Premiere: Manuela – ‘Cracks In The Concrete’

Featuring Nick McCarthy and Manuela Gernedel...

Nick McCarthy and Manuela Gernedel first met on summer camp in Bavaria, where they both grew up.

When Manuela Gernedel moved to Glasgow to study art, Nick followed suit. The two married, with Nick helping form Franz Ferdinand – and enjoying millions of album sales as a result.

Yet the pair always made music together, working on two studio albums with their friend Alexander Ragnew under the Box Codax banner.

Manuela is something different. A straight up duo, their music is ragged post-punk meets disco, it recalls the Bush Tetras, 99 Records, and other juicy delights from New York's early 80s underground.

Available as a postcard (plus download!) from Lost Map, 'Cracks In The Concrete' is a delicious intro from the pair. Manuela explains:

“The line ‘cracks in the concrete’ was partly inspired by the French phrase ‘sous les páves, la plage!’ which came up during the student revolts there in May ’68. Roughly translated it says ‘there is sand underneath the pavement!’. It’s talking about the potential of things breaking and breaking up things. Everything falling apart and you telling yourself that it’s going to work out (‘everything is healing’).”

Check it out now.

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