Windsor-based band Don’t Look Now turn the spotlight back on “Second Time Around” — the lead single from their debut album Like the Do It in the Films and, years on, still their most streamed track of all time. Uplifting, sun-drenched, and driven by an irresistible saxophone intro and solo, it remains the perfect introduction to a band who have been quietly doing things entirely on their own terms ever since.
“Second Time Around” was inspired by lead singer and songwriter Martin Montague’s own experience of holiday romance in Ibiza — one of the rare moments where Don’t Look Now venture into love song territory, albeit with the warmth and wit that defines everything they do. Recorded at The Dream of Ozwald Studios in Warren Row near Maidenhead and produced by Keith James, the track features keyboards from Gini Hogarth and backing vocals from Damian de la Hunty. It is a song that sounds like the first day of a holiday feels — and the fact that it remains the band’s most streamed recording years after its release says everything about its staying power.
Don’t Look Now are not a band that arrived fully formed from a single influence or a single genre. They were not interested in that then, and they are certainly not interested in it now.
The project began as an acoustic and folk-rock outfit, founded by Martin Montague as a vehicle for intelligent, story-driven songwriting. Everything changed with the arrival of saxophonist Ian Thomson, whose jazz-influenced playing transformed the band’s sound across their subsequent albums — adding a dimension that is immediately recognisable and impossible to replicate. Their musical palette now spans rock and roll, pop, soul, funk, and reggae, topped with saxophone work that nods to the jazz greats, all filtered through the distinctly British wit and irreverence of their influences: The Beautiful South, The Smiths, The Kinks, Madness, and Squeeze.
What truly sets them apart, however, is not the sound. It is the subject matter.
Forget the tired rotation of love-you-hate-you, I-want-you-back chart fodder. Don’t Look Now write songs about stamp collecting, bank robbery, tabloid journalism, selling used cars, staying calm in a crisis, artificial intelligence, a particular style of glasses worn by John Lennon, and having an affair with your cousin. They have their own Christmas song, which they will be re-releasing every year until the end of time. And they are always keen to talk about the elephant in the room — especially given that it is the title of their most recent album.
“Second Time Around” sits slightly outside that tradition — but even the band’s love songs have a story worth following.
⇒ Check out our review for “Second Time Around” here.
Don’t Look Now have now released three full-length albums: Like the Do It in the Films, Once Upon a Time, and their most recent, The Elephant in the Room. Lead singer Martin Montague has also released two solo albums, both available to stream. Across all of it, “Second Time Around” remains the band’s most streamed track — a testament to the enduring appeal of a song that captures a specific, universal feeling and wraps it in music that simply makes people happy.
