While The Recks have released a string of singles and videos since their debut album, The Beast From The Sea, was released in summer 2018 it has become somewhat obvious to those following the band closely that, up until now, everything has been drawn from that album, so it was particularly exciting when a promo copy of totally new single The Milk’s Gone Bad landed in my inbox.

Since the band reconvened in their current form (with Richey Powers on guitar and vocals, Ash Jarman on cornet and vocals, Gregory Harrison on guitar, banjo and vocals, Joe Le Long on bass and Moxie on drums) more and more new material has been popping up in their live sets on a regular basis with a few tracks standing out and this new single is certainly one of them.

The track opens with a vamping build that is instantly captivating as Powers’ guitar mimics an organ before a rolling bass line leads us into a tale of broken romance and rock ‘n’ roll.

Being something brand new from the band it feels somewhat like a statement of intent, restating what it is that has seen them grow to become one of the most successful and popular bands in the Channel Islands with plenty of followers beyond.

In that it presents the dichotomy that is at their heart with a darkness underlying the songs inherent danciness (if that’s actually a word), a hauntingly dreamlike quality but grounded honesty and a singalong feel despite nothing about it at first feeling like a conventional pop song.

While the production of the song is less extravagantly ‘showy’ than on The Beast From The Sea it retains a terrifically layered sound so, while Powers’ and Harrison’s guitars, Jarman’s cornet and the various lead vocals are the most obvious elements, lurking just below the surface come extra hints and suggestions, through all the instruments and voices, which add an extra depth that’s adds something more to the song than you might notice on first listen.

If I had one criticism it’s that the powerful drive the band have live gets slightly lost under all this, but it is made up for in the rest and is, maybe, the difference between the band’s live sound and what they are intending on record.

Along with the track comes a music video that’s is a kind of voodoo jazz puppet show capturing the lyrical themes of the song with a hint of black magic thrown in for good measure.

It’s look is like a lo-if version of the work of Tim Burton and Henry Selick and captures the juxtaposed elements of the band as well as the song does, though given the band’s striking image in person I again can’t help but feel their presence is again missing (though they do pop in a few video-within-a-video cameos).

The Milk’s Gone Bad then acts as a great introduction, on record, to the current incarnation of The Recks and has set the bar high for whatever is to come next (and I’m hoping will be coming sooner rather than later).