This Ready Brek-themed 4-piece are not a real mixed bowl of Porij. It’s new post time!

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Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke – and it’s time to lift your spirits again with another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! ‘Nobody Scared’ is a recent favourite of mine from the BBC Radio 6 Music playlist, and the track comes from the Manchester Art-Rock quartet Porij. The band’s current line-up met while staying in halls and studying together at the Royal Northern College Of Music, and they were officially formed after a friend was forced to pull out of an ‘original Porij’ live gig in Leeds the week before – meaning they had to re-write the entire set in a week’s notice. According to the band, Porij was picked at random and has “no meaning”, despite the mildly amusing ring to it. So far, Porij have released a small batch of singles and a mixtape – which includes a cover of Disclosure’s chart hit ‘White Noise’. I think this is a good one for any fans of Alt-J, Everything Everything or KAWALA, with a vivid mix of R&B, northern Soul and 00’s Indie elements, and the lyrics were inspired by a Netflix documentary on the Yorkshire Ripper. Give ‘Nobody Scared’ a trial below.

A socially conscious track about an important topic, Porij’s ‘Eggy’ did his homework when it came to the concept for ‘Nobody Scared’, writing, “It’s crazy that people force the narrative that women aren’t being careful when, in reality, they shouldn’t be in danger just because of their gender and no matter how many precautions they take it doesn’t seem to matter”, in his press release, in response to the events of the Reclaim The Night marches that he was struck by after watching the documentary, adding, “Gender-based violence affects women from all countries, backgrounds and social statuses. The fact that 97% of women say they had been sexually harassed is astounding but sadly not a surprising statistic to those who have been through it”, to his research. It may be easy to expect then, before listening to ‘Nobody Scared’, that it’s going to be a heavy and aggressive track filled with hooks about empowerment and unity, but, it’s clever for Porij to subvert these tropes. That’s not to say that the core refrain of ‘Nobody Scared’ isn’t hopeful and optimistic, however, as the beats build to the little climax similarly to a dance track. It starts off blissful, with a softly strobing bass guitar riff that gives the melodies an Urban feel. The chorus of “Walking around/With your red coat falling down/Nobody scared” is sung with a mid-tempo delivery that feels blissful and content in mood. The verses have a quicker, more rhythmic delivery, almost resembling Hip-Hop, with lines like “Feel our heart when we let go/Beating fast from the get-go” and “Tiptoe down these streets/Chilled to the bone/But we’ve found” that talk about how it should be safe to walk home alone in an Urban environment. The line of “Nobody’s Scared” unleashes a cooling sequence of Drums and Keyboard melodies that give everything a more soulful and woozy feel, with an earthly air to the patterns, as “Nobody’s Scared” represents the scenario in an ideal world. It’s a fantastic encapsulation of peaceful protest in a tune, with a lush and chilled sound that builds to a more involved finish. The core topical message remains intact, and it’s nice to see the band refusing to pin themselves down to any specific genre, and also deciding not to fuss around with an auto-tune machine, so that the backing harmonies can fill the space much more naturally instead. Very good indeed.

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That’s it for today’s recommended listening – but don’t be afraid to pop back here again tomorrow as we shift our ears’ attention from brand new music to the seminal sounds of the past for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’. This week’s selection is a novelty effort that was suggested by one of my most loyal readers (my mother). It was a hit for a British comedian, playwright and actor who played the character of Neil in ‘The Young Ones’ and has been nominated for Olivier, BAFTA and TMA awards – including a BRIT Award win in 1985. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/