Album #78: Sorry – 925

• Released: 2020
• Origin: London, England
• Label: Domino
• Best Track: Starstruck

Another Friday has been and gone, but I’m still working my way through releases from the Friday before. I can’t believe it’s taken me over a week to get round to this one!

This is the debut from London four-piece Sorry, who have been knocking around for a while, with their distinct brand of music videos full of amateur filming and weird sexual imagery. Some of the songs on this record have been on YouTube since as far back as 2017, but this is their first attempt at putting them onto something resembling an LP.

I really like this album. It’s not the easiest one to describe, and it’s very hard to pigeonhole into any genre. There’s a post-punk influence certainly, but there are faint hints of jazz too, and the overall result is probably a lusty form of indie-pop. Tracks like ‘Perfect’ could easily get played on mainstream radio, as could the brilliant ‘Starstruck’ but for the wonderfully throaty ‘urgghh’ noise just before the chorus.

I’ve no idea what the relationship between the band members is, but its fair to say they seem quite pally with each other! The whole album reeks of sex, with “fuck me eyes” mentioned within the first few lines of opener ‘Right Round the Clock’, and the more metaphorical ‘Snakes’ perhaps alluding to the phallus and gender identity (“And I never thought about you in your underwear, cos I didn’t really care what was under there”).

We also have ballads in the form of ‘Rosie’ and ‘Heather’, and a personal favourite moment is the noisy breakdown that concludes ‘More’. ‘Lies’ is a superb closer too, ending on a paranoid, cryptic note.

Sorry definitely have something special about them. Catchy and infectious (bad words at the moment!), yet crude and dirty, 925 is full of surprises, making for an interesting, well-rounded and unique debut.