If you like your indie fast, jangly, and with guitar strings which sound immaculate when playing riffs, you should really be listening to Ducks Ltd. I first heard of the Canadian duo when they opened for illuminati hotties at Leeds in 2022 and proceeded to power through almost their entire discography within half-an-hour. They were tight, they were hooky, they were great fun; I immediately copped their 2021 debut LP Modern Fiction afterwards. And this week, they’re kicking off a UK headline tour of their own in support of the excellent sophomore album, Harm’s Way. It’s been a stacked year so far, I know, but you should still make time for Harm’s Way if you’re yet to, especially with Summer rolling in.
To mark the occasion, Ducks Ltd. have shared a loosie from those sessions in the form of “When You’re Outside.” It’s a typical Ducks affair, charging out of the gates with twangy acoustic guitars and machine gun snare rolls, the kind of song that already feels like it’s existed for 30 years. Then the chorus hits and vocalist Tom Mcgreevy absolutely goes for it in a way that’s startlingly unconventional for him yet very effective. Buried beneath him are harmonies from Moontype’s Margaret McCarthy and Ratboys’ Julia Steiner – another band that any lover of indie should be forcing time to check out.
The band released a statement with the single explaining its genesis and why it didn’t make the cut for Harm’s Way.
This was one we wrote pretty early in the process for Harm’s Way, which was a period when a lot of country-leaning ideas were working their way into our arrangements. I’d demoed the harmonies in the chorus (badly), and when we were working on backing vocals with Julia and Margaret they immediately understood what we were trying to do and really elevated it. The song didn’t end up quite fitting in the sequence for the album, but it does a couple things we’ve never done before in a Ducks song so I’m glad we’re finding a way to put it out. It’s about trying to support someone who is making that difficult to do. Unconditional love in a sense. Or at least love with limited conditions.
You can watch the lyric video below. Below that, you can also find the remaining dates for Ducks Ltd.’s headline tour, tickets for which are still available and come personally recommended!
Ducks Ltd. UK tour dates
19/5 – Birmingham, UK @ Hare & Hounds
20/5 – Liverpool, UK @ Stockroom
21/5 – Leeds, UK @ Headrow House
22/5 – Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast
23/5 – Edinburgh, UK @ Sneaky Pete’s
24/5 – Manchester, UK @ New Century Hall All Dayer
25/5 – Bristol, UK @ Dot to Dot
26/5 – Nottingham, UK @ Dot to Dot
27/5 – London,UK @ Moth Club
Credit: Dylan Taylor.
“When You’re Outside” is available now via Carpark Records.
Words: Callie Petch
