News from Neptune is the Merseyside duo of Craig Sinclair and David Miller who make pop-inspired self-professed “nightmare exotica”.
There has been plenty of humour and tongue-in-cheek antics throughout a career that has seen the duo release seven EPs, beginning with 2016’s The Cold Open, and following the duo’s double A side 2023 release, Gordon Bennett Presents…St Michael’s / The Whispering Arch (which followed several EPs in the series), News from Neptune are set to return in 2024 with the aptly titled The Cars That Ate Widnes EP, which is set for an autumn release.
Today the band share the video for their new single and The Cars That Ate Widnes’ opening track, Three Fanged Volvo. Exclusive to Sun 13, be the first to watch/listen below.
Referencing the Milk Tray Man adverts of yore, it sees News from Neptune echoing the croon-abily swamp rock of early Nick Cave and even Scott Walker.
The song was produced by Sinclair, Miller and Lloyd Gabriel. Speaking of the song and its accompanying video, Miller comments:
“The song started out as a bit of a throwaway idea but grew legs when I added the mellotron string melody which Craig mirrored with his quavering croon. To cut a long story short, it ended up as a mutant hybrid of exotica, Northern Soul and some sort of neo-psychedelic spy theme. It’s simultaneously our catchiest and most abstract song to date.
“The video, produced with the brilliant Chris Jenkins and Izzie Major, was filmed on two nights three months apart. The performance footage and Abba-esque duo shots were fittingly captured in Widnes on a March night with more than a hint of winter still in the air (witness the numb fingers on the fretboard) while the Milk Tray Man elements came together on a balmy June evening by the Mersey in Aigburth and Otterspool.”
The Cars That Ate Widnes track list:
- Three Fanged Volvo
- Laughing Stock
- The Skyline
- Ladybird Ladybird
- Falling Off the Map
Visit News from Neptune’s Bandcamp page here.
