This record opens like a cracking DJ set, promising a reflective, dance-tastic time, during which the lyrics take us higher and help us process the messiness of life.
Antony Szmierek obviously has a thing for sci-fi (see: the opening title track, which boasts rave elements and rolling, I Feel Love-inspired bass that’d make Giorgio Moroder himself have a boogie).
Szmierek (pronounced ‘Shmerrick’) is one who wanders the streets actively seeking flashes of blinding beauty, which wind their way into his poetic, insightful turn of phrase.
Check out our gig guide, our festival guide, our live music venue guide and our nightclub guide. Follow us on Instagram here.
“Does hope come with that Happy Meal? Nah, I didn’t think so…” – Szmierek has said he “wanted to be half Alex Turner and half Dr Dre”, which is perfectly put. This Mancunian’s chilled, conversational delivery spits the most exquisitely visual prose, which is also littered with motivational affirmations just begging to be scrawled on Post-It notes and stuck on your walls: “You get one life, live it/ In the valley of the kings.”
Our introduction to Szmierek was via 2024’s Yoga Teacher, with its muzak-like melodies backing this winsome tale about a distracted, hesitant yogi: “My friends joke that I’ve come here just to meet someone and I deny it, lyingly/ On this musty borrowed PE foam mat/ I’m a downward-facing class traitor.”
See also: “‘Try to lose yourselves,’ he says/ ‘Too late, mate, I’m adrift!’,” which Szmierek rhymes with “midriff” – such genius word choices! We’re tipping he’s a Wordle champion.
The beauty of Szmierek’s music lies in the fact that it works in isolation, playing as background music, but undivided attention to lyricism is strongly recommended. Szmierek is a novelist and former English teacher, which totally makes sense. All hail the alliteration king!
The stream-of-consciousness Restless Leg Syndrome is profound AF and Crumb (“I wanna be a crumb in your bed…”) is cute, not creepy. A conceptual genius to boot, Szmierek somehow even manages to pen an entire song about the adventures of a square of confetti – “the ghost of the party the night before” – which dislodges itself from the Rafters, catching the light and causing an epiphany.
We’d follow Take Me There’s pied-piper beat onto any dancefloor. However, Szmierek’s complex storylines and wordplay never get overwhelmed by those banging garage beats.
“You can’t cancel plans on the voices in your head…” – Crashing Up maps an overactive mind (“Starting to miss the H in my ADHD”): “I”m sorry I never got back to ya/ but I’m trying…” – sometimes trying our best is enough, right? Don’t be fooled by this song’s sweetly sung chorus, though – it’s actually devastatingly self-loathing.
Then all of this album’s characters collide at Angie’s Wedding, with its Yoga Teacher-related blooper followed by “haha, fuck!” proving this track was recorded in a single take.
Exhilarating and new, Service Station At The End Of The Universe feels like a grounded teenager sneaking through the bedroom window to meet up with a crush they’ve been dreaming of pressing flesh with, or holding hands with your bestie and legging it through a thunderstorm. Enamoured is an understatement.
LABEL: MUSHROOM MUSIC/VIRGIN MUSIC GROUP
RELEASE: 28 FEB
