Saint Jude - No Angels

With Covid-19 bringing the world to a grinding halt, we were granted a rare period of reflection. During this time, Jude would pass by houses where he had grown-up, or unassuming public locations that hold personal significance as they took on an ever-shifting sentimental context. With the pandemic raging on, leaving many divisions of society without furlough, we saw the communities who populate these neighbourhoods banding together to provide mutual aid. “The message in ‘No Angels’ is about more than lockdown specifically,” Jude says of the track. ‘Community and solidarity is the most important thing, and will always be in conflict with the forces of capital and money.’ With knowing nods to sonic movements that are so deeply associated with the capital’s working class neighbourhoods, the track’s chorus hook says it all in its simplicity: “you say the money doesn’t matter too much / you say the love for your people is enough.” Savage Messiah, Laura Grace Ford’s graphic novel about London outcasts and psychogeography within the city, provided inspiration during the single’s incubation period.