After the roaring success of Junior Bill’s first 2023 single ‘Boys From Jungle’ - praised, played and playlisted worldwide - then the mournfully and politically-loaded follow-up ‘Flag of St George’ comes the third Junior Bill single of the year. ‘ Teeth ’ is a melancholic reggae number about a lonely, isolated society where sugar passes for joy and life stays stagnant around a tiny cul-de-sac in post-Brexit Britain. 

Junior Bill is the project of Cardiff songwriter Robert Nichols - acclaimed as ‘ a 21st Century Joe Strummer ’ by BBC 6Music’s Tom Robinson earlier this year. The group have found support both locally in their home country of Wales as well as internationally on radio and press in Australia, Spain, Brazil and Canada. Turning debut album ‘Youth Club!’ into a series of singles released over the course of the year, has shown a broad range of reggae, psych, indie and blues that has a core element of storytelling about pressing and urgent politicised life.

The songs of Junior Bill reach into the lives of others in an unusually empathic way, whilst still remaining extremely “singable” . Gigwise said "it's a political maturity set against a childlike honesty that makes Junior Bill so intriguing. " ‘Teeth’ tells the story of an elderly woman who can’t stop eating sweets, living a lonely life in a Truman Show-style world where people “live and work and die” all in one isolated neighbourhood. It’s all somewhat reminiscent of Britain’s increasingly claustrophobic societal atmosphere. This toy-town is recreated in the song’s video, a naive stop-motion animation made by Junior Bill and his friends. The track deals with themes of isolation, the loneliness of ageing, our increasing inability as a nation to care for the vulnerable, as well as the song’s main hook singing of the both immediate and deeper long-term need for the country’s national healthcare.

In the live music scene Junior Bill have made a lasting impression, opening for Supergrass during their reunion shows after a supporting tour with drummer Danny Goffey, then last year making their debut at Glastonbury Festival. The band returned to their hometown of Cardiff in January to a packed out show, and have a series of dates to come throughout the UK (below) whilst releasing more singles and then the debut album ‘Youth Club!’ before the end of the year. 

Pre-save ‘Teeth’ now at  https://ffm.to/juniorbillteeth.OPR

LIVE DATES

29th April - All Roads Festival, The King Arthur, Glastonbury - solo

4th May - The Canteen, Bristol - band 

5th May - Fork & Tune, Cwmcarn - band

26th May - How The Light Gets In Festival, Hay on Wye - solo

28th May - Devauden Festival - solo

3rd June - Golden Lion, Bristol - band

LYRICS

She's been getting holes in her teeth

Bet she wish she took 'em to the NHS

You can hardly hear when she speaks

And she's been talking less

Living in the house on the hill

With the yellow corridors and cups of tea

Little, white, pound-shaped pills

And cold company

Mrs Winterburn cuts your hair

And Mr Federico takes you out to town

Six chocolate eclairs

Seven up to wash it down

Neither of them need to hear you cuss

Even if they don't understand

Typical of you to make a fuss

When people give a helping hand

But how does she want it?

Let her have her cake and eat it 

Independently

Sitting up in my bedsit

I can see the children go running by

Every day they grow a little bit

As their independence dies

You won't let me visit you still

Let me take you to the dental surgery

I look up at the house on the hill

And every day it looks at me

But how did she want it?

Let her have her cake and eat it 

Independently 

But tell her to brush her teeth

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Ritual Cloak take a more introspective and meditative direction with new EP, Vanished in Transition, venturing into new musical territories that draw influence from ambient, jazz, doom metal and George Harrison’s indian explorations. Leaning into down-tempo rhythms, drums have been exchanged for heart-beats, as if this EP is the duo breathing deep in readiness to face the next chapter.

• www.ritualcloak.com
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