Listen: Joanna Gruesome – Secret Surprise

With some labels, you pretty much know what you’re going to get as soon as you see their name on a vinyl spine or CD sleeve. Fortuna Pop! and Slumberland Records are two of such labels. Having previously collaborated for the cross-Atlantic releases of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Allo’ Darlin’, Evans The Death and more, the two imprints team up again for the debut album from the brilliantly-named Joanna Gruesome, a band who artfully combine the dual ethos that both share.

‘Secret Surprise’ is the first track lifted from the Cardiff-London-Brighton fivepiece’s upcoming full-length Weird Sister, slated for a September release. It’s equal measures raw and raucous as it is delicate and composed; wearing its pop-punk influences as much on its sleeves as K Records tattoos, all the while sounding like a studiously-assembled montage of all the best bits from every punk-suffixed sub-genre and offshoot movement of the past 30 years. Weird Sister, written during a month’s stay at Brighton’s now-closed The Hell House hotel, drops via Fortuna Pop! (Europe) and Slumberland (U.S) come 16 September.

The band play Latitude Festival this Saturday (20 July) appearing on the Lake Stage at at 2.15pm. Listen to the track beneath, as a Best Fit premiere.