proir to our theo outing, this weekend saw part two of la reunion (part one being a pie and ale fuelled hair of the dog mini session at the lock tavern earlier in the week) as we hooked up with some wasters i went to university with fellow academics for the coming together of two musical power houses.

london’s lo-fi slacker darlings finlay (who rode out the whole finlay quaye thing with remarkable ease) and all the way from the US of A, sprightly bean-towners mittens (though as the majority of the band are straight outta phoenix i get to call them damn yankees apparently) presented a double header at the buffalo bar in highbury (which might or might not have to do with finlay drummer ani being a gooner).

with both outfits well past the difficult second album mark and running wild with their dreams and visions, it sort of makes me feel both old and happy that we’ve all got this far, not least considering our shady south east london roots. the gig itself was suitably shambolic and a whole bunch of anglo-american fun though i’m assured both sets of troubadours really raised their respective games with their following dates in Brixton and Brighton when they’d warmed to playing in different time zones (brixton being deep south and all).

anyhoo, this was a very short tour of duty for mittens and they’ve since boarded planes bound for europe and the states, (and apologies to finlay for not being foriegn enough to get posted about today) but here is a piece of their nick lowe-esque tasty popiness lifted entirely from their eponymous first album. catchy enough to have been ringing round my brain since last week, and suitably melodic that it reminds me of summerteeth era wilco and with dirty pretty things’ anthony rossomando on bugle duties its just right for keeping your fingers warm.

mittens - belinda