The Wedding Present We Should Be Together / Don't Give Up Without

This year The Wedding Present have been releasing a new 7" single every month throughout the first half-year and will continue to do so until December! And now, finally, the first six volumes are available in G/s/a for indie record stores too! This fascinating project - which goes under the name of 24 Songs - comes thirty years after the band's similar Hit Parade series of 7"s in 1992 and features - you may have already guessed - one WP original as well as one cover version. Each of the records comes in a beautifully designed sleeve featuring brutalist photography by Jessica McMillan. Each single will be limited to 2,400 copies ww. - January 2022: 24 Songs sees the first fruits of David Gedge's song-writing partnership with Sleeper guitarist [and now also Wedding Present guitarist] Jon Stewart and, fittingly, the first release includes a cover of the beautiful Sleeper song `We Should Be Together'. The Wedding Present version comes in the form of a gorgeous duet featuring David and Louise Wener. It's coupled with `Don't Give Up Without A Fight', which combines classic Wedding Present feistiness with a Krautrock finale. David Gedge adds: "Jon played me a demo of `We Should Be Together' and told me that it was an unused Sleeper song from years ago. I absolutely loved it and immediately told him that The Wedding Present should cover it. The icing on the cake came when Louise kindly agreed to appear on the recording and we made it a duet. We did a stripped-back version for our `Lockdown' LP last year but this is a new full-band recording. We first recorded `Don't Give Up Without A Fight' for a Marc Riley session for BBC 6 Music because the arrangement kind of reminded me of The Wedding Present's cover of `Jumper Clown' by Marc Riley And The Creepers."