The latest from Cheap Gloomer has a wintery glow to it.

We’ve been tracking Creed McTaggart’s Cheap Gloomer project for a while now. Last time we spoke to him, we were munching on his A Clean Kitchen album, and it seems that he’s been finding time outside of surfing to keep himself busy. This year he’s dropped three singles already from his upcoming album MEOW, including the track we’re circling today, ‘Bubba’.

Like the previous releases this year, ‘Bubba’ is stripped right back, feeling more like it was written without the presence of a band in mind, letting this dissonant chord progression carry it along. McTaggart’s vocals, despite being softly sung, sound as if they’re coming from some deep part of him, revealing this haunting inner hillbilly who’s smiling out the side of his mouth.

The slide guitar, low mic hiss, and backing vocals give the tune this real dreamy analogue feel too; the equivalent of watching something on Super 8 rather than in 4K. Maybe it’s years of being in surf films that’s given him this appreciation and understanding of texture, maybe it was a happy accident, maybe he just wanted to paint a grim scene for us to wallow in…

“‘Bubba’ is a happy/sad song with hits of humour,” McTaggart says. “I tried to make the bleakest song I could, something that gives you apocalyptic visuals. You can hear a salt and pepper shaker, and the drums were played on a bin. It was a lot of fun!”

Safe to say if Creed comes over to your house for dinner, you should check your cupboards to make sure everything is still there… Stream ‘Bubba’ everywhere now and stay tuned for MEOW!