Formal Sppeedwear come bursting with angular new wave “Who Needs Spain Ball?”

The quavering, echoed yelps that immediately open “Who Needs Spain Ball?” will have you believe it’s David Byrne, right down to his cadence. Serrated 12-string electric riffs exactly like those pioneered by late ’70s XTC and Television then collide with that voice, setting off an urgency that’s sustained by a thrusting krautrock groove. Attentive playthroughs reveal this isn’t the typical homage to jittery guitar melodies. Like XTC, Formal Sppeedwear’s magic happens in the studio with intensely intricate arranging. The treated feedback and percolating rhythm throughout “Who Needs Spain Ball?” were born of precision, and it’s one of many sprightly sonic collages from their debut album, Punch Card, out 11 September.

For a band whose style of music would blow the roof off any venue, it’s fascinating to learn that element has always been a byproduct. The Formal Sppeedwear trio consists of singer and bassist Beck Clewlow, guitarist Charlie Ball, and drummer Connor Wells. Each also works with synthesisers and sound design, but Clewlow is the brains of the operation. His earliest sketches were frugally tracked on cassettes, the process now refined to offer the others a thorough skeleton of a song akin to his favourite genre, “lonely man with the drum machine,” think Bill Nelson or Alan Vega. Then, they’ll fill in the flesh together, often a lengthy process that leads to another puzzle – how to translate it live.

“I never intended [the band] to have any longevity,” Clewlow delicately discloses. “But we got asked to play our first show within the first couple of months of releasing our music, and then it was a mad rush to put a group together.” It made sense to follow through; Wells shared that the three were working on a krautrock-sounding project, but Clewlow’s own musings, effectively the genesis of Formal Sppeedwear, were similar. Naturally, Clewlow asked the others to join him. “The real beauty of inviting other people is that it can shock some of the life back into it, once it’s been subject to counsel,” Clewlow says. “The blinders come on if you write by yourself too much.”

Being on the same page when sculpting songs, they’re never held up by anything unnecessary. “We don’t have to wait to have a song finished and written to take to an allotted week in the studio,” Ball says. “When there’s an idea, we put it down and come back to it.” Of their small output, Clewlow reveals they’ve only written one song altogether in a room, from start to finish: “Even then, it’s been bastardised in the interim.” It’s irrefutable that their songs are laboured over, though Wells quips he’s sometimes responsible for being excessive. “We’re so into the idea of adding details and textures to put in the track. That in itself takes time and effort to work out.”

“It’s no way kind of cool or effortless or off the cuff at any point,” Clewlow affirms. “Every decision is a matter of familiarity, I suppose. It’s like, how far can we get away with it being unfamiliar and listenable?” It’s here that Formal Sppeedwear diverge from their 2024 self-titled EP, Punch Card is a record of extremes. “Who Needs Spain Ball?” is in the poppier lane with the record’s biggest chorus, while many others secretly contain weird time changes and spikier sounds. Wells points to comedian Stewart Lee as the inspiration, whose act sandwiches ridiculous ideas in a way the audience doesn’t notice until they’ve happened. “It’s a nice analogy for the way we like to make music. On the surface, it can be kind of poppy and accessible, but there’s an undercurrent of strangeness that sits under it.”

This circles back to playing live, some tracks have multiple guitars, and Ball only has two hands. He explains such limitations compel some thinking outside of the box: “A load of parts I’ve ended up with where I’m trying to assume two melodic lines at the same time, trying to work out how I can convey those both without playing either properly, end up being more interesting than the other two combined and becomes the new lead.” This scrupulous studio tinkery also leads to many parts left on the cutting room floor, as brutal as that may be. Clewlow sums up their decision-making: “Does it benefit the whole track?”

Most impressively, Formal Sppeedwear has been built solely by the trio. Ball mentions the resurgence of Stoke’s music scene, but it’s mostly hardcore bands. For bands similarly doing their addictive blend of new wave and post-punk, they weren’t going to find them there. So, as Ball recounts, they did the obvious thing: “It’s going to have to be, you know, us that does it.” Whether you chalk it up to pure luck or to interests aligning, Formal Sppeedwear have fulfilled their mission, and their upcoming album is buzzing with that accomplishment.