Vinyl

Over the course of his ten-year career, Jay Reatard (nee Lindsey) has become one of the underground’s most obsessed-about musicians, in large part to his prolific work habits. He’s been in no fewer than seven bands and is currently enjoying his most celebrated stint yet as a solo artist. The attention caught the eye of Matador, which has signed him to a unique deal that sees him release a string of limited edition seven-inches, beginning with See/Saw b/w Screaming Hand on April 8. Jay says the idea was a mutual agreement. "In the past ten years [Matador has] been putting out full-lengths and sporadic singles with bands, and I think they just recognised that there are a lot of record collectors that buy my stuff, so we were just trying to think of something fun to do and more fan-based, rather than just put out an album. They’re made for people who are paying attention.

"You can do whatever you want on a seven-inch; you don’t have to think, ‘For 35 minutes this will be music you’ll love,’” he continues. "You can just one-off any genre you want and get away with it. Y’know, it’s just fun and there’s a lot more freedom in it.” That said, he doesn’t think any songs will be a stretch from his garage punk signature. "I try to do that, but somehow it always sounds like the same dude writing the same songs,” he says with a laugh. Since not everyone will get their hands on one of these small runs, a compilation will collect them in October. "It’s a singles collection, so every one is written like a single. They’re all their own micro-release, so every single is being thought of individually, art-wise, song-wise, lyric-wise — every piece is conceptually cohesive. But when you put them together… I don’t know what it’s gonna sound like.”

Click here to read a full interview with Jay Reatard.