Home Counties
Home Counties return with new self-produced single single White Shirt / Clean Shirt released via Alcopop! Records.
Photo Credit: Naz Stone
Following previous single Modern Yuppies released in January, White Shirt / Clean Shirt continues with the examinination in culture of office work this time from the viewpoint of the less uninspired workers with opening lyrics exclaiming “We lose our eyes, in suits and ties”. This sharp lyrical content coupled with the playful post-punk hooks that have adorned Home Counties previous releases make them a key band to watch out for.
Commenting on the latest single and it’s predesscor Singer Will Harrison comments: "'White Shirt / Clean Shirt' began life as a guitar-orientated number that was a staple of our live set last year at our first shows, but then we had sort of fell out of love with it. Through lockdown, as we started experimenting more heavily with synthesisers and drum machines; we reworked the song with these new influences and it found a new lease of life.
The two singles are linked lyrically, both looking at working life under contemporary capitalism. ‘Yuppies’ was written about the destructive mentality of middle-class professionals - constantly wanting more success, more money and more consumer goods. ’White Shirt / Clean Shirt’ looks at the less aspirational, and more universal reality of office work. It voices that feeling of losing your sense of self and place as you go into work, dressed uniformly in a Next suit, in an indistinguishable space, staring at another spreadsheet. It’s also got a bit of a ‘how did I get here?’ sentiment, being at work thinking about what more aspirational (or more expensively educated) people might be doing. Ultimately, it voices a feeling of having ‘learnt to fall’, rather than taught to succeed - sinking into the safety net of unfulfilling white collar work."
