Formal Sppeedwear – Punch Card – soundsfromthedarkside

Beeeoooo… krrrchhhh… piiiieee… screeeee… brrr-ksh… pp.

Finally, we are online! Oh right, you read that correctly. The double ‘p’ in Formal Sppeedwear was just a typo, and the Stoke-on-Trent trio simply decided to keep it. It is a happy accident that tells you quite a lot about their debut album Punch Card, because little here sounds like it followed the obvious route.

From the first seconds of Hit ’N’ Run, there is no introduction or warm-up. Singer Beck Clewlow jumps straight in, surrounded by bouncing bass, erratic guitars and sharp rhythms. Who Needs Spain Ball? follows with an almost primitive directness. The music feels like a collection of loose parts that should not really fit together. Indecent takes that nervous energy even further. Largely improvised it sounds restless and jagged.

After those opening tracks, it is pretty where Formal Sppeedwear get part of their inspiration. Late-70s and early-80s new wave runs through Punch Card, with Talking Heads, XTC and Neu! never far away. Add Clewlow’s loose, associative lyrics and you have a pretty good idea of the niche this band is in. The trio constantly pull songs apart and put them back together slightly wrong.

None of Punch Card’s twelve songs sit still for long. Most take around the three-minute mark to complete, turning the album into 43 sweaty minutes full of jumpy guitars and quirky rhythms. A Concise History might be the clearest trip back in time. It brings in a vintage synth sound that could have escaped from an early-80s computer. Near the final section of Punch Card, New Brother pushes the same feeling further. It sounds very 80s but never feels like an easy copy of the past.

There is something else from that period lurking in Clewlow’s voice too. At times, his theatrical and slightly detached delivery brings Scary Monsters-era David Bowie to mind. Only the closing song Friedrich Backs Up Nothing changes the mood as things suddenly slows down. Manipulated cellos and darker rhythms bring a rare moment of melancholy before the album disappears into a 56k modem-like noise.

Formal Sppeedwear’s debut is awkward, playful, sharp and surprisingly catchy, and should not be missed if, like us, you like your music adventurous. This wonderfully strange record brings just the right dose of nervous, wonky new-wave energy that 2026 was still missing.

Label: Melodic, 2026

Buy it here: https://www.melodic.co.uk/products/formal-sppeedwear-punch-card

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