The Reds, Pinks and Purples: Unloveable Losers EP

It’s hard to keep up with Glenn Donaldson. Like Matt Christensen (coincidentally, the two have played shows together in the past), Donaldson has an uncanny knack of making your Friday that much better with surprise new releases.

Under The Reds, Pinks and Purples moniker, Donaldson started the fun earlier this year with LP, The Town That Cursed Your Name – a release which followed last year’s excellent run of form that saw Donaldson release a string of long-players, Summer at Land’s End, They Only Wanted Your Soul and Mountain Lake Park. Along with several EPs released in-between, 2022 turned out to be one of Donaldson’s most productive years so far.

And it has continued in 2023, with the surprise release of the Unloveable Losers EP – a collection of prior singles, which quickly follows The Town That Cursed Your Name.

Cory Hanson: Western Cum

The San Francisco native writes songs that you think you’ve heard before. Not too dissimilar to Spiritualized in that one-trick-but-was-a trick-it-is kind of way, I often wonder if Donaldson ever relinquishes his notebook, walking around the streets of San Francisco penning short-hand missives like the practice is ingrained in his daily routine. That’s what’s so charming about The Reds, Pinks and Purples canon. Perceptive songwriting untangling life’s complexities through simplicity.

And while these tracks may have been written at different stages, there’s a surprising cohesiveness to this release. Starting with the eponymous track. What feels like a loose association with The Town That Cursed Your Name’s closer, Break up the Band, it’s a dream-pop blur with some of the best melodies Donaldson has ever produced. No mean feat given that most of his songs contain them.

And again, self-deprecation is rife (“I knew the public wouldn’t understand / The record didn’t sell and the book was banned. You said, ‘Quit your crying / We do what we can / Throw on Thin Lizzy when we’re back in the van.”) It’s the kind of poetic vignettes the late Grant McLennan gave us both through the Go-Betweens and during his underrated solo works. Pure, heart-on-sleeve songwriting.

Best Sides is next, an elasticity affair held together with Andy Rourke-inspired bass lines and that ever-present Sarah Records homage. Meanwhile the splendid, atmospheric jangle thrum of Richard in the Age of the Corporation brims with the infectious simplicity we have become accustomed to with Donaldson’s songs.

Martin Frawley: The Wannabe

The Smithsian chime of The World Should Be Ashamed contains Donaldson’s go-to themes where anxiety underpins the narrative in a bid to wade through the trivialities of the daily grind (“The world should be ashamed/ We know about love and pain”). It’s leads nicely into the closing track, Cleaner City Streets. An urgent cry for us city dwellers around the world to respect our surroundings far more than we do. It’s a rollicking finish that is among the most emphatic Donaldson has delivered through his ever-growing body of work.

With the Unloveable Losers EP, just think of nipping into the local for a quick half. Only it’s too good, so you to stay for another. And another. Then, well…. you get the picture. The only difference here is that there are no hangovers or regrets the next day. Just more of the same, and that’s what The Reds, Pinks and Purples is all about – endless joy to immerse yourself in and leave all your troubles at the door.

The Unloveable Losers EP is out now via Burundi Cloud. Purchase from Bandcamp.