Shame have shared new single ‘Alphabet’ – their first new material since 2018’s ‘Songs of Praise’ album. Frontman Charlie Steen sayss the James Ford-produced track is ‘a direct question, to the audience and the performer, on whether any of this will ever be enough to reach satisfaction’.

Clocking in at the three-minute mark, the song opens with frenetic drumbeats and The Fall-style guitar hooks before Charlie defiantly delivers lines about not knowing the alphabet, not forgetting your Ps and Qs and how you must ‘please smile when we tell you to’. As the melodies veer into more of a Malkmus-esque territory, the band chant in unison ‘Are you waiting to feel good? Are you praying like you should?’