Five Tracks From: Resting State

Resting State are a Lancashire-based post-punk band. The line-up features Jon Farnworth on vocals, John Mitchell (ex St Lucifer) on drum machine and synths, and Dan Smith on guitar. The trio have taken part in our Five Tracks From blog feature in the wake of the release of their debut EP, The Managed Decline.

Our new single – the A side

The Managed Decline features depressing lyrics about national decline and personal/cosmic insignificance with jangly guitars. (Jon)

Our new single – the AA side

The message of Shrapnel of Stars is ‘stop finding easy targets and scapegoats. Don’t be shitty to each other life’s hard enough as it is.’ (Jon)

A song we would cover

A song that would be interesting to cover with Resting State, would have to be something that would be perhaps unexpected for us, something out of context and genre.

I’ve never been a massive fan of covers historically my as it always feels like your time would be better spent on writing your own stuff.

However, two tracks that I find myself coming back to that would be interesting to cover would be either, Captain Beefheart’s Upon the My-Oh-My or Dr John’s I Walked on Guilded Splinters. Both absolutely incredible songs that could be interesting with the Resting State treatment. (Dan)

A song that gets us up and dancing

Suggestions are all from Dan

Rolling Stones – She’s So Cold

Battles – Atlas

Rolling Stones – Start Me Up

Smiths – This Charming Man

Scritti Politti – Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)

A song we wish we had written

For me, I’ve always been a fan of any guitarist who pushes the guitar beyond its normal parameters. One track that does this for me is King Crimson’s Frame by Frame. Fripp’s main riff (Frippatronics) and multi-layered delay is mesmerising and baffling. Coupled with this you have Adrian Belew’s slightly unorthodox playing style and unconventional sonic effects. This song is one of my absolute staples, every time I listen to it I pick up on something else. An astonishing track and often overlooked. (Dan)

The Managed Decline also features remixes from Engine One and St Lucifer. The single can be streamed and downloaded on Resting State’s Bandcamp page. The trio are lining up live appearances for later this year, so give them a follow over on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook to keep in the know.

Header image by elijohart