CLUNK Recommends | MOTH TLK - These Friends Of Mine

Charlie Pinhey

Music journalist & online sub-editor for CLUNK Magazine based in Bristol. Fumbling around on social media trying to tell people about my interviews and reviews. Follow me @charvawritesstuff

MOTH TLK’s debut track is skate punk to its core and an advert for high-octane guitars, hooky earworms & speedy vocals.

I’ll always take a hit of anything slacker-skate-indie-punk-garage-rock related. There’s such a rich plethora of artists to dip into across that broad genre spectrum. From FIDLAR, Wavves, Hockey Dad, Ty Segall, White Reaper and Bass Drum Of Death, there’s a lot of choice.

And now we have another…MOTH TLK, a London based songwriter and producer who documents the trials and tribulations of life through his take on all things skater-rock.

MOTH TLK’s debut single is called ‘These Friends Of Mine’ and is about “seeing a shared dream you made with your friends come to fruition without you and the bittersweet feeling of not being involved while still being happy for them. It’s inspired by a lot of my lifelong friends all settling down in the same city and the FOMO that came with realising life is sending me down a different path where I’ll be watching from afar”.

Whilst lyrically ‘These Friends Of Mine’ may convey a sense of FOMO, the track is bouncy and is launched into with some fuzzy guitars and uplifting ‘Aha, aha, ahas’ that motor the track forward and return for its chorus. What really shines through in this single is the sense that time is passing or soon will pass from one era to the next, such as moving out of a shared house.

It’s hard to say how ‘These Friends Of Mine’ does this specifically but this track did make me think of Jackass 3D (skate-punk to its core), specifically the end where the cast all sing Weezer’s ‘Memories’ and the finality of that moment between them as friends. Sure, the cast went on to make two more movies, but thematically they were both approached with an awareness of their collective older age.

Anyway, poor examples aside, there is just something about high-octane guitars, speedy vocals and hooky earworms that really do make you think of all your friends, wherever they may be…And the last time you did something a little punk rock together.

Listen to ‘These Friends Of Mine‘ here: