Along with most of the rest of the world of music, I've been confidently and rather pompously predicting the death of the single format long while. For me, this is a great shame as I look back on a misspent youth chasing handfuls of vinyl singles imported from the USA at ridiculous cost in the hope of finding some rare and perfect gem. There were home grown efforts too, not least the likes of Bristol's Sarah Records which despite shouldering a fairly hefty stereotype of anorak-pop for misty-eyed loners, actually managed nearly a century of mostly interesting releases. I can't complete my reminiscing without a mention for Seminal Twang too, without which I probably wouldn't be listening to much of the music I write about here at all. Recently though, I've heard a few singles - in the sense of a couple of carefully chosen songs which fit together as a release, rather than individual tracks for download - which have got me just as excited as I used to be when I heard a new band for the first time. Singles were always, after all, about a brief window into a band's world. So I thought perhaps it was time to attempt to share this excitement, and this occasional series of posts will be all about the curious survival of the single - and the delicious risk of making a judgement on just a couple of short songs. Of course it could go wrong and I could end up with copious quantities of egg on my face, but isn't that all part of the fun?

Poor Things - Innocence/18

Glasgow's Poor Things have been touted for some time by label-mates and ardent admirers French Wives, and it's easy to see why they're keen to introduce them to a wider audience. A frighteningly young trio who aren't ashamed to wear their influences fairly openly on their sleeves, Poor Things benefit from having spent a year playing live before committing these songs to record - and there is a genuine sense of impatience and desperation to make themselves heard evident here. "Innocence" kicks off with a rumbling undertow of distorted bass before spirals of joyous guitar join in. This prepares the ground for a triumphant chorus with soaring vocals and jittery guitars. The spirit of early 1990s US guitar pop haunts this track with it's undercurrent of melody and abrasive guitars - it's exuberant, optimistic and playful stuff - but it's also incredibly precise and clever. The flip side is "18", another utterly filthy bass riff underlies a chorus of breathy "oohs" which seem to have arrived directly from radio-friendly 70's classic rock. The lead vocal enters with the rather lovely "We move with the grace of forest fires..." and just a hint of local colour in the inflection. Strangely, for the last decade or so, Glasgow has done Americana better than the natives, and this is another example of just that - a tight, considered pop song filtered through the lens of Pavement or any number of bands on the Merge Records roster. It's a relatively simple construction in some ways, but has some tricks in store as open and guileless vocals echo around a sudden quiet moment while things build to a choir of disenchanted voices and a classic false ending. This dissolves into a full-on assault of grungy noise, powered by urgent drums with soaring swooping guitars. These two brief bursts of Poor Things do just what a single should, leaving the listener wanting to hear more, and intrigued to see where they take this sound next.

Poor Things - 18

You can purchase a physical copy of Poor Things single, or a digital download here at Bandcamp.

Edinburgh School For The Deaf - Orpheus Descending

Despite being interesed in hearing this band for a while, I managed to miss this release in the post-Homegame blues and financial embarrassment which typified most of May here. Unexpectedly, "Orpheus Ascending" shimmers in with nothing more than a delicate, Velvet Underground influenced guitar line, a quiet discordant scratch of violin and a shuffling tambourine. Having seen this band pegged as "the loudest band in Edinburgh" on more than one occasion this a something of a surprise, but behind this low-key instrumentation a slightly woozy and off-kilter, but utterly beguiling female voice sings quietly. The recording is distant, rudimentary and totally atmospheric, and the overall effect is mesmerising. Next, a deeply dirty, overdriven bassline heralds "Orpheus Descending" while a dry snare drum taps out a rhythm, seemingly in a completely different room. The band's two guitar sounds are used to advantage here, with a screed of angular noise sitting alongside a sweeter, chiming and distant counterpoint. But when both guitars erupt together the result is exhilarating, visceral noise. Meanwhile, as strangely formal and stentorian male vocals are half-sung and half-spoken I catch myself thinking about New Zealand, Alastair Galbraith and the wonderful tapes which the Xpressway label produced - as "Orpheus Descending" is a similar triumph of songwriting craft and sheer noise over recording technology. The chorus introduces the slightest fleck of organ and a female vocal foil and the result is a simply structured, but absurdly beautiful noise. Somewhere here the lead vocals soar and provide the concise but beguiling lines "take a candle/join my mass/chase a heart/of broken chapel glass" - and Edinburgh School For The Deaf become one of those bands you always wanted to be in. The entire single clocks in at seven minutes - and every second of it counts.

Edinburgh School for the Deaf - Orpheus Descending

You can download Edinburgh School For The Deaf's single from Bubblegum Records. Their album will be released on 13th June.