic vocals. The duo also deliver the goods on the obligatory B-side 'Every Grubby Little Memory' (available on CD for the first time) a jaunty, country inflected number that's replete with recorder and a whole host of odd percussion instruments.