Our favourite Brighton gal pal garage-pop duo ARXX dish up today a huge pop banger, ‘Couldn’t Help Myself’, which I’m declaring to be our Friday Soundtrack, Track of the Day and Single of the Week. All of those things and more – this will be the song that will gets this hugely talented band the recognition they deserve, and that they’ve been working so hard to achieve.

Hanni shared the song with me with an email saying:

“WE’VE GONE POP!”

I wasn’t sure if this was a PR pitch or a trigger warning, but hopefully she will have seen me bouncing about like a joyful sack of potatoes at enough of their shows to know by now that they could never do me wrong. This is pop at it very finest – an instantly enveloping, dancefloor-ready, hard relate banger.

And there’s much more to love about this release – 50% of all royalties are going to Gendered Intelligence, a trans-led charity helping to improve trans people’s quality of life. 

Of the track Hanni explains:

“Couldn’t help Myself is a brutally candid reflection of a relationship gone wrong.  The exclamation of  “It’s not me, it’s you” epitomises the joyful fuck-you spirit of the song. This song is for those times when break-ups are a good thing, forgiving yourself and getting rid of toxic relationships and for unashamedly just having fun.”  

Their past few singles – Call Me Crazy and Deep, especially – have seen the pair edging closer and closer to perfectly polished pop. An astute critic remarked on their last release:

“The song lays their ‘fast rising pop stars’ cards on the table – no doubt you’ll be hearing this on Radio 1 pretty soon – but still keeping that fiery, gritty rock edge, like a sharpened spoon down their socks.”

Me, 12 months ago, just before they got played on Radio 1 for the first time, predicting the goddamn future like the motherflipping Cassandra I am.

The pair are touring Europe with Pillow Queens throughout May through to June, and have just announced they’ll be playing Brighton Pride’s Fabuloso event on 7 August.