The Thousands

Try and, for a moment, imagine what a song called ‘Lazy’ sounds like. Are you thinking of a beserk Slayer-style thrash metal number or a prime slice of 800bpm speedcore? No, of course you’re not. You’re thinking of music so laid-back it’s virtually comatose.

Seeing as it’s sung in a style that suggests vocalist Hamish O’Neill just came out of hibernation, ‘Lazy’ by Isle Adore doesn’t disappoint in sounding, well, lazy. Not in the ‘will this do?’ sense, of course, as it’s a charismatic piece of somnambulant indie-pop that even Stephen Malkmus would have had to bother getting out of bed to compose. More that it’s a perfect summer tune for those who struggle even thinking about strenuous activity once the mercury hits the mid-thirties.

Don’t you think there must have been some days in 1963 when the Beach Boys looked out onto the sweltering Californian shores, mega-fuzzy after a long night hitting the Malibu and pineapple juice, and thought, “Ah screw the surf, let’s just lounge around in our bathrobes watching Sesame Street. What do you mean it’s not gonna start for another three years? Alright let’s do some horse tranquilisers and record something instead.” If they did, I reckon this is a good approximation of the result.

B-side ‘Anytime’ meanwhile, with its opening reverb-drenched guitar strains, sounds just for a couple of seconds like it’s going to burst into a grunge epic. Instead it’s more effects-laden indie that’s even more spaced-out than the A side, and that’s fine by me.