If you played me Neutrals‘ latest release, “Hate the Summer of Love,” it would be difficult to place it in any specific time. Like post-punk acts of the ’80s, lead singer Allan McNaughton’s mouth sounds like it’s full of marbles and the bass line does most of the work that usually falls on rhythm guitar. There’s a stripped-down, almost dispassionate air to their music, but it doesn’t make it any less exciting. Rather, it serves to build up the mystique of the band and firmly cements them as the storytellers and the listeners as the audience.

Hailing from Glasgow, McNaughton has taken a winding road to the Bay Area. Neutrals’s forthcoming LP titled Kebab Disco will have a lyric booklet/zine meant to be read as accompaniment to the album. The zine is not strictly autobiographical, but it does follow the personal experience of McNaughton, touching on his struggles after the move to the Bay, as well as his idealization of San Francisco as an artistic mecca. “Hate the Summer of Love” encapsulates the frustration that comes with the loss of an idealized version of something — not quite anger, not quite disappointment, but a feeling of foolishness for having believed in your own idealization in the first place.

Kebab Disco is slated to be released on June 6 via Emotional Response Records.

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