Label: Communion
Released: 25th February 2022
Rating: ★★★
‘Backhand Deals’ is the debut album from Cardiff’s buzziest buzzards, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard – and a very good one it is, too. Tom Rees and co. serve up a slice of pure faux optimism beginning with the wonderfully catchy ‘New Age Millennial Magic’ lamenting the state of the world over a proper T Rex-esque glam stomp.
Recent single ‘Break Right In’, with its ELO-reminiscent electric piano and refrain of “I think I’m gonna make it through the night, I think I’m going to make it out alive”, is so catchy it’ll run round your head for weeks. Buzzard certainly make no secrets of their influences either, with tracks like ‘Yourself’ summoning ABBA’s ballad magic and ‘A Passionate Life’ echoing Elton John’s ‘Bennie and the Jets’ with great effect.
It makes for a really fun record unafraid to show that you don’t need to be serious.
