Wave These Feelings Away

There’s under the radar and there’s nowhere near the radar, and for two decades Assistant were completely off the screen. Formed in Brighton in 2002, they recorded two albums which were barely noticed and then real life happened and the band drifted apart. That was the first act of the tale. During the lockdown of 2020 the three members of Assistant found they missed each other and wanted to make music again, and somehow recorded their third album “In the April Sun” in isolation. Once the world had returned to normal (well it’s all relative), Assistant recorded a second album “This world could be so much fun”. They placed all their catalogue on Bandcamp and waited for anyone to take notice. And quite frankly that could have been the end of the second act. Only these days you never know what’s going to happen next.

A few months ago Assistant set up a Twitter account (no it’s not X and it never will be) and started tweeting about their music. Slowly it got noticed. It seems Jonathan (who runs the Assistant twitter account) and I bonded over our dislike of SubmitHub in December – that gained him an instant follow. A month or so later I listened to “This world…” after seeing a tweet about it, and responded positively, comparing it to Felt in places. And slowly a relationship was built up.

The Assistant Twitter account isn’t just for promoting the band’s music though. It’s a truly interactive experience. Sure there are tweets about the albums or songs, sometimes about their genesis or the story of the band. But there’s just as many tweets about other artists’ music, whether it be their influences, old favourites or new discoveries. They’ve even said nice things about Honeybourne. But through all the interactions there’s a humanity there, a humble attitude of “This is us, maybe you’ll like us, in the meantime try this thing we love”. It’s very charming, it’s very English, it’s very indie. 

And slowly over the past few months people have taken notice.  There’s been radio plays around the world, there’s been blogs and reviews, and the fine people at Subjangle Records are releasing the two most recent Assistant albums on limited edition CD and digital download in early May. Quite amazing for a band who practically nobody had heard of at the start of the year. And yet even with this success Jonathan is putting together a digital fanzine as an extra for the release.

The digital format of two consecutive albums does the albums a disservice to be honest. In much the same way as that old Big Beat CD of “#1 record” and “Radio city” was a little bit too much to take in one go, the full one hour and twenty four minutes shouldn’t be consumed all at once. The best way to enjoy this release is more than likely on the limited CD issue, as there are two albums with their own distinct sound and format. Hearing them straight through – all 26 songs in one sitting – can be a little daunting, so I would recommend listening to tracks 1 to 16 first repeatedly before moving to track 17 and onwards.  It will make more sense that way, and you won’t be overloaded with new information.

So what about the albums? “In the April Sun” has all the hallmarks of a lockdown project. The occasional audio failing betrays the home recording format, but adds to the charm. They weren’t the first or the last band to create a lockdown album  (waves at Si and John in Milk Bottle Sympathy) but this does seem very well done. The opening two songs “I recall the rain” and “I have no answer” set the stall for the album – gentle, wistful, wise and witty. There’s hints of Belle and Sebastian, Blueboy and the Go Betweens but these influences are given a good mix and shake. “I have no answer” features a bright and clean single note guitar solo, like Hank Marvin just dropped by. I definitely picked up a Shadows influence in the guitar playing. Two themes resonate across the album – a lack of freedom imposed by the lockdown and a chance to examine the past. Memories of friends and place appear regularly. “Lockdown” looks at COVID 19 through the eyes of nature and a chance to stop and smell the roses metaphorically – “You can’t lock down the Spring” indeed. “In a lifeboat” and “Submarine” have a similar aquatic theme of isolation and looking for comfort and friendship. “Who do you love?” is a classic pop song with clever lyrics and such an obvious melody I’m amazed nobody has used it before. “The greatest night we ever had” recalls Jim Irvin’s post-Furniture band Because in its honesty and simplicity, even the vocal style is similar. “Minded to stay” has an instrumental break of guitar and piano which lifts the song into another tier of greatness. Not every song on the album works, but even the lesser songs have moments of wonder, either instrumentally or lyrically such as the line ” I am too formless to function” in the middle of “Wake me up”. “Train song” is the perfect closer though, it emphasises the simplicity of the songs in performance and construction, sounding like Syd Barrett or Dan Treacy fronting Stereolab if they were signed to Sarah Records.

The second album “This world could be so much fun” shows a marked development from “In the April Sun”. It sounds more like a band playing in the same room rather than a group of people collaborating remotely. There’s also an expanded musical palette and a more confident production. The songs remain as good and as touching as ever. “The ballad of Assistant” is a good start, more comfort in friendship and helpfulness. Another perfect guitar pop song. The more varied guitar tones, extensive use of piano and keyboards on this album – along with the added vocals from Anne-Sophie – lend comparison to Yo La Tengo, especially on “In this world” and the gnarly “I’ll see you online”. “Shooting the moon” could be the Field Mice, the layers of reverberation around the guitars and the slow buildup of instruments, a song which – for me – could go on longer. “I wrote you a letter” similarly sounds like a tribute to Northern Picture Library’s “Dear faraway friend”, only 60% shorter. “Sugarcane” is high quality bedroom techno pop. “Tarboro” is an oddity, taken on one level it’s just a song about dislocation and trying to get home, yet there’s hints of disquiet in the music and the lyrics. Maybe I’m looking too hard into these things, it just feels unsettling in a way, the overdriven guitars in the final 30 seconds seem to confirm this. Again there’s another fine album closer – “Remember me”, understated organ and jangling guitar and an extended ending have the feel of “Poem of the river” era Felt. And that’s my favourite era, you know. The coda is beautiful too, I won’t spoil it.

Both Assistant albums here are charmingly wayward, naive yet wise, an amalgam of influences creating something new and unique. Very charming, very English, very indie. None of those words are used in an insulting way. As I said before, listening to them as two albums is preferable but that’s just my opinion. Assistant shouldn’t remain off the radar for much longer, and it’ll be interesting to see what the future holds. Will the interest from these releases lead to more music, maybe even a gig or two? What happens next is a difficult question, I hope they don’t postpone answering that for a while.

In The April Sun / This World Could Be So Much Fun is available from Subjangle Records here

Other Assistant music is available here

Follow Assistant on Twitter here

Assistant in younger days apparently