North West newcomers Severe Girls have dropped ‘Feels Like Pretending’, a fuzzed-out, emotionally-tangled slice of alt-rock. The track combines memorable and bittersweet hooks with a sense of unease and introspection, courtesy of the band’s tight, driving guitars. There are notes of Teenage Fanclub in the track, as well as the restless sound of 80s college rock underpinning the whole thing with rawness and immediacy. “It’s about life feeling like an act sometimes,” Richardson says. “And wanting to run, or distance ourselves, from a reality we try to hide from. It’s framed through the lens of a relationship, but at its core it’s about the line between convention and non-conformity, and how both sides feel like some kind of pretence.” ‘Feels Like Pretending’ is the final track from Severe Girls’ debut EP Another Night, which is out now. -Dan Peeke