Now, the life of an amateur journalist can be non-stop my friends; me and the Birthday gang are out and about as much as we can, reviewing shows so you don’t have to! So it’s always nice when a show comes along that ticks all the right boxes in terms of venue, billing and timing (and also impresses your wife that you’ve got list for it). Tonight we are at The Albert Hall, one of our favourite Manc venues, for a sold out show, as the inimitable Beth Gibbons graces us with her first ever solo tour in support of her first ever solo album, ‘Lives Outgrown’. What makes this a double whammy for me is that label mate and everyone’s favourite sad lad,Bill Ryder-Jones, is opening up!!
Me and the other half smugly walk into The Albert Hall, noticing that no one is in the corridors, naively thinking that we’ll find a nice cosy spot to watch Bill before there’s a rush of Beth fans into the venue. But this is not the case, as the place is absolutely fucking rammed as we squeeze in downstairs (we couldn’t even get a bloody seat, Ed). It makes sense for the room to be a buzz for Mr Ryder-Jones, as he has made arguably one of the best records of 2024 in ‘Iechyd Da’ and tonight he treats us to a stripped back duo set, as he’s backed by friend Evelyn from Pet Snake on cello and backing vocals.
The set is brief and is only made briefer by an unfortunate medical emergency down the front, but Bill and Evelyn calmly stop the set and wait for the all clear (my favourite moment is when Bill calls someone a shit-head for supposedly filming the emergency before realising they’re just taking a selfie). But brief as it is, it’s just beyond lovely hearing Bill’s raspy, bleary eyed vocal ooze through the PA amongst pin-drop silence from the polite crowd tonight. I’m particularly pleased to hear two tunes from 2018’s incredible ‘Yawn’ LP and ‘Don’t Be Scared, I Love You’ is particularly a damp eyed moment. What a beauty.
The only trick that I think might have been missed is playing only one tune off the new record (‘This Can’t Go On’) and this is only down to the response it gets from the crowd, both at its start and end. In the same breath, it seems like these songs were chosen to compliment its stripped back set up and together, Bill and Evelyn sound angelic. I was chuffed to finally see this guy live as it’s been years in the making for me and I am very much up for when he returns back to the venue with a full band in December, co-headlining with the one and only Gruff Rhys.
After we practically crowd surfed to the merch to grab a well priced copy of Bill’s new record, we set up shop in the corner of the venue, getting bashed by countless tote bags as we await Beth and band to take our minds off how packed in we are tonight. And to be fair, she does the trick, as from the minute she sings, it’s hard not to be hypnotised by her voice, which sounds as spellbinding as it did when she first came out in the 90’s fronting British pioneers Portishead. Though there is a rendition of ‘Roads’ from the classic ‘Dummy’ LP to close the set, that’s the only glimpse we get of her old band tonight. And to be honest, I’m ok with that as the whole point of this show is to promote Beth’s new brilliant record, which she plays in full, interspersed with two tracks from her Rustin Man collab from 2002.
The ‘Out Of Season’ tracks do work very well amidst the rest of the material, for Beth has produced a hauntingly beautiful set of gothic folk. The surroundings of The Albert Hall suit these songs so well and needless to say, the whole room is entranced by the eight strong band on stage tonight, every member putting in a big shift. We’ve got one guy flickering between percussion and flute and it’s hard not to watch as he is so engrossed in the songs, while two violists play in complete sync and make tracks like ‘Burden Of Life’ and ‘Floating On A Moment’ absolutely soar. The latter sounds spine-tinglingly gorgeous, having not left my ears since I first heard it a few months ago.
Gibbons is known for being a reclusive and shy character, often hiding behind the mic stand and tonight she walks onstage like she’s stumbled into the wrong room, but when she sings, it seems as if all of her inhibitions are released and she performs with so much poise and conviction. It’s a pretty hypnotic set all in all, with the crowd very much in the palm of her hands. As we skip through the city centre, me and our lass both agree that this is a show that was peaceful, atmospheric and engaging. Worth the squash in? I’d say so!
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Tell you what – we love hearing from artists when things go right. We equally love hearing from artists when things go dreadfully wrong. A song that was a piece of piss, written in 20 minutes? Or years in the making and a bastard to write?
Whether it’s a song that came together through great duress or one that was smashed out in a short amount of time, we’re getting the lowdown from some of our favourites on the one song that they can’t stop thinking about – in their own words.
BeckyJones, a.k.a. Saint Saviour, talks us through the track ‘Be Gentle’ from her forthcoming new album ‘Sunseeker‘ (out March 22nd 2024 via VLF). Take it away, Becky…
“I wrote ‘Sunseeker‘ using my new technique of only ever writing lyrics whilst walking / wandering around places. I have come to find that I’m more likely to become stuck and creatively lost for words, stories, lines of inquiry when I’m sitting still, so I started to record myself singing gibberish on melody and chord structures I really liked and then going out walking while listening to them.
Around the very start of ‘Sunseeker‘ I had become really interested in the Plantagenets, Wars of the Roses and all that stuff, and I’d been devouring all the Philippa Gregory books. I’d fallen in love with the sharp witted women in the stories and how people like Elizabeth Woodville had crossed loyalties from red to white rose to become queen, then her daughter did the very same thing in becoming the first Tudor queen.
I had the ‘please be gentle with me baby’ line from the very beginning, but I wanted to avoid going down a conventional route with the concept. On my walks I often go around and through the Tower of London which is near me, and I started thinking about the last surviving Plantagenet, Margaret Pole. When you google her, all you get is stories of her ‘botched’ execution within the walls of the tower, when her life story is actually quite remarkable. Her body (and head) is buried under the floor of the church in the grounds of the tower. ‘Be Gentle‘ imagines her asking us to be gentle with her memory, maybe look beyond the gory tales and learn about her amazing survival into old age in the face of constant existential threat from childhood to her death at age 67.
In the second half of the song, I start to imagine her haunting Henry VIII in revenge, her ghost willing some of the roses of the tower to climb and loop ‘like a braid around your throat, baby I’m the song you wrote, the melody; poison fruit’.”
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Bursting onto the scene with their debut EP in 2021, there was something that felt ready and fully formed about London’s Folly Group. Though they did slot nicely into the Crack Cloud inspired school of young post-punks, there was a depth to both the songwriting and production of the quartet that definitely caught the attention of tastemakers and new music fans alike. And just two short years of further EP / single releases, lots of touring and a whole heap of radio play, we now have that all important debut album.
‘Big Ground’ opens up with the same urgency we’ve come to expect, wrapping Afrobeat rhythms around razor blade guitars and hooky, spoken word vocals. It’s an enticing opener that takes you into the deep, dark underbelly of London. ‘Do What I Can’ feels apprehensive and agitated but also fizzes with a driving chorus, once again proving that these dudes sure know their way around a hook.
My main takeaway from this record is that it’s mega catchy. Nearly every tune is an ear worm and perhaps the sign of its sturdiness is how heavy loaded it is with a new favourite tune popping up on each new listen; the slinky groove of ‘Frame’ is an intensely cool way to close the record, while ‘Pressure Pad’ swirls around your mind with another huge chorus.
It matches the same energy and excitement as that first EP, with impressive playing, interesting song structures and just generally solid tunes. I think that some may consider this as just another post-punk album, which I understand. But whilst a lot of young guitar bands seem to be really hitting their stride with their second album, it’s refreshing to see a band like Folly Group come out with all guns blazing on their debut. ‘Down There!’ is definitely the sound of the finished article, but still with loads of space to expand.
At the back end of 2018, Bill Ryder-Jones broke my heart and put it back together again with his gorgeous ‘Yawn’ record. Its bleary eyed melancholia and gentle, slow-core backing had me completely spellbound, becoming an instant album of the year contender just days after release. It seems that the West-Kirby born songwriter has had this effect on many others, with his previous LP’s all receiving star studded reviews, as well as his live shows growing in venue size with each new tour.
I find it hard to believe that nearly six years have passed since ‘Yawn’ came out, but Bill has been busy producing everyone else’s records at his own studio (sharing its name with the aforementioned ‘Yawn’), along with other collaborative projects and so on. But finally, having started work on it some time ago, we have ‘Iechyd Da’.
Having read that this was Bill’s attempt at trying to make something more majestic and brighter, both lyrically and sonically, I was slightly apprehensive going into this as I selfishly wanted another sad lad record. But actually, what we get is this prefect medium of sadness and hopefulness. A bit like the kind of day it is today as I type, frosty and freezing in temperature, but with the most warming, blue sky – this is an album of light and shade. ‘A Bad Wind Blows In My Heart pt. 3’ is a mid paced, heart aching ballad that builds into a waltz of choir assisted vocals, and with that, a personal song becomes universal.
Then you get something like ‘If Tomorrow Starts Without Me’, which is an upbeat, string soaked indie pop song with Bill trying to embrace love despite his default cynic setting. It’s a perfect portrayal of someone working through their feelings and trying to hold onto some light. As previously mentioned, it’s this dance between fear and hope that makes Bill more relatable than he’s ever been. This still has all the lo-fi, mumble pop intimacy of its predecessor, but somehow manages to push that into the widescreen, with bigger production, even more musical reference points (there’s a definite Gospel / Soul connection to the latter half of the record) and beautifully delivered lines.
Like his previous work, this is a slow baked affair that takes time to bed itself in and you just can’t deny the detail and care that’s gone into this record. It feels like Bill has worked really hard to make an album that is grand and warming, but still looks deep into the depths of his brain with delicacy and charm. Beautiful, timeless work from an all round talent.
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It’s particularly rewarding to see hard work pay off for the grafters. In and out of a van, up and down the country and beyond, year in and year out. Crystal Palace based duo JOHN have relentlessly plugged away at it, this year releasing their third full length ‘Nocturnal Manoeuvres’ to much acclaim, their first to enter the UK Official Charts. In Manchester, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard went from playing above a pub (Gullivers) to back to back sets at the much (much) bigger Academy in just a few years. Bristolian lot IDLES have done pretty well for themselves too (you might have heard of them…)
Closer to home, nowhere says graft quite like the North. One such outfit putting in the hard work and seeing it pay off big bucks of late is Yard Act, the quartet skirting the current post-punk trend but with a bit more to them than a lot of their contemporaries (comparisons in the press include Ian Dury and The Blockheads). It should come as no shock, mind, given the history of its members – Ryan Needham and James Smith, the Lennon and McCartney of the group you could say, who previously put in lengthy shifts fronting Menace Beach and Post War Glamour Girls respectively. (Guitarist Sam Shjipstone is no slouch himself, having formerly found some success with Hookworms).
Whilst they’ve flirted with the limelight in the past, this time around they seem to have struck gold from note one, with no signs of stopping. I find evidence of this first hand in Leicester, attempting to grab vocalist Smith for a brief interview following their set at Wide Eyed Festival. A quick hello and a search for somewhere quiet takes longer than expected, our path blocked by a constant stream of well-wishers for the vocalist, all smiles and congratulations like he’s just gotten married. Praise is constant, some of it even offered up to me in confusion for being in the band.
“It’s just nice people liking it. It’s fun and I really don’t mind people stopping me and saying they like it… Sort of why you’re in a band. If you do a gig and everyone just walks past ya, you can feel a bit shit.” He tells me when we do grab 20 minutes in the loading bay away from the crowds (but not before he’s half-inched a tab from the band Do Nothing, who were more than happy to oblige).
“Ry, d’you want to do this interview?” He calls across the car park, but his post show intentions are for beverages, food and all the other things interviews get in the way of, so the bassist gives it a miss. But as anyone who’s seen them live or heard any of their singles will gather, Smith can talk for England and as such, we’re in safe hands.
“Every weekend it felt like it got better and we got more and more comfortable, settled in, everyone’s had a really good time.” He says of their current run. “It’s important for us to just kind of keep it loose and we’ve kind of discovered that about the band by playing live, that we can keep it loose.”
Loose is a good stance to take as, with live shows making a return and with dates stacking up, it comes as no shock that there’s been the occasional wheel wobble. A cancelled run of shows came after guitarist Shjipstone duffed his wrist and lost a tooth in a moped accident just prior to Reading Festival (though he recovered just in time for their festival slot!) In Leicester, drummer Jay Russell is nowhere to be seen, finding himself stuck in traffic rather than getting stuck into it behind the kit. A drum machine was put in place as a temporary replacement for most of their set, soon upgraded (or downgraded?) when a punter from the crowd was egged into coming on stage to play ‘The Trapper’s Pelts’.
“It’s nice to not be reliant on one way of presenting what we are, so I guess it’s kind of like a good way of portraying what we do.” Says James of their quick acting replacement. “… I don’t want every gig to be like that, but if it has to happen then it was fine.”
Whilst he was only given one stick to work with (sourced from the crowd on request), the congregation ate up the one-night-only drummer from within their ranks.
“I mean that’s what a live performance should be. I’m not saying that every live band should be missing members and not be able to do their songs in the way they’re intended to be done, but I think bands should be ready to adapt.” He continues. “I’m glad we played and didn’t bin it off, ‘cus we could’ve done.”
The pandemic has notoriously shaken up the live music industry, creating a lot of uncertainty for artists, promoters, punters and those who work tirelessly behind the scenes. Whilst they’ve relentlessly toured in the past in various projects, coming together as Yard Act, James and Ryan only had a handful of local shows under their belts before the big COVID-19 button was pushed and shut everything down. Prior to this, the pair were living together for a period of time, Needham writing songs and demoing from Smith’s spare bedroom with just a drum machine and a bass guitar, the two soon coming together to combine ideas into something more official.
“I think the pandemic really made us think about what being in a band is…” Says James. “Since we started playing live, it was obvious the rush of playing live is the best feeling. Reading Twitter comments is nice, but it’s not as good as playing live. I think the pandemic forcing us to adapt and do things that we wouldn’t have done if we’d just been relying on being a live band that people were seeing, I think that has fed into everything we’ve done since. It directly fed into the fact that we made tonight work.”
“People form bands for different reasons. We formed it because it was a vehicle for ideas. It’s a vehicle for fun, but it’s less fun if you can’t do it because something gets in the way of it. If we can present ideas in a different way and it keeps it… I dunno, I think keeping yourself on your toes is really important. Tonight kept us on our toes and it was fun because of it.”
One big gripe that Smith is eager to avoid is the difficult task of not performing the same set twice, hitting the same marks and setting up pre-rehearsed lines (“I feel like that’s a cop out.”) With a busy schedule, he acknowledges that he’s already begun to do and say the same things on occasion, given it can build and transition songs well, but it’s not something they want to become a permanent fixture.
“… If you’re so bound by that then it becomes like part of a machine. I think the whole thing we’re doing is trying to battle that on a bigger scale, ‘cus we’ve been allowed to get on a platform of playing to bigger crowds than we’ve ever played for before. You can either be scared of losing that crowd or you can take on the challenge of winning over the people…”
Festivals are good for this, we’re told, given a large portion of those in attendance might not have the foggiest as to who’s up on stage. Chances are people are more likely to give it a go if they’re stuck in a field for three days. Here they can present the idea of what the band is, whilst people can still go away and hear what Yard Act sound like on record afterwards.
“I’d rather just do summat and get a reaction. If it falls flat on its face, the older I get the less I care. So far it hasn’t, but there will be a point when it will.” He suggests.“… Life is too short and I’ve had enough signifiers since the pandemic started. Knowing people that have died, knowing people that have lost jobs, knowing people that have had plans that have got cancelled.”
Off the back of debut single ‘The Trapper’s Pelts’, things really seemed to take off with its follow up, the undeniably catchy ‘Fixer Upper’. The vision became a bit clearer for this their second single, a wordy 3 minute window into the world of loudmouth ‘Graeme’, that bloke from the neighbourhood who thinks he means well, but you’d cross the street to avoid. ‘Peanuts’ and ‘Dark Days’ followed swiftly (the latter one of our top picks for 2021), the topic of conversation focusing on the minutiae of life – those overheard chats in pubs or in the supermarket (or from your neighbour Graeme…) Tales of Brexit Britain, with videos soon to follow that highlighted the quirks of everyday people. But it’s not a case of punching up or down, rather sitting back and observing.
“I think it’s that overwhelming intensity that everyone is living life at the same time and in your perfect vision of the world, there’s a frustration that everyone isn’t doing what you want them to be doing to make the world a better place. But if you really analysed it, you’d realise that there are so many fucking times when you’re not on that trajectory of purism, that you’re doing the exact same thing in so many different ways.” He wagers. “… You see all the negatives and you think that you’re doing the right thing by not doing that specific thing at the moment you’re thinking about it, but you bypass chaos that is everyone just doing what they’re doing, whether they’re on autopilot or whether they’re thinking about it. I think most people are just on autopilot all the time.”
It could be suggested that social media has driven an even deeper wedge between the left and the right, with no middle ground or chance for discussion. You’re either with us, or you’re against us. And if you’re against us, fuck you. Scottish funny-man and now full time Twitch golf pro Limmy suggested people get it out of their heads that “Twitter is a place to change hearts and minds”, instead adopting his famous BAMO approach (Block And Move On).
Smith isn’t too sure however (“We all make the same sound when we are mowed down” He sings on ‘Payday’), acknowledging there appears to be a stigma about people being set in their ways that isn’t necessarily justified. He does recognise however that angrily shouting a point via the internet (“… where all nuance and emotion is removed”) solves nothing.
“I just like people… I love and hate people in an equal measure. The shorthand is they fucking annoy me when they say and do stupid shit. I’m sure I annoy so many people when I say and do stupid shit that they don’t agree with. But when you fucking get down to it, the bare bones with someone, you just chat to them – most people are alright. If you get one on one with most people, they’re not a prick. They’re alright…” He says.
“… Why is someone saying and doing this thing repeatedly, is it because that’s what they believe or is it because they’ve fallen into a habit, ‘cus they’re tired and it’s been burned into their fucking brain? That applies to all sides of every political and every social humanitarian problem that you see. People are just fucking getting on and I find that funny. I like finding quirks in it.”
“People like to think that they’re really unique and they consider everything they do. They don’t.” He says with a laugh, commenting further that emotions are entirely separated from actions and it again comes down to autopilot and most of our actions being driven without thinking. ”I find that funny. I think it’s funny to just go – isn’t that funny that someone does that? Rather than going – why are they doing that, that’s not right? I don’t know what right and wrong is. Right and wrong is a fucking concept invented by overactive imaginations. Right and wrong doesn’t exist.” He adds with a laugh.
“It’s just really… hard. We’re getting into a really complex thing here, Andy.” He admits with a tired smile. Changing lane somewhat, I query whether he does feel like they’re taking aim at an easy target, given their likely potential audience.
“There’s lines on the album that I feel guilty about, because they feel like shooting fish in a barrel.” He suggests. “But they’re the lines where I accept that it’s fine to have that anger and annoyance that you actually lash out and say that snide thing about someone else. It’s fine every once in a blue moon to go – you’re a fucking idiot, you’ve not fucking done any research and this is what you believe. But within the same breath, you then backtrack and you go – that doesn’t solve anything, being superior to other people doesn’t achieve anything.”
Whilst commenting that there’s more to it than just an opinion (factoring in such things as upbringing, what information has been made available to a person and the technology used to egg on each and every side), all of a sudden a familiar face appears in drummer Jay Russell, frazzled but in good spirits having been stuck in traffic all day. “Fucking hell!” Exclaims James, bringing the drummer up to speed with how they got on – “He wasn’t as good as you, but he was alright.”
Early next year sees Yard Act release their debut album ‘The Overload’, a tale of “rags to riches to rags to different riches”. Whilst that’s not the title of the new record (“It should be”), it does tie in with the Northern vibe that’s a big part of the group, or at least the perceived vision of what a Northern group is. Having grown up in the North West, Smith doesn’t exactly hide the accent, but I was curious about how they lean into the idea of being a Northern group, wearing the ideals as a badge of honour.
“It’s something that comes naturally,” He suggests. “But then you’re aware that you play up to it and then you’re aware that you dial it down because you don’t want to become a character or a parody. It’s a really sensitive subject, because it’s summat that I’m incredibly proud of, summat that’s defined everything I’ve ever done…”
Northern humour, particularly North West humour, is a big part of their make up, live and on record. Whilst a lot of it is embraced by the band, they’re still cautious of how it’s perceived, Smith suggesting there seems to be a fetishism from certain parties down South for Northern-ness and those who are working class (“Ee by gum… I’m not into that.”). Something for their own amusement at a detriment to the people they’re taking the piss out of.
“Bands always deny that element of them. Everyone’s always making jokes and being funny, but a lot of the time bands bury it and pretend they’re way more serious than they are.” He suggests. “Especially as we’ve got a little bit bigger, the Northern-ness is something I’ve become really sensitive for because I’ve been really aware of how – mainly people from the south – can start to make it a shorthand joke for them. You become really cautious, you don’t want to become this fucking performing monkey for people...”
“I’m sensitive about it, even though I do it to get attention. That’s what the whole balance is I think. I amp it up on stage.” He says, acknowledging that his persona on stage is an exaggeration of a character and whilst he doesn’t want to be defined as being Northern, it’s something he can’t escape. (“Having my cake and eating it and then saying – this cake’s shite. I want pie and mash.” He eloquently puts it, with a laugh.)
“My whole life has been based around – every friendship I’ve ever made and my whole family connections – has always been about making everyone laugh. Everything has always just been a joke and that’s like a safety net and a comfort thing. It’s also a way of knocking people down a peg or two. I think it’s what keeps people humble, being ripped a little bit. That’s a fine line itself, ‘cus it can stem into bullying, which is really fucking dangerous.”
Promoting their forthcoming record appears, for the most part, to have been a doddle. From the outside looking in, it feels like this Yard Act lot can’t put a foot wrong (“Oh it’ll happen soon”). Before the record had been announced, vinyl copies of earlier singles sold out in mere hours. The quartet recently won Dutch award the ‘Anchor’, with a judging panel including Emeli Sandé and Tony Visconti. They’re on the soundtrack for FIFA 2022. They even have a beer collaboration. Naturally, Domnhall Gleeson and Cillian Murphy are fans.
“I think the greatest achievement of it is it’s happened on our terms. We’ve just made the music we wanna make… The balance has been – we keep pushing ourselves more and more creatively and everyone keeps reacting positively to it, so we keep doing it. We could’ve totally chased ‘Fixer Upper’ and done the same thing trying to recreate that and we haven’t.” He says, noting they’ve been rewarded for not sticking to the formula, everything they’ve put out since being appreciated and supported by all the right people – though they’ve obviously not released “an eight minute fucking drone track”.
“We’re not stupid, but we’re still only making the music we wanna make that we’re really proud of and I’m really excited that it’s at a point where people are reacting to it the way they are.” He adds. “I think a big thing about it is for the most part we’re pretty fucking welcoming, there’s no exclusivity about it, it’s not stand-offish. There’s quite a varied background of people that like it and that’s kind of the most rewarding thing about it to us. I think people are relating to it for different reasons and that’s nice.”
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After just over a month’s silence, the review rundowns are back back back! The festival season is very nearly over and it’s time to get stuck back in on the album front. As always, all of the below records are released through the best labels in the biz and are available online and in-store. Please remember folks to support your local indie shops; you don’t know what you’ve got til its gone!
Last year saw the release of Bill Ryder-Jones’ fourth album ‘Yawn‘, an understated, personal record full of gorgeous melodies and sumptuous layers of guitar fuzz. But just when you thought Bill couldn’t get any more intimate, here we have a re-imagined version of ‘Yawn‘ re-recorded for just vocals and piano. As you can imagine, this is a slow burning affair with some of the songs stretched out to twice their original length as Bill slows things down and lets the emotion pour out even further.
I think it’s a bold move to make an already quiet and sad record even more so, but Bill has really thought about creating a new sense of space with these recordings. I love his hazy, just got out of bed vocal style and his piano playing and melodic choices bring a new, more thoughtful perspective. I also enjoy the addition of underlying ambient textures to bring a new sense of space to these songs. I’ll be honest, the pace and stripped back nature of this project can be a bit tough going at times but some of the arrangements can be stop you in your tracks stunning. Come the winter, this is going to be a perfect, snuggle up soundtrack.
Following from their debut release back in 2015, Idaho based quintet Throeshave been beavering away, working towards the creation of their debut full length. ‘In The Hands Of An Angry God‘ is released through the best heavy label in the UK (Holy Roar) and as expected, is a brute force attack of sludgy riffs and hardcore density.
Dynamically, the record is book ended in short yet blisteringly sweet fashion as opener ‘Bad Meat‘ caves your head in with a fist full of riffs, while ‘Fang‘ closes it with under two minutes of pure thrash ferocity. Aside from these tracks, there are much more expansive and extensive sonic shifts here with melodic hardcore tendencies and an almost Deftones level of dreaminess in places. What gives this record its cohesion is the level of intensity that flows through it. The whole record keeps its emotions up front and centre, with its mood and atmosphere keeping you focused and holding on. This is another solid HR release that fans of the label will be sure to dig, but equally if you like sludgy hardcore with a heart, look no further.
It was at the back end of last year that UK’s brightest indie hopes Spring King announced their split. Although it might have come as a shock to some, it felt like a mutual decision for the quartet to part ways after a pretty fruitful six year career. Not even a year since their last album release and Tarek Musa, the band’s leading songwriting force, is back under the solo moniker of Dead Nature.
This debut EP takes the same punk infused pop pomp of Tarek’s previous project but takes it up a notch. ‘Fire In Your Soul‘ is a big opener, with a chorus that is ready to be plastered all over the FM, while the gospel infused hook of ‘In My Heart‘ is destined for big stages in big fields. It’s got all the urgency and sharpness of before, but instrumentally the sky is the limit and sonically, this is a bold debut. On first listen it doesn’t seem like much of departure, but when these songs soak in, this feels like a really good stepping stone for Tarek to take his sharp songwriting skills and Dead Nature to the next level.
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