I don’t recall exactly what it was that endeared me to It Hugs Back at first. It might have been the lo-fi fuzzy bounce of the lead single from their 2009 debut album Inside Your Guitar, or the fact that 4AD sent it to me as a 7″ single. Yes, vinyl is a shortcut to my heart.

It Hugs Back only put out a single record on the legendary label, which is a shame, but thankfully the band continued on self-releasing three more albums to date that further explore their quieter and noisier tendencies, depending on the release. It’s all great stuff, and worth discovering.

They’ve not put anything out since 2015’s Slow Wave but as far as I know they’re still a going concern, albeit a slow-going one. After all, bandleader Matthew Simms just doesn’t have that much free time since he joined Wire in 2010 as second guitarist to Colin Newman.