WORMSTEW, the Long Beach-based indie pop-folk trio featuring LA pop scene movers Mike Schnee, Teresa Cowles and Michael Simmons, continues the countdown to their new album with the delightful single “Tippy Tippy Tea.” A swinging salute to all things British, it follows the recent indie hit “Spinning” in previewing the fun to be found on the just-announced album LAST DAYS OF LOMA due at the end of the month on Vinyl, CD and Streaming. The new single, accompanied by an equally clever official music video, is out April 3 on all digital platforms worldwide and up for preorder and pre-save now:
WORMSTEW has been simmering for years as the main musical outlet for singer-songwriter MIKE SCHNEE, but the new lineup featuring bassist COWLES (EZ Tiger, Dragster Barbie, Evie Sands) and drummer/vocalist/producer MICHAEL SIMMONS (of sparkle*jets u.k. and solo renown) has proven to have all the ingredients needed to bring the band to a boil. The album LAST DAYS OF LOMA is where all the flavors – and voices – achieve complete harmony: the songs are warm and funny (but often disarmingly unflinching) and the uncluttered but deeply considered arrangements let the lyrics shine. The giddy single “Spinning” from this past February was the band's introduction to most fans on the global indie scene, and the wonderfully playful “Tippy Tippy Tea” is cut from the same cloth, but also tailor made for an Anglophile audience, as Schnee explains.
“I love spending time in London. I love movies set there. I love the funny words and the funny way people talk,” he says, fully aware that the humor in the song comes just as much from the way he deploys the terms. “I wrote the lyrics to this song while in London; the music came easily once I got home.” It's another gleeful delivery from the band, and the affection for the English vernacular is bolstered by the fine, British-invasion-inspired harmonies of Cowles and Simmons (not to mention the “Strawberry Fields” mellotron added by Simmons in the latter half of the track).
“Tippy Tippy Tea” embodies the playful spirit of wordplay that fuels the album LAST DAYS OF LOMA, which while always clever can be brought to bear on topics from grief, aging, loss, and the drive to be a better person. Each examination of a darker topic is lined with humor, and even the songs with the seemingly brightest of surfaces can reveal startling shadows. Most of them, that is... the single at hand may quite simply be an expression of the joy of travel and connecting with the linguistic textures of a beloved destination and its people. Such enthusiasm is at the core of what WORMSTEW does, and one more reason to celebrate their arrival on the global pop scene with one of the most purely charming albums of the year. LAST DAYS OF LOMA is out April 24 on Vinyl, CD and Streaming worldwide... have a cuppa while you wait, wot?