New Music: Convenience Store – I Wanna Be Your Dancer

Melbourne’s Convenience Store cite The Smiths as being a major influence on new single I Wanna Be Your Dancer, but I can also hear a band much closer to home in its indie essence.

The guitar and lyrics do evoke memories of the lonesome and lovestruck early works of The Smiths, but Convenience Store, a quartet fronted by Nick Baker and Jack Phillips go down a dreamy, melancholic, rock-inclined direction that, for me, carries similar expansive and romantic resonances to The Go-Betweens circa Before Hollywood.

“This song is born out of our mutual love for The Smiths and sort of an uncanny tribute track to their music,” says the band. “It’s the oldest fully-formed song on the album, written as teenagers. We lacked the production chops to serve its potential until now.”

“It’s an indie-pop love song about wanting to serve someone, and relying on their presence to feel grounded and safe. The lyrics open with a Napoleon quote, a figure who is loosely referenced on The Ticks with the lyric about feeling trapped on an island.”

I Wanna Be Your Dancer can be downloaded on Bandcamp and can be heard on Spotify and YouTube Music. Convenience Store release their debut album, Tabis, on the 12th of September. For updates on that and their upcoming gig in Sydney, follow the band on Instagram.