Don't want to go work tomorrow? "(I've got the Sanctioned) Blues" by mellowed-out UK duo Ultimate Painting will inspire you to call in sick and spend the day floating on your back in the nearest lake instead. With sunburnt hooks of the laid-back indie variety, this summery single fits somewhere in between Blind Melon and Mac Demarco. However, according to the band, the story behind the song is much darker than you would imagine after a first listen. The boys had this to say in regards to its meaning: "The Conservative government that we've had in the UK for the last 5 years have been particularly hard and cruel on the less fortunate members of society. Someone who's found themselves unemployed has to jump through a variety of hoops to receive a jobseeker's allowance; a paltry amount of money to help support themselves… If you're late for your meeting or you fuck up some paperwork, they slap you with a sanction and the tiny amount of money you're getting by on gets taken away. It's straight out of Catch 22. ‘(I've Got The) Sanctioned Blues’ is us trying to make sense of that. Songs that borrow the imagery and rhythms of the railway are as old as the railways themselves… We didn't really set out to fit in with that tradition but I suppose that's where it's at."Ultimate Painting is sheduled to release their sophmore album titled Green Lanes on August 7th via Trouble in Mind. You can listen to "(I've Got the) Sanctioned Blues" below and pre-order the record here.
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