Mush are a slacker indie band from Leeds. I don’t know a lot about them, except that when I first heard “Alternative Facts” on Marc Riley a few months ago, I was immediately captivated, both by the ridiculously catchy riff and the droll lyrics about what we now lovingly call fake news. I thought they must be American – probably from New York. It had to be a diatribe against Donald Trump. The latter is probably right, but they’re Yorkies rather than New Yorkers.

I didn’t hear the song again for a while, as it only seems to have been available as a limited edition single on the Too Pure Singles Club, which sends you a 7 inch single every month for an annual subscription (I now know). Marc Riley played it a couple of times just before Christmas – I think the band may have done a session for his 6 Music show, and it was one of his highlights of the year. Rightly so. The song also featured in Loud and Quiet’s top tracks of 2017, although it didn’t make it on to their Spotlify playlist (which is very good) as the song isn’t on Spotify! A shame, but you can hear it on Soundcloud – link below. Beware, it is nearly ten minutes long, and could end happily enough at the false ending, about 7.20 minutes in. But do have a listen – it reminds me in different places to the likes of Parquet Courts, The Fall, DUDS and the Velvet Underground. These are good bands to sound like! You could probably chuck in loads of 80s post-punk references too.

Hopefully “Alternative Facts” will get a wider release at some point – I assume there will be an album from Mush in the future. One to watch out for.