‘A Broken Chord’

Oral Habit aren’t about to mince their words. On the sub-one-minute track opener, the trio pay sonic homage to now-obsolete fuzzy-indie rock band C-Turtle, known for their tongue-in-cheek lyrics and frenetic energy.

“Much like the alphabet, beginning with A, B, C,” Charlie posits of the album title, between uproarious bursts of guitar feedback. It’s a start-as-you-mean-to-go-on track, revealing from the get-go that the band won’t ever take themselves too seriously, and are willing to surprise and shock at every turn.

Oral Habit: “How base can we start this record? Nursery level felt suitable, wiping our plate clean. I remember coming up with the idea while watching one of C-Turtle’s final shows, walls of noise fractured by the alphabet.”

‘Surface Breaker’

The first real song, per se, on the album is an evocative, echoey tunnel, set with tangly guitars that sound a little off, and a breakdown that almost immediately shows their ability to throw us off their scent as we restlessly seek comfort and safety in a musical landscape that will twist and turn with every beat.

Oral Habit: “Originally, this song was created as an introduction to our live set, so it made sense to place it early in the track listing. A restless jolt of jangling sludge, the listener realises they aren’t safe, the rug shall be pulled from underneath them.”

‘Faux Fidelity’

Three songs in, and Oral Habit fire on all cylinders. It’s hot, sweaty, scary, dangerous, fast and furious. The vocals, sung as if from three rooms away, are secondary to the ear-splitting riff above the head-thumping chug of the song. You can practically feel the walls vibrate on ‘Faux Fidelity’.

Oral Habit: “A riff that has been around for donkeys, attempting to channel a J Mascis style shred but never finding a song to call home, instead we allow the song to chase the riff. A favourite to play live (fast).”

‘The Glove’

‘The Glove’ sees Oral Habit dial down the grandiose garage for a more accessible psych-rock track, prickled with keys and zipping guitars. It’s a perfect entry point into their universe, tossing in a Californian blues-esque swaggering atop their impressive tidal wave of tune trickery.

Oral Habit: “‘The Glove’ was actually meant to be released on Garage Frock!, but the recording didn’t quite fit the vibe of the EP. I decided to shelve it, work into the live set and refine it before the recording session of A Broken Chord.

‘Chekhov’

As we get into the meat of the project, Oral Habit begin to get a little whacky, like when the come-up moves from nauseating into hallucinatory, and back again, in swift succession. Guitars and drums play cat-and-mouse with one another on this Russian playwright-inspired track.

Oral Habit: “Russian playwright turned kraut-frock-rocker?? The idea behind this track was to collage different elements of songs together, resulting in a disorienting kraut fuzz jam”.

‘Matter 2’

In keeping with their DIY ethos, Oral Habit show us on ‘Matter 2’ that there’s inspiration everywhere to create, create, create. This track in particular was born out of their desire to experiment with new tape machines; in an era where everyone demands perfection, ‘Matter 2’ takes, shakes, and scrambles up the obsolete contract between listener and musician, scrubbing dirt all over the windows of the soul.

Oral Habit: “We recorded this song live straight to an eight-track reel-to-reel, then bounced onto a cassette four-track to grime it up, finally bouncing out while the vari-speed gets messed with. Overall, an excuse to play with Harry and Rory’s new tape machines.”

‘Thin Trippin’

‘Thin Trippin’ reeks of a classic garage-rock session, pivoting around a crunchy three-chord progression. The music pulls back, before a roaring guitar riff proves the Brighton natives to be masters on the strings. Just like the previous track, everything bends, slips and slides a little, like a poster coming undone in the wind.

Oral Habit: “When I was demoing songs for this record, I became obsessed with the tremolo effect on my amps, putting my head between two fenders blasting this trippy wave of noise. ‘Thin Trippin’ was born out of this, then bringing it to the band and seeing how long we could drag out a three-chord repetition to sound like a skipping LP.”

‘Mystery Gash’

More narrative-led than many of the other tracks, ‘Mystery Gash’ lists ailments the morning after in an almost Britpop-tinged vocal performance, conjuring up neon lights, holes in the wall, cloudy judgment, and a flurry of texts you can’t remember sending, with a high-pitched guitar ring that might be a warning from the night before persisting way past bedtime.

Oral Habit: “Good friends with an even better influence. A mystery gash is a sign of a good night out, you won’t know from where or when or how… But it’s there, and you earned it”.

‘Do The Dog’

Oral Habit describe this track as “Fast and dumb”, and I’ll add fantastic to the equation, and leave it at that.

Oral Habit: “Home demo from 2024. A funny track which got smashed through a cassette four-track (and back again). Great one to play live too, fast and dumb!”

‘Motorway’

On the penultimate track, Oral Habit try on the classic rock cloak. Refusing to over-indulge, and instead capitalising on the more vulnerable side of their intentionally raw production, the guitar riffs grow legs and stomp along with the drums until this builds into a frenetic tug of war.

Oral Habit: “A personal favourite of mine, dipping our collective toe into something different. I feel like Neil Young when I play this one live (I wish)”.

‘Crooner & The Moon’

After all the breathlessness is said and done, Oral Habit’s cherry on top is a diaphanous home demo that wouldn’t go amiss blasted in a car late at night, as the tunnel lights and the shimmering stars mix until the world at your feet warbles out of focus.

Oral Habit: “Album closer is here to sing you to sleep. A crooning number started as a home demo that stuck around. It ends the record, kills it, this is its last breath”.