[Premier] Mystery Claws: 'Phony Checks'

Following on from the success of their Princeton single back in January, 7″ singles label Jodie & Victor return with a split 45 from California based Sleeping Bags and Mystery Claws. Keeping it in the Princeton family, both acts feature a member of the multi-talented Kivel family – Jesse (who plays drums in Sleeping Bags) is more commonly known as Kisses whilst brother Matt is one half of Mystery Claws alongside filmmaker Julia Bembenek.

The video for Mystery Claws’ cut ‘Phony Checks’ plays homage to the opening sequence of Cameron Crowe flick ‘Almost Famous’ perhaps with a tiny reference to Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ video – matching up selected album covers with lyrics from the song. It’s clever – uber-low budget – stuff and we love it.

Sleeping Bags’ contribution to the 7″ ‘Cantaloupe’ is a slightly more fuzzed out post-shoegaze affair, with nods to Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine, but with a definite air of the California sunshine about it. Stream the track in full below.

The single is released on 16 August, pre-order links are available now from both Pure Groove and Rough Trade.

Sleeping Bags: ‘Cantaloupe’