Consistent contemporaries like The Wombats should be applauded. For what? Who can tell? They have stuck around long enough in this vague space of recognisable but impenetrable sound. Headline Leedsfest yet leave no mark on culture bar a song asking people to flail around to Closer. We have all felt the experience of Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come, though, the lead single from upcoming album, Oh! The Ocean. Attendance at those life events which give us little, if any, reason to care, are all too frequent. The Wombats are trying to prise their way into those lacklustre emotive events, to suggest there may be something to get out of them after all. But they are wrong – and the strengths of their lead single depends on this appealing feeling.
Light fun to be had with this lead single makes for a nice enough return to The Wombats’ sound. Heaven and hell contrasts and the insufferable nature of a man who cannot see himself as the problem is a neat swing for Matthew Murphy to play around with. This is a song of clashing narratives, of questionable instrumental choices where experimentation takes the lead. A welcome change this is, truly. Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come steps away from the typically written love lost song and its tempo and instrumental flourishes are a real treat. Those self-interested writings are a real pleasure, a new step away from the feel-good appeal of the genre. No, The Wombats have no interest in the rest of us, their sly flickers are just enough to set themselves apart.
Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come is not a trendsetter, though. It is following an indifferent path peddled by members of the public profiling themselves as self-invested, as people who will give or take romance as a tertiary objective. The Wombats are the first to make sense of this feeling, to put words of a suitable and entertaining variety to those drifting feelings. A higher pitch from Murphy is a neat flicker, a new direction for the band in their heavy synths and a focus on instrumental experimentation does separate the band from their previous works. It may not set the world on fire but it is a different sort of sound, an inclusive new feeling for a band who were playing by the numbers for all too long.
An anti-social social song and one which will, ironically, bring a community of fans who enjoy it closer together. Such is the power of music and the impressive abilities The Wombats display in adapting an indifference to hangouts and pub trips. We have all been there, all felt the desire to head back home instead of sticking our neck out to spend a few quid at a social gathering we are not particularly interested in. Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come is a personable song for those who need to refine their excuses for getting out of social events. There are no suggestions here, only neat synth and instrumental sections paired with a promising direction for The Wombats, if a bit comfortable in their ways.
