7/10

Stage Door Guy have found an effective contradiction at the heart of 'Keep It in the Family': the darker the subject becomes, the more determined the music seems to move. Here, the London-based post-punk blues outfit bring Mancunian spoken-word bite together with New Orleans-rooted guitar playing, ska and dub across an EP exploring family dysfunction, fading desire and the things people would often rather leave unsaid. Yet there's little interest in making those subjects sound uniformly miserable, as Stage Door Guy wrap them in buoyant rhythms, bluesy guitar and brass, creating an uneasy but compelling tension between what the songs say and how they make you feel.

The title-track captures that approach particularly well. 'Keep It in the Family' takes on generational trauma and buried truths through a ska framework that inevitably recalls the sharp social songwriting of The Specials, The Beat and Madness. The rhythm carries an almost celebratory energy, while Adam Brody's spoken-word delivery keeps pulling us back towards something considerably less comfortable beneath the surface.

Throuhgout, Stage Door Guy understand that sadness doesn't always announce itself with sombre chords. Sometimes the bleakest stories arrive surrounded by music that makes people dance, and 'Keep It in the Family' uses that contrast to give its material considerably more character.

'Suddenly It's Thursday' widens the palette further, pairing West African-influenced blues guitar with thoughts of diminished desire and dreams slowly collapsing. The song reinforces the unusual chemistry between Brody and guitarist Mr CJ Williams; delivering Northern English beat poetry that collides with the musical language of New Orleans.

Producer Lenny Bignell helps keep those different influences connected, while Titch Walker's trumpet adds another lively voice to the arrangements. Stage Door Guy's music is deliberately rough around the edges, tactile and human, built from a partnership that began with a chance encounter in New Orleans and has remained difficult to categorise ever since.

The songs may deal in disappointment, dysfunction and melancholy, but Stage Door Guy refuse to let any of it ruin the groove.