Eugene Quell is the moniker of Tobias Hayes, the London-based musician known for his work in the bands Meet Me In St. Louis and Shoes & Socks Off. Back in January of 2014, Hayes self-released the debut Eugene Quell EP, which featured the disaffected love song “Weird Purr.” I heard that song for the first time in the dead of winter when a friend came over and insisted that we listen to it once, twice, 10 times on repeat. “Now we’re mouth to mouth/ And I’m spinning out/ While we float around/ Am I someone else?/ Everything is going swell/ I’m going straight to hell.” Hayes’ lyrics gnaw on the individual insecurities that surface when you’re in a vulnerable state, and those intimate admissions peek out of all of his songs regardless of their sonic consistency. Hayes will release Eugene Quell’s third EP, I Will Work The Land, next month by way of Exploding in Sound and Sonic Anhedonic Recording Co. “London Pollen” is its first single, and the muddled scale that repeats throughout isn’t too far off from some of the short, ascendant interludes heard on the Velvet Underground’s self-titled full-length. “London Pollen” sounds like melancholic, fogged-in Sundays spent alone. “I remember you at random, and in reverse,” Hayes sings. Listen below.

The I Will Work The Land EP is due out 12/11 via Exploding In Sound / Sonic Anhedonic Recording Company. Pre-order it here.

CREDIT: Christian Bendel