Pitchfork

With Gorky's Zygotic Mynci neatly stuffed under the floorboards, frontman Euros Childs is free to unleash his personal pop designs on the world at large. The next target: the U.S., whose shores will soon see the arrival of the ex-Mynci's debut solo album, Chops. It lands October 10 courtesy of Wichita Recordings, the same label that released the disc in the UK back in February.

Childs recorded Chops first in demo form at his parents' Pembrokeshire home and later finalized it at Gorwel Owen's Ofn studios in Anglesey, Wales. Almost entirely a Euros-centric affair, the record also features a pedal steel contribution from GZM founding member John Lawrence on first single "Donkey Island".

"I didn't want it to be some heavy, introspective thing," Childs said in a press release. Instead, he decided to take his sound down the "party music" route. With song titles like "Surf Rage", "Billy the Seagull", and "Stella Is a Pigmy", we don't doubt it. And that reminds us: the U.S. version features a rearranged tracklist, recounted below.

Childs will appear live October 21 at the Gwledd Conwy Feast festival in Conwy, Wales, where we hope they will be serving up some mean chops in ornate artistic arrangements, à la those on the album cover.

01 Billy the Seagull
02 Donkey Island
03 Dawnsio Dros y Mor
04 Slip Slip Way
05 Costa Rita
06 Stella Is a Pigmy Pts 1-3
07 My Country Girl
08 Circus Time
09 Cynhaef
10 Surf Rage
11 First Time I Saw You