San Jose: Dirty Linen

Single – Out Now

Digital 

Glasgow-based post-punk six-piece San Jose have unveiled their sprawling new single, Dirty Linen. Building a reputation for their boundary-pushing live performances and avant-garde approach to writing and musicality, the band’s latest offering captures the essence of their live shows and showcases them as one of Scotland’s most innovative new acts.

Capturing their theatrical flair, merging explosive post-punk energy with a genre bending soundscape, Dirty Linen is a fascinating example of San Jose’s capabilities. Produced by Christopher McCrory (Walt Disco, Catholic Action), Dirty Linen brings a bold fusion of folk-inspired motifs and driven rock to create a sound comparable to the likes of Black Country New Road and Guillemots. 

Opening with the tranquil sound of birdsong, the track unfolds with picked acoustic guitar, delicate strings, and accordion establishing a buoyant folk undertone. This gentle introduction gives way to a more charged energy as distorted guitars crash in, the drums intensify, and the vocals deliver biting, dissatisfied lyricism. Over its expansive six-minute runtime, the track evolves into a dynamic journey, moving through soaring anthemic chanted vocals, radiant brass, and psychedelic, wah-wah-drenched guitar riffs. Culminating in an explosive and emotionally charged final chorus, the track leaves a lasting impression and delivers on the energy promised in the band’s intense live shows.

Thematically, the track navigates themes of societal disillusionment and decay, blending visceral commentary with evocative instrumentation. The result is chaotic yet deliberate, oscillating between raw, abrasive punk rhythms and moments of grandiose, almost theatrical, orchestration. As the band explains: “The song stems from a conversation with a bigot. We spoke about purity and race. Eventually the bigot returned to the empty glass in front of him, and I went home.

But born was the idea that no one is truly “pure”. We are all from somewhere,  a rehash of a rehash of a rehash. We have all been through the washing machine and tumble dryer and we all will return there again. That bigot will be reborn, in his mind “stained” by the marvels of multiculturalism and immigration, but in my mind he has been fulfilled, like a colouring-in page receiving its last crayon mark. We are what surrounds us, and if anyone considers it ‘dirty’ then let it be so. We’d all rather play in the “mud”, than let our clothes keep us captive.

We styled the song to that of a musical, adding different elements and sounds to create a crazy circus-like sound that can also make you feel slightly uneasy. We aimed to fully embrace this balance of joviality and wrongness to try and create something new and unique. Which can be hard when the easiest route is to redo the same tired formula.

Recording Dirty Linen was a euphoric experience. Chris McCrory is a joy to work with and he understands us completely, he helped us shape our mental ideas to create a sonic piece we are all proud of.  We hope people enjoy the song as much as we enjoyed recording it.”

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All words by Simon Lucas-Hughes. More writing by Simon Lucas-Hughes can be found at his author’s archive.

• Source: https://louderthanwar.com/san-jose-dirty-linen-single-review/