Yellow Creatures are a post-punk band from Newcastle. Their sound is not too easy to pin down, but based on their new release - The Year of Everything & Nothing EP - I’m going to plump for “mostly post-art-punk”.

Opening track Reset bounces off a spiky bass, into the repeated lyric “Gonna have to stop this memory loss” and a chorus that for some reason reminds me of the extended outro to Barney & Me by The Boo Radleys (which is a very good thing to be reminded of, in case there’s any doubt). Time Lapse is a jazzy nightmarish vision that would have Robyn Hitchcock, head swapped for lightbulb, nodding approvingly from the wings, while Sickly as Rainbows is a sweet psychedelic love-song: “We’d sit for hours on the pier, and I’d whisper in her ear. Talking like the only two people - people in this world”.

Spinning Orange Catherine Peel is a terrific example of elegant yet direct post-punk, full of sharp edges but with a great sense of when to soften the sound with a synth, when to bring in another guitar layer, or slather on some brass. The track is accompanied by a suitably spinny video, very much in tune with its lyrical preoccupations - “Spinning like a catherine wheel, unravelling like an orange peel”.

With immaculate timing as ever, I have managed to wait until just after the EP is released, and right after the launch gig to mention it. Sorry about that, chaps.

However, you can still catch them this Saturday, October 4th, at Empty Shop in Durham. Entry is free (FREE!). Yellow Creatures will be on from 8pm, accompanied by visuals from the Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums that have been used for the EP.

Take a look at some of the amazing images in this flickr set:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/twm_news/sets/72157634542127065/

Check out and buy The Year of Everything & Nothing EP from bandcamp, and follow Yellow Creatures on Facebook and Twitter:

https://www.facebook.com/Yellowcreatures

https://twitter.com/YellowCreatures