Listen: Formation - "Back Then"

06 February 2015, 11:25 | Written by Michael McAndrew

(Tracks)

(Formation)

There are so many ways to experience a record. Take London duo Formation’s forthcoming Young Ones EP, for instance. You can hold it, running your fingers along the grooves of the surface. You can throw it on your turntable, put the needle down, and listen. As you do, you can ponder the chalkboard artwork that graces the cover.

A simple phrase: “Life goes on!” It’s a double-edged sword, of course; unlike a record, there is only one way to experience time. “Life goes on”, sure, and thank God for that. But then it doesn’t ever stop going on, and sometimes you wish you could just sit for a moment. In a moment.

If this all seems a little heady for a song that is, at its core, an extremely groovable dance-punk ditty driven by bass and organ, take a listen. Consider that “Back Then” bookends an EP that kicks off with former Best Fit favourite “Young Ones”, perfectly mirroring the progression from “live once, die young” youth to “I just wanna be back then” young adulthood. Consider that Formation might be making some of the smartest, most enjoyable dance music this side of LCD Soundsystem’s demise.

Most of all, consider your own “back then”. Mine is in the back of a car. I am somewhere between the ages of seventeen and twenty-two. I am capable of doing anything; I don’t know yet that I’m capable of only a select few anythings. I’m leaving bad decisions in my wake and going nowhere in particular. Formation seem hell-bent on taking me there, and I am glad to be along for the ride.