Exposure: Miracle Strip make ambitious electronic lo-fi indie-pop
Singer Fergus Christie Jack on Girl Gangs, influences and bass solos
Eurythmics, Boy George, Simple Minds – they all sang of miracles. Combine the three, chuck in Postcard Records and Jens Lekman, remove your clothes, et voila: Miracle Strip. Formed in an Edinburgh kitchen by singer / instrumentalist Fergus Christie Jack (ere of Dirty Summer) in 2012, and thereafter augmented by Andrew Campbell (synths / bass) and List writer Malcolm Jack (synths / programming / guitar), Miracle Strip will raise your pulse with their electronic lo-fi indie-pop. We quizzed frontman Fergus about bass solos and girls gangs by way of – yes – ‘exposure’. Never has this segment been so aptly-named.
What’s the Miracle Strip manifesto?
’Lo-fi needn’t mean low ambition. We stand for returning a spirit of adventure, mischief and meaning to pop music. So far as budget permits.’
What music, books, technology and foodstuffs fuel the band?
’Sylvester, Talking Heads, Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, Charles Bukowski, charity shop keyboards, Orange Juice and £3 lasagnes from Marcella’s’.
In tribute to the A-side to your new single, ‘Girl Gang’, do you have any favourite girl gangs in pop culture?
’Girl gangs in movies such as ‘She-Devils on Wheels’ and ‘The Switchblade Sisters’ are pretty fierce. I've always had a soft spot for Bananarama and The Pointer Sisters too’.
B-Side 'Stephanie On The Moon' features a bass solo - what other bass solos, in the history of pop, do Miracle Strip endorse (if any)?
’Three spring to mind: Larry Graham’s funkified ‘Pow’, Bootsy Collins’ out-of-this-world ‘Space Bass’ and Alan Partridge’s iconic air bass solo.
Miracle Strip’s debut 7”, ‘Girl Gang’ is out via Simply Thrilled on Mon 21 Oct. miraclestrip.bandcamp.com They play Glasgow Old Hairdressers on Fri 25 Oct.