In 2014, cult garage rock band Greasy Hearts released some of their best material on a split release with fuzz rockers Sun Voyager.  A short while later, they announced they’d be taking a break.  Vocalist Peter Wilderotter resurfaced in Mammoth Spirit, an experimental rock band, a year or so later. After that, everything went very quiet in the Greasy Hearts camp.  It actually seemed like the band had permanently called time on their short career.

Four years on from the ‘Greasy Voyage’ split and Greasy Hearts are back!  Their two track digital/7″ release ‘Man Could Get Lucky’ is both a welcome return and a surprise.

The surprise comes from the fact that Greasy Hearts have really matured in the interim.  Whilst their earlier work represented raw garage rock with the guts and energies of youth, these new recordings represent a whole new side to the band.  There’s still a DIY ethic that’s most welcome, but the trashier side of things has been traded in for a very retro 60s mod and soul aspect.

The band knows it suits them too: on the title cut, especially, the slower pace really allows Peter’s guitar to adopt a genuine twang, whilst the softer side of his vocal drops in and stretches out to suit.  Perhaps better still, once getting past a slightly wobbly intro, ‘I Need It & I Want It’ comes across like a mod revival band tackling a Stax deep cut in their garage.  The music could perhaps be a touch sharper, but the mix of natural, but impassioned vocals on the verses moving into a very direct hook on the chorus driven by gang vocals makes it a winner.

These tracks mark the biggest shift in a band’s mood and style since The Computers gave up hardcore for a similar brand of rock ‘n’ soul.  This is the beginning of a whole new Greasy chapter…

The single is already available digitally and can be streamed in full below.  A strictly limited 7″ is expected later in the year.