THE LIQUORICE EXPERIMENT hails from Valencia, Spain and was formed in 2016, initially as a kind of moody, neo-garage-psych outfit. Various musicians came and went, but always around the core of guitarist Bruno Cruañes and singer Alex Amorós. The band issued their own lathe-cut 7” back in 2019 and posted various tracks to their Bandcamp page, all the while playing shows in the UK and Europe.
Fast forward to 2022, the band had undergone a slight change in direction, emerging as proponents of a tougher, R & B-based British Beat sound. Back in April, the band entered State Records’ custom-built 8-track recording facility, North Down Sound, to record an LP’s worth of material (which should be out in 2023 on the Spanish Snap!! Records label). State picked 2 of their fave raves to issue as a 45, and here we are!
Topside “Novice Pretender” features Bruno taking the (double-tracked) lead vocal, and is a classic slice of spiky beat, circa ‘64/’65, driven by tight propulsive drums and some beautiful heavily reverbed guitar, while the flip, “How Many Lies” sees Alex taking the lead vocal, with a more aggressive, gritty vibe—great driving bass and drums from Carlos and Brian respectively, and some fantastic distorto guitar from Bruno!