New Music: British Birds – Lie Down With Dogs, Stand Up With Fleas

Lie Down With Dogs, Stand Up With Fleas is the wiry and worldly first single from the upcoming, third British Birds album Murmurate, Oscillate.

As sharp as the observation indie pop of Home Counties and as groove-laden as the rock-pop hybrid of Getdown Services, the track has a psych-like nervous energy about it, as a stream of ideas in the lyrics meet the tight arrangement full on.  

Bobby Towson’s vocals cast back to a youthful Andy Partridge, while his sister Emma has a deadpan delivery reminiscent of Home Counties’ Lois Kelly, both of which add to the song’s archness. It does mean that Lie Down With Dogs, Stand Up With Fleas zig-zags from the 80s to the 20s and back, but it’s fun, a damn good tune, one the Chorley-based band describes as an “expression of exasperation at our passivity in the face of lame authority” they find in UK politics.

The track is available on Bandcamp on a two-track cassette that also includes Christian, and the cassette package comes with a British Birds badge and a postcard, designed by the band.

Murmurate, Oscillate is out on the 16th of October via Skep Wax in digital, CD, and vinyl formats. For pre-order options and news of live dates to tie in with the release, including a stop-off at Rough Trade West in London on the 17th of October, follow British Birds on Instagram or Facebook.