With a name like Sergeant Buzfuz you always knew that they were going to be a little eccentric. A bewildering and eclectic blur of influences, pleasingly blended together in an inventive but immediate fashion to create songs of upbeat sentiment that are also grounded in realities of everyday life. It’s as varied as the city in which is what conceived of and recorded, starting out in Manor House we visit Stratford, Kensington, Elephant & Castle, Hampstead and Kilburn along the way.
Headed up by Joe Murphy, the band consist of Willie Barr, Ian Button, Polly MacLean, Joss Cope, Stu Crane and Eilish McCracken, and between them they have a broad range of musical influences, passions and experience, all being melded into this punky and folky sonic pot.
Move, Carmelita is a delicate tune, whilst the title track Balloons for Thin Belinda starts off with dramatic folk sensibility before breaking into a bouncy pop routine, and the tongue in cheek lyrics of S6 girls are both amusing and acerbic. Joe comes from an Irish storytelling tradition, and his family heritage is evident in the Celtic flow of Molly’s Bar and Danny’s Room. First single Gold Feelings was picked up by Gideon Coe at the end of last year, whilst Tim Robinson has also sung their praises.
Released on Blang Records on April 7th, Balloons for Thin Belinda is a charismatic and pleasantly haywire set of songs, guaranteed to raise a smile this summer.
And So She Thinks 