DIY, April 2024

For the better part of seven years now, Bob Vylan have stood firmly as one of the most invigorating voices in modern punk, and now, as the duo near the release of their vital latest album ‘Humble As The Sun’, that’s no different. Continuing to rally against the injustices of the world, but this time, also focusing on the light that finds a way to sneak through the darkness, it’s a real honour to have the band grace our cover this month.

Elsewhere in our April 2024 issue, we embrace chaos with the always-iconic St Vincent, dig into the brilliant debut from Manchester-formed quartet Porij, and talk self-reflection and growth with Lizzy McAlpine. Plus, it’s a huge month for new music - just check out our stacked reviews section for proof! So without further ado…

Sarah Jamieson, Managing Editor

NEWS

Chaos Mode

Unleashing a voracious, visceral seventh record fuelled by the colours and sounds of fire and fervour, ‘All Born Screaming’ shows St Vincent isn’t slowing down any time soon.

Words: Lisa Wright.

St Vincent is done with trivial nonsense. “Life is so short and there’s no reason to do any of it except for love, but there’s also no reason to waste time with trifling shit,” she says of her outlook approaching new album, her seventh studio release, ‘All Born Screaming’. Emblazoned with a searing image of the musician - real name Annie Clark - contorted and on fire, the music contained within is similarly thrilling: 10 tracks that move from weighty and biblical to gnarly and industrial, split into two narrative halves that begin with “a little season in hell” and end up choosing humanity and life.

If you haven’t gauged it yet from that description, Clark is in an incendiary state of mind these days. “I feel an urgency as an artist to make urgent work, and to make work that really examines myself, and that picture is not always - in fact, not often - pretty,” she says, calling in early from Los Angeles. In the few years since 2021’s ‘Daddy’s Gone’, she notes that there have been losses in her life that have underscored the need to live hungrily in the present and lap up every ounce of possibility. “I think loss is incredibly clarifying because you go: we don’t have time to waste,” she continues. And so, when she

“

If I can make something, that feels like some alternate act of hope and some way to turn madness into order and freedom.”

began work on ‘All Born Screaming’, the questions she was asking were the big ones: “What is real? What matters? Let’s grab only those things by the throat.”

Clark describes the record’s beginnings as a sort of mad scientist’s playground, fuelled by experiments with drum machines and modular synths, making “hours and hours of esoteric post-industrial dance music” on her own in 7am bursts of creativity. She got into microdosing on psychedelics. “[They’ve] been a REAL personal gamechanger,” she says. “I don’t think drugs help me work [but] if it can help me see this thing a little differently… a giant iced coffee and a little microdose, then I’m off to the races.” And from those reams of material, she began to tweezer out the tiny moments that felt like something.

Everything, she decided, had to begin with electricity and with her own physical fingerprints on physical things. An exercise in wrangling the inherent chaos of creating, the idiosyncrasies and quirks were what excited her the most. “I think a lot of music gets made now in the box, all in a computer,” she explains. “And that’s great, except that the one thing a computer cannot give you is chaos. Chaos has to come from electricity going through specific circuitry and you don’t know exactly what it’s gonna sound like. And even if you try to get the sound back, it’s an analogue machine so you’re never gonna get it how it was, so you’re literally capturing a moment in time. You’re not gonna get it in a plug-in, in a computer, you’re just not. That system is designed to give you consistency.

“So I think as a person and as an artist, the way that I know how to make sense of a violent, chaotic outside world and a violent, chaotic inside world is to just make something,” she continues. “If I can make something, that feels like some alternate act of hope and some way to turn madness into order and freedom.”

Clark’s studio is filled with art. The niche that’s found its particular home among work by artistic collaborator Alex Da Corte lies, she explains, in the somewhat unlikely intersection of “mental illness, Christianity and spaceships”. “It’s a specific Venn diagram but you’d be surprised how those [things link],” Clark enthuses. “It’s pretty American I’d say, like Southern American artists who go from really intense Christian iconography to life on other planets - I’m telling you, there’s a thread there…” There’s also a picture of a man with a half-

Annie, Annie, wherefore art thou Annie?

drawn face. “That just feels correct,” she nods. “A half-drawn self-portrait is about where we are…” Yet while the unfinished gentleman adorning her wall might still be searching for his resolution, ‘All Born Screaming’ swiftly became a self-portrait unlike any other in St Vincent’s canon. She’s reluctant to use any of the buzzwords that often find their way into stories like hers. “I think that it would be too reductive to say that…” - she pauses - “I’m just writing the headlines in my head: ‘The most personal record yet’. I mean, welllll yes, but they were all so personal.” However, where 2017’s ‘Masseduction’ saw her dressed in restrictive latex to “be a little bit masochistic” in order to echo the “seduction and desire and self-loathing” contained in the record, and ‘Daddy’s Home’ found her donning a blonde wig, leaning into ‘70s influences as an attempt, she has said previously, to “become the music my father loved in the hope it would heal me”, ‘All Born Screaming’ finds St Vincent shedding concept almost entirely.

“Not to sound so pretentious, but I’m an artist so all of that is play,” she says of her previous choices. “Like Brian Eno says: ‘Art is the car that you can bash over and over again and still walk away safely’. I explored persona and iconography and that was very real for me at the time for what I was going through. You are where you are when you are and there’s no skipping steps, but with this record I’m not that interested in dissecting persona or even really playing with it. This is the inside of my head so here you go: take it or don’t and either way is genuinely fine by me.”

Which is not to say that the record is without a distinctly St Vincent-ian sense of aesthetic style. Between the poised-yet-dangerous photos that accompany the record and the black leather trench

coats she has been sporting on recent press engagements, her description of her forthcoming live shows as aiming for “equal parts pummelling and ecstatic dance rave” make total sense. Yet between the grizzled strut of ‘Big Time Nothing’ - a list of counterintuitive expectations (“Do ask but don’t tell / Don’t laugh but do smile”) that she describes as “the inner monologue of depression and anxiety”, and the emotional nod to the late SOPHIE on ‘Sweetest Fruit’, there is plenty of art but notably little artifice on show here.

Despite its thematic descent into the underworld (a journey brought into pummelling life by a rotating cast of superstar drummers including Dave Grohl, Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa and just-about-everyone’s Josh Freese), ‘All Born Screaming’ ends with the spiralling climax of its title track, in a show of what feels like solidarity. The phrase was chosen for its purposefully dual messaging; on one hand, it’s the great leveller, on the other, it’s a protest. For her part, Clark describes herself as a “measured optimist”. “I think there’s a number of things that just statistically, categorically are better than they were 100 years ago,” she theorises. “For a start, we would not be having this conversation - we’d be 13 babies in, washing laundry in a creek. Some things are getting better, some things are getting worse, and some things are just the same as it ever was.”

Arguably, the expectations put upon artists these days are one of those things that fall firmly into the ‘getting worse’ camp. Part of the reason she “spent all that time trying to deconstruct the idea of authenticity”, she explains, was as a response to the increasing demand for musicians to lay out their whole life on social media. “[I was trying to] reckon with it in some way that made sense to me,

“ You are where you are when you are and there’s no skipping steps.”

Turns out St. Vincent’s invisible typewriter can really write a hit.

because a lot of times the people who are selling you authenticity are frauds,” she says. “And then couple that with the fact that every human being, no matter what their vocation, is in this position of needing to be a brand, and for people who make art or perform for a living, to have to perform normality or perform virtue or perform authenticity feels so counterintuitive and impossible. Just impossible.

“At the end of the day, as someone just trying to sell you Pepsi, I don’t know how to do it in a way that…” she tails off, exasperated. “Besides on this record where I thought: what I can do as a thing that feels exciting to me is to say, ‘Let me take you inside the studio and through the tracks’. That feels OK to me. But if I was just out there showing my favourite recipe - and I can’t fucking cook so that would be a non-starter - but… what are we even doing?! Do you know what I mean?!” Clark chuckles with something like a groan. “Do I sound like a real fucking asshole…?”

Far from it, Clark sounds like someone who, on her latest album as on every record before it, is committed to whole-assing the bits that matterthe music, the aesthetic, the entire world that a St Vincent album lives in. But when it comes to the stuff that doesn’t interest her right now? That’ll be a pass. It’s an ethos that’s kept her continuously evolving and regenerating, finding new questions to ask and new ways to answer them over a two-decade career that’s made her one of modern music’s most respected artists.

“Dude! It has been fucking crazy,” she laughs. “I don’t usually sit back and think about it but it’s fucking… I’m lucky to be here seven records in and for people to still be here. That’s wild. That doesn’t happen…” It doesn’t happen to most people, but then most people aren’t Annie Clark. If we’re all born screaming, then St Vincent is the one wrangling those screams into salvation.

‘All Born Screaming’ is out 26th April via Virgin Music / Fiction DIY

“ A lot of times, the people who are selling you authenticity are frauds.”

ON THE ‘GRAM

Which artists have found themselves snap-happy in recent days? Why, this lot, of course!

Bowen’s strip-tease routine might need a little more work… (@idlesband)

Another round of applause for this cheeky BRITs number! (@cmatbaby)

The long-awaited White Stripes reunion looks a bit different to what we were expecting… (@ oliviarodrigo)

OCTOBER 2024

FRI 04 EDINBURGH O2 ACADEMY

SAT 05 GLASGOW O2 ACADEMY

FRI 11 NEWCASTLE O2 CITY HALL

+ DJs SUNTA TEMPLETON/ JAMES HALL

SAT 12 MANCHESTER O2 VICTORIA WAREHOUSE

FRI 18 BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY

SAT 19 LONDON O2 ACADEMY BRIXTON

TICKETMASTER.CO.UK

LEEDS O2 ACADEMY

BIRMINGHAM O2 INSTITUTE

BRIGHTON

The Lodge (at the Deaf Institute)

The Attic (at The Garage)

Hyde Park Book Club

The Sunflower Lounge O2 Academy2 Islington

SUN 1st SEPT

EXETER

GREAT HALL

MON 2nd SEPT

BRIGHTON

DOME

WED 4th SEPT

BOURNEMOUTH

O2 ACADEMY

SAT 14th SEPT

MARGATE

HALL BY THE SEA

DREAMLAND

SUN 15th SEPT

BRISTOL

BEACON

TUE 17th SEPT

BIRMINGHAM O2 INSTITUTE

WED 18th SEPT

GLASGOW SWG3 TV STUDIO

FRI 20th SEPT MANCHESTER O2 VICTORIA

WAREHOUSE

SAT 21st SEPT

LONDON ROUNDHOUSE

SUN 22nd SEPT

LONDON ROUNDHOUSE

IN THE STUDIO

Until now, The Murder Capital have always written from a place that felt almost unavoidable. The Dubliners’ 2019 debut ‘When I Have Fears’ bristled with swirling rage, recorded in the wake of the passing of frontman James McGovern’s best friend. 2023 follow-up ‘Gigi’s Recovery’, meanwhile, traded in some of the barbs for introspective, tender reflection - a mirror to the existential strictures of lockdown that surrounded its formulation. But now, as they embark on the recording process for Album Three, the band find themselves, for the first time, met with the challenge of having to actively seek out a new direction.

“Our experience of making records is doing it in the depths of grief or in the midst of a global pandemic,” says James, calling in just days before flying to Los Angeles to start the recording process proper. “In the case of our first two records, you have a very deep ownership over the music. It felt like life or death. This time, that sense of ownership is growing slowly but surely. For the most part, life’s been pretty good writing this record, and that has been a fight, actually. Fighting with that feeling. I haven’t really known how to deal with that.”

Anyone concerned about encountering a blunt, anaesthetised version of The Murder Capital now that they’re closer to a happy place needn’t worry, however. From wrenching debut album highlight ‘Don’t Cling to Life’ to the self-therapy of second album closer ‘Exist’, James has proven himself as a songwriter fixated on kneading through the knottiest parts of his inner monologue. Thankfully, there’s no sign of that instinct fading now.

“I can still find a challenge anywhere, do you know what I mean?” the frontman half-jokes. “I don’t know, do people really want to explore the stuff that they’ve already figured out and that feels good? I’m not drawn to that, I want to figure out the stuff that needs figuring out.”

LP3 first started to come to life during a three-week writing binge in Hackney last summer, the first fruits of which were September’s standalone single ‘Heart

The Murder Capital

In the middle of working towards LP3, and about to jet off to LA to record with producer extraordinaire John Congleton, James McGovern fills us in on The Murder Capital’s fat-free new material. Words: Max Pilley.

in the Hole’: a poised and textured slow-builder that found the band in their most mature form to date. A seven-week tour followed, but the band’s romantic dream of recording on the road Gonzo-style was quickly offset by the physically-taxing nature of their shows.

In the interim, they’ve clocked up some “really fruitful” recording sessions in Dublin’s own Temple Lane Studios, and a brief writing period in Berlin. But now, The Murder Capital are readying the big guns, decamping to Silver Lake, California and Animal Rites - the new home of prolific producer John Congleton, who also oversaw ‘Gigi’s Recovery’, for a three-week recording blitz. “I’m honestly fucking buzzing about it,” says James. “The whole process feels like it’s about to crescendo in LA, which is what John Congleton wanted.”

The Murder Capital’s plan is to trust their instincts and to enter the studio without having formally demoed any of the new songs. “We want to go in and be as free and as open to whatever comes in the studio as possible. No demo-itis, as they say,” he confirms.

It’s a direct reaction against the process that led to ‘Gigi’s Recovery’, during which they now feel – due in large part to Covid-era necessity – they lingered for too long on the finer details before getting to the final recording stage. “I think the second one, we spent a long time working on every song, overworking some of them,” he continues. “This time we haven’t let ourselves have the opportunity to overwork anything.”

After a packed 2023 that included some 120 live shows, the band grew to realise that the bulk of their ‘bangers’ so far had come from their first album, and LP3 may just seek to redress that balance. “All of the tonal and textural experimentation we did on ‘Gigi’s…’ will always come forward with us; I think that’s part of the DNA of the band and we’re all excited by that,” James says. “It’s more how we approach songs structurally. It’s about cutting the fat off the sections where we just don’t need it.”

The band recently played a pair of intimate live shows at London’s Moth Club and Dublin’s Grand

“We’re trying to make a more immediate record, to try and maybe be less indulgent.”

- James McGovern

Social, road testing seven new tracks for the first time to a lucky gathering of fans. Feeding off that spontaneity, The Murder Capital are now eager to get back to the raw basics of their early days, when tunes would often develop on the morning of a gig and be figured out on stage that night. “The main thing we’re trying to do is to make a more immediate record, to try and maybe be less indulgent when it comes to long, swathing intros and the cinematic thing,” he explains. “We’re trying to make the music more like a needle drop into the feeling of the track, you know?”

Newly reinvigorated, and with real life apparently no longer forcing McGovern down such necessary emotional paths, The Murder Capital’s next move may be a tonal shift. However, you can be sure that the final product will still find McGovern wrestling with his own psyche as only he knows how.

“I heard Nick Cave say one of the hardest parts of [writing music] is sitting down and facing your own mediocrity every day, because most of the stuff you write is crap,” he says. “What I naturally do is write in the form of poems, and they’re deeply reflective of my personal life. But there’s always that little part of you that feels like, ‘Am I doing the right thing sharing this much?’ And the answer is, if you hold back in any way, you’d be a fraud.” DIY

“Do people really want to explore the stuff that they’ve already figured out and that feels good? I’m not drawn to that.” - James McGovern

NEWS IN BRIEF

Biffy Clyro are set to celebrate their first three albums‘Blackened Sky’, ‘Vertigo of Bliss’, and ‘Infinity Land’ - by performing them each in full at a series of intimate shows this October. ‘A Celebration of Beginnings’ as the dates have been called will take place at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire (20, 21, 22) and the Barrowlands in Glasgow (24, 25, 26).

Filling that hole in your weekly listening schedule, Season Two of DIY’s Before They Knew Better podcast will be kicking off again on 2nd April, with CMAT waxing lyrical about her youth on the inaugural episode - available on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Fresh from his own recent CMAT collaboration, John Grant has announced details of his sixth solo album. ‘The Art of the Lie’ will be released on 14th June via Bella Union, and comes preceded by spicy new single ‘It’s A Bitch’.

After a quiet end to the year, BRIT Rising Star Award 2023 winners FLO have finally returned with their first new music in more than six months. ‘Walk Like This’ was made with regular collaborator MNEK.

Fresh from the release of album ‘The Collective’, Kim Gordon has announced details of a string of live dates, including London’s KOKO (25th June) and O2 Institute Birmingham (26).

Interpol have announced a series of 20th anniversary shows for their album ‘Antics’, playing Wolverhampton Halls (1st November), Manchester O2 Apollo (2), Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (4), Newcastle City Hall (5), Bristol Beacon (7) and London Alexandra Palace (8).

“We’re so limited by the bodies we’re in and [notions of] what someone who looks like you is meant to do.”

LET’S RIDE

DIY In Deep is our monthly, online-centric chance to dig into a longer profile on some of the most exciting artists in the world right now.

A gender non-conforming, performance art-embracing pop maverick, LYNKS has spent the early part of their career pushing every envelope available. With sexy, saucy and singular debut ‘Abomination’, they’re creating a space like no other. Words: Nick Levine.

“Idon’t wanna be in my casket / Wishin’ I’d got more dick,” spits Lynks on ‘Use It Or Lose It’, a hyper-horny highlight from their long-awaited debut album ‘Abomination’. When the uncategorisable drag-pop firecracker tells DIY their songwriting style “isn’t very poetic,” it’s neither disingenuous nor self-deprecating. Lynks may conceal their face with a gimp mask, but they don’t prettify their queer desire, shame and rage with unnecessary metaphors. “For me, it just gets in the way of meaning and connection,” they say plainly.

On the same song, Lynks sings about seeking out “hot boys” of “any age, language, size, type or colour – no man’s safe ‘cept my dad and my brother”. And on ‘New Boyfriend’, another of the record’s stunningly blunt bangers, they tell a persistent ex: “I think you need a new boyfriend / So you can fuck your new boyfriend / Not try to fuck me instead”. Set to savagely catchy self-made beats inspired by avantpop pioneer M.I.A. and electroclash icon Peaches, ‘Abomination’ is a thrilling, invigorating, life-affirming listen.

In person, Lynks is a softer presence than their deliberately brash music might suggest. Their conversational style – witty, inquisitive, a little bit existential – makes sense when they mention that they studied psychology at university. “I know we should be talking about the album, not the science of gay self esteem issues,” they caveat later on. When we meet at a South London pub that looks bare in its mid-afternoon lull, Lynks (who also uses he and she pronouns) is happy to show their face, though they have no intention of ever going maskless in their art. “I’ve got rid of all pictures of my face from the internet so no one’s gonna find it,” they say, before lamenting the fact that their government name is already “out there” thanks to previous interviews. “I’m trying to get rid of that [too]. I wanna be like Banksy.”

So, why no mask today then? “It just feels a bit self-important,” they say. “When I do Zoom interviews, I don’t put the camera on, but I’m not gonna sit in the Sun of Camberwell with a fucking gimp mask on.” Lynks the person may be less spiky than on record, but they’re just as funny and plain-speaking. When we ask about their surreal but surprisingly soothing 2020 bop ‘How to Make a Béchamel Sauce in 10 Steps (with Pictures)’, they reply: “I had a gig in two days and I had the béchamel sauce recipe open on my laptop because I was making a meal. So I just hit play on the beat and read through the whole recipe.”

For the record, they don’t really see Lynks as a persona or alter ego. “It’s more like putting on a green screen suit – you know, the ones with dots on

them that let you turn into anything [with CGI],” they say. On stage, Lynks is a frequently topless choreo demon who makes any venue feel like a mosh pit in a gay club. They liken their live set to “a big pop diva show, but kind of thrown in a wood-chipper”. And because they draw from avant-garde performance art – before they perform ‘CPR’, a dancer pretends to faint so Lynks can bring them back to life – they can be as “manic and mad and gothy and punky” as they want.

“We’re so limited by the bodies we’re in and [notions of] what someone who looks like you is meant to do,” they say. “I hate to say it, but people would cringe at the stuff I do on stage if I wasn’t in a Lynks outfit. It would feel so incongruous, like, why is this very sweet-looking boy doing all these crazy sex songs?”

The anonymity and androgyny granted by the Lynks mask means they “can wear literally anything and it will make sense”. In the ‘New Boyfriend’ video, they deliver exaggerated pop star ‘handography’ in a wedding dress and sneakers; beneath their bejewelled mask, Lynks’ face is painted red and black –not so much a blushing bride as a demonic one. “I’m wary of giving myself too much credit, but I’m doing something that’s clearly fucking with gender and sexuality at a time when gender is an ammunition pack for the Tories,” they say. Lynks explains that they never set out to write overtly political songs, but accepts that “if you’re from a marginalised group, and you write music about your experience, it becomes political”.

This pithy couplet from the album’s title track is a case in point: “Every time I see the British Heart Foundation / I’m reminded I’m an abomination.” Lynks says they wrote it because they felt “so angry” about the UK’s discriminatory blood donation restrictions. Until 2021, any man who’d had anal or oral sex with another man in the past three months was barred from giving blood. The rules have since been loosened, but a person of any gender still isn’t allowed to donate if they’ve had anal sex with a new partner in the three last months – a proviso that effectively rules out many gay and bisexual men.

“[The authorities] screen all blood for HIV anyway, so it’s not about being worried that people might get infected,” Lynks says today. “It’s about a wider discomfort with the idea of a gay man who’s having anal sex giving blood.”

Read the full interview at diymag.com/lynks.

‘Abomination’ is out 12th April via Heavenly. DIY

HAVE YOU HEARD?

Some of the biggest and best tracks from the last month.

SOFT PLAY Mirror Muscles

Following on from the cheeky comment section observations of last year’s comeback track ‘Punk’s Dead’, on ‘Mirror Muscles’ SOFT PLAY’s Isaac and Laurie are heading down the gym for what’s almost certainly the most entertaining song about weekly routines since Craig David swept us through ‘til Sunday. A full-on thrasher that gives the vein-popping dead-lifters of its subject matter a run for their money, the pair might play soft these days, but musically they’re hitting harder than ever. (Lisa Wright)

LAVA LA RUE Push N Shuv

The first taste of Lava La Rue’s eagerly-anticipated debut ‘STARFACE’, ‘Push N Shuv’ is a fully fledged funky delight. Picking up where last year’s standalone single ‘Renegade’ left off, Lava’s latest pairs delicious guitar licks with a cooing chorus - while its intro echoes the familiar twangs of Tom Tom Club’s iconic hit ‘Genius of Love’ - to produce the kind of thoroughly modern, but undoubtedly groovy cut that Talking Heads would be proud of. A fitting intro to Lava’s ambitious new era. (Sarah Jamieson)

CHARLI XCX Von dutch

Though Dua and Billie’s Barbie efforts may have slightly eclipsed her knockout contribution to the star-studded compilation album, the G-Force one-two of ‘Speed Drive’ and now ‘Von dutch’ proves that when it comes to explosive hyper-pop earworms, Charli XCX has dynamite to spare. Hedonistic, energetic, and deliciously, addictively immodest, her latest couples the lyrical braggadocio of rap with a drop that seems purpose made for the dancefloor. If we were partial to a bout or two in the ring, this would be our walkout song. (Daisy Carter)

NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS Wild God

A poet in the truest sense of the word, Nick Cave is, to many, the modern successor to the hallowed likes of Dylan, Lennon, and Joni Mitchell. It comes as no surprise then that ‘Wild God’ - the lead single from the Bad Seeds’ forthcoming album of the same name - is an existential narrative of love, life, and man’s mortality in the face of nature’s ancient gravitas. Such is the (unsurprising) intricacy of Cave’s word-building that, when the choral kick lands in the track’s latter third, it does indeed pack a power that feels near divine. (Daisy Carter)

REMI WOLF Cinderella

Switching from “yellow” to “orange in the afternoon”, Remi Wolf’s internal mood ring might be all over the shop but the loose disco-funk of ‘Cinderella’ - the first cut from incoming second album ‘Big Ideas’ - is anything but confused. Instead, it reaffirms the Californian star as a flawless purveyor of low-slung, joyous, groove-fuelled pop, packed full of personality and effortless charm (with an excellent line in middle eights, to boot). Who needs to wait for Prince Charming when you’re popping out gems like this? (Lisa Wright)

FESTIVALS

As the clocks go forward and the fields beckon us back, it’s time for your monthly festival update…

FIELD OF DREAMS

We’ve been waiting with baited breath, and it’s finally here - the first wave of artists confirmed to play Glastonbury 2024 has arrived. In a first for the festival, this year will see more female acts top the Pyramid Stage than male; Dua Lipa, Coldplay, and SZA are all set to headline proceedings. For Dua, this will be her first appearance at Worthy Farm in seven years, while Coldplay haven’t played there since 2016. Elsewhere on the 2024 line-up, country icon Shania Twain has been confirmed for the Sunday afternoon ‘legends’ slot, and will play the festival off the back of her third Las Vegas residency.

Also announced are a whole host of huge names, including LCD Soundsystem, PJ Harvey, Little Simz, and Olivia Dean (who’ll all play the Pyramid Stage); IDLES, The Streets, Bloc Party, and The Last Dinner Party (set to grace The Other Stage); Jungle, Jessie Ware, Nia Archives, and Squid (who’ll be over at West Holts); Gossip, James Blake, Declan McKenna, Yard Act, and Arlo Parks (all due to perform on Woodsies); and Fontaines DC, Peggy Gou, Lankum, and Baxter Dury. This year’s Glastonbury takes place between 26th and 30th June, with more acts set to be announced soon.

BRIGHT AROUND THE CORNER

A beacon for new music in East Anglia, Ipswich’s Brighten The Corners has announced the next wave of artists set to perform across this summer’s multivenue weekender, including headliners Shame and Ibibio Sound Machine

Among other new names are Lambrini Girls, Coach Party and eclectic artrockers Folly Group so there’s plenty to get your teeth into over the packed two days of music. Brighten The Corners will take place in venues across Ipswich on Friday 14th and Saturday 15th June.

OPEN SESAME

FESTIVAL NEWS IN BRIEF

Macklemore, Ne-Yo and Rival Sons are some of the newest additions to the lineup of this year’s Rock In Rio Lisboa (15th-16th / 22nd-23rd June). They’ll join Doja Cat, Ed Sheeran, The Jonas Brothers and Scorpions, who headline the Portuguese event this summer.

The third wave of artists has been confirmed for this summer’s 2000trees (10th - 13th July) with this month’s cover stars Bob Vylan joining the bill, alongside the likes of Los Campesinos!, Lauran Hibberd, Creeper, The Mysterines, Lambrini Girls and Empire State Bastard Sophie Ellis Bextor, Heartworms and Personal Trainer are just a few of the acts who’ve joined the line-up for this year’s Truck (25th28th July). They’ll be joining the likes of Jamie T, Wet Leg, IDLES and The Streets at this year’s Oxfordshire event.

South London’s communitydriven arts and music festival RALLY (24th August) will return to Southwark Park for its sophomore year this summer; Mount Kimbie, Nilüfer Yanya, Sorry, and bar italia are just some of the names announced so far.

Green Man (13th - 16th August) has revealed the first of its 2024 line-up: topping the bill are Big Thief, Sampha, Jon Hopkins, and Sleaford Mods, who’ll be joined by Arlo Parks, Black Country, New Road, Nadine Shah, and The Waeve, among others.

Kaytranada is the latest headliner to be announced for Victoria Park’s All Points East (16th August). He’ll be joined by a stacked line-up of supports, including Victoria Monét, Thundercat, Lancey Foux, Tkay Maidza, Channel Tres, and more.

have also detailed plans for a series

stage - an initiative from Festival Republic

Iceland Airwaves (7th - 9th November) is set to celebrate its 25th birthday in style, by having club queen Shygirl top this year’s bill, alongside the likes of Mandy, Indiana, Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul, Opus Kink, and mary in the junkyard

NEU

New bands, new music.

“We’re lucky enough to have a fan base that is just as weird and cute and quirky as we are.”Folayan Omi Kunerede

Flyana Boss

The viral hip-hop duo with their sights set on world domination. Words: Otis Robinson.

“Hello, Christ? I’m ‘bout to sin again… Me and my bestie are the same / Like a synonym,” spits Folayan Omi Kunerede, one half of rap duo Flyana Boss (a play on Diana Ross, FYI) on viral TikTok phenomenon ‘You Wish’. In the accompanying video, she darts through Santa Monica behind a fisheye lens, decked in streetwearmeets-fantasy cosplay, before other half Bobbi LaNea Taylor sprints into frame. Later, kickstarting a popular marketing schtick, they dash around Disneyland, along the Hollywood Walk of Fame and even through the Google offices. Frollicking in newfound popularity, they’re together in chaos - but gargantuan app-based fame aside, Flyana Boss claim to be anything but the popular kids. “We represent the fairies and the weirdos and the outcasts,” says Bobbi.

The pair are phoning in from Boston, ahead of the evening’s headline show as part of their The Bosstanical Tour: a name which Bobbi readily admits is designed to poke fun at the plentiful ‘industry plant’ accusations thrown their way. There’s a rapidity to Flyana Boss’ ascent, no doubt. But increasingly this is proving to be the new norm. During the Covid years, TikTok virality became a lifeline for artist visibility; though difficult for some, the duo represent a new generation of digitally native makers for whom the platform was an immediate gamechanger.

“It’s second nature. We don’t know any other way. We were [just] dead set on going viral,” admits Bobbi. Two years of “consistent” posting later, fans flocked in their millions and the pair revelled in their long hoped for breakthrough. “I felt vindicated because I knew it was going to happen. I was like, ‘Finally! Thank God!’” Bobbi says of their near-overnight fame. “[This whole thing] would’ve happened eventually. We would have continued to try things, and something would’ve happened. We would have had our breakthrough either way.”

Crucially, however, it’s not just the online masses who have jumped on board. Legacy artists have also rallied in support of the band, and they’ve already bagged opening slots for Janelle Monáe and Kesha. “They gave us words of encouragement… and their phone numbers,” they laugh.

Bobbi and Folayan, hailing from Detroit and Dallas respectively,

met studying music in LA and quickly tumbled into friendship, collaboration and, notably, a record deal. Inspired by hip hop and R&B groups like The Cheetah Girls, Salt-N-Pepa, City Girls and Chloe x Halle - just “friends having fun” - their duo formed free from the supposed “maniacal plans” of big industry execs, cemented instead by sisterhood and childhood dreams. “We both believed in our dream. Our friendship is involved in that, too,” says Bobbi. Expanding upon those that came before them, they wax lyrical over their vision for the future of hip hop. “[We hope to] twist narratives and tropes,” she says, before Folayan adds: “Hip-hop is such a big world. We hope to make our mark here.”

Arguably, they already have. Flyana Boss put bombastic wit, stylish braggadocio, authentic best friendship and a cutesy, off-piste, elven hip hop fantasy to the fore. It’s at its most concentrated across latest EP ‘This Ain’t The Album’: a five-track collection that pushes their carefree universe up to 100. Sex-positive cut ‘Candyman’ sees the duo concoct an erotic, candied daydream with Gen Z’s babygirl male archetype. “He my little sweetheart / Little gumdrop,” they sing over 2010-era rappop production. “He my little nutter butter / I call him lollipop.” Later, the Gwen Stefani-indebted ‘Stupendous’ is as industrial and braggy as ever (“Stupendous / I’m a star / Gather round / I need a witness”), while ‘yeaaa’ expands their remit to include massive Missy Elliott-inspired house party hits.

It’s an interim dose of fun before a bigger, worldbuilding debut record lands, and it’s all done with the aim of making music “against the grain, against the norm, that’s creative and artistic,” says Folayan. “We’re both very whimsical and cute,” she explains. “And we’re lucky enough to have a fan base that is just as weird and cute and quirky as we are.”

Mid-tour, face-to-face with online-turned-reallife fans, Flyana Boss are on a high with no sign of descent. “It’s so crazy to hear a crowd of people know our lyrics, and that every person [there] bought a ticket to see us,” says Folayan. Bobbi continues: “A little kid rapped ‘You Wish’ to us while her mom filmed it. She said all the cuss words and everything. I loved it.” The fanfare, she muses, is all simply down to “just being themselves” on the internet. Industry plants or not, their intentions are pure. “We have watered ourselves throughout our journey, and each other. Now we want to water our fans. Let’s all grow together.” DIY

Lip Critic

Throwing punk, hardcore and electronic influences into a uniquely frenzied blender, NYC’s most thrilling new exports just want to entertain.

Words: Lisa Wright.

Catch a ride in the van with Lip Critic - the quartet of genre-dodging New Yorkers who’ve been blowing up stages from their hometown right across the Atlantic in recent months - and you might be surprised at what you hear. “We’ll listen to anything from Tyler [the Creator], to the soundtrack from Willy Wonka to Babymorocco. I was playing haunted house sounds the other day - creaking doors and chains and clowns laughing,” grins vocalist Bret Kaser. “Anything that’ll get a laugh out of the dudes, I’ll put on the aux. We just like music that’s entertaining.”

Though the band and their imminent debut album ‘Hex Dealer’ trade in the sort of hardcore-leaning electronic punk that’s earned them justifiable comparison to Death Grips, their penchant for capital-E Entertainment is what’s setting Lip Critic truly apart. A live band first and foremost, they play with two drummers while Bret - one of two manning sampler desks - describes his frontman persona as having “a lot of preacher vibes, but a preacher that’s not doing well…” It’s abrasive and thrillingly relentless. The band pound through songs without breaks to the level where sticksman Danny Eberle, sharing the camera today with his bandmate as they Zoom in from playing SXSW’s protesting unofficial stages, explains that he’s started stamina training to try and keep up with the exhausting demands. But it’s also purposefully inclusive and ridiculously fun.

“If we’re having fun on stage, I feel like that energy goes out to people who are at the show and then comes back to us. When people come see us, they can get involved without there being this huge wall of seriousness,” says Danny. “Coming into playing live again [post-Covid], we were approaching it from a totally different mindset; jamming even more songs in, having everything be tighter, getting more bang for your buck for each second that we’re on stage,” nods Bret.

Formed somewhat unintentionally back in 2017 after a last-minute gig dropout threw the four friends onto

a stage together, Lip Critic have spent the years since creating a niche entirely of their own. “Always on the edge of a lot of scenes” in New York, their fusing of ideas, explains the frontman, made them “a little too jokey for the hardcore people, and a little too hardcore for the pop people, and we don’t have any guitars so metal dudes look at us weird.” They’ve found a home on live bills that celebrate this sort of genre diversity, playing just as happily alongside rappers as metalheads; on more than one occasion during today’s interview they namecheck Skrillex as a formative influence.

“The whole thing is that dance music [mentality] where you want everything to be super bassy and punchy, and then live we have these more metal or hardcore sensibilities where it’s this really tight band working together,” Bret continues. “The best instrument ever is the drums because they’re this whole-body instrument and watching a drummer play is so engaging to me, but you can’t have a fat 808 come out of a drum kit; it just can’t happen. So we’re combining the best sound in the world, which is a fat sub-bass, with the best instrument in the world, which is the drums - and we’ve got two sets of them!”

Seeing their live shows as essentially a “remix” of their recorded output, ‘Hex Dealer’ is filled with new toys to play with. A surreal, post-apocalyptic trip filled with boogeymen and body parts, it was lyrically inspired by childhood summers spent driving across America and a particular interest in “miracle churches and faith healers”. They’ve also put out two online video games, have plans in the works for a third alongside a trading card game, and have begun work on LP2 alongside the announcement of a rigorous early summer tour including a handful of UK shows.

“We’ve just got too many things we wanna do. We need to strip it back and pick one…” laughs Bret of their current crammed calendar. We’d argue, on the contrary, it’s exactly this appetite that’s making Lip Critic a band to savour. DIY

“We’re combining the best sound in the world, which is a fat sub-bass, with the best instrument, which is the drums - and we’ve got two sets of them!” - Bret Kaser

Man/Woman/Chainsaw

The fresh-faced collective putting a pep in the step of experimental art-rock. By now, the integration of orchestral instruments into your standard band setup is a well trodden path, but few new outfits deploy a violin better than Man/Woman/Chainsaw. When third single ‘What Lucy Found There’ came out at the tail end of last year, it felt like a bit of A Moment - its soaring strings pricked up the ears of Lammo, Gorillaz and more - but a quick listen to their other releases to date (‘Back/Burden’ and ‘Any Given Sunday’) confirm this versatile six-piece as having both the musical chops and enthusiastic energy to take their early buzz and very much run with it.

LISTEN: Check out their recent Windmill set via the YouTube channel of London’s legendary music chronicler Lou Smith.

SIMILAR TO: Black Country, New Road’s younger, less uptight cousins.

Ellie Bleach

Cinematic cynicism to open your heart to. Don’t go planning a trip to West Feldwood any time soon; a town of lake houses and wistful sighing, it might have inspired Ellie Bleach’s second EP via Sad Club Records but it’s also entirely fictional. What’s increasingly real, however, is the intrigue created by Southend-born Bleach herself. In turns nodding towards the lyrical drawls of Courtney Barnett, the modern country twang of CMAT, and the candlelit piano swoons of early Matt Maltese, at the centre Bleach’s outlook is a wry mirror to 21st century malaise, with hopeless paramours and failed conquests in its gaze.

LISTEN: ‘Now Leaving West Feldwood’ is out now.

SIMILAR TO: Piano opulence on an indie budget.

Charlieeeee

The behind the scenes production star, stepping into their own spotlight. You might not know Charlieeeee, but you’ll probably have heard a bunch of their production credits; having worked with the likes of RAYE, Fred Again.., and MNEK, they’re hardly an industry newcomer. At the start of the year, however, the musician and founder of the Trans Creative Collective stepped out with a debut single under their own name - ‘Easy’ ft piri; a category-defying mix of hyperpop vocals, indie guitars and jungle beats only a few Es short of their own chosen moniker.

Ravey Ellie Dixon collab ‘BUMPED IN THE HEAD’ followed last month, while Charlieeeee’s recently been confirmed to play at Radio One’s Big Weekend.

LISTEN: You’ve just got those two tracks available for now.

SIMILAR TO: A newcomer’s energy and enthusiasm, with an established figure’s prowess.

Flat Party

Refreshing indie-rock that’s as interesting as it is anthemic.

Slightly scrappy; predisposed to a little melodrama; but ultimately full of heart - London six-piece Flat Party have a fair few things in common with their namesake (which is, as everyone secretly knows, far more fun than a night out anyway). Having kicked off 2024 with the release of their self-titled debut EP, the band are now purveyors of a vital live show that epitomis es the restless quest for stimulation of those post-uni years, ring-led by the loose-limbed, Alex Rice-indebted flamboyance of frontman Jack Lawther.

DellaXOZ

The Manchester teen making buzzy Gen Z anthems.

DellaXOZ - aka Manchester’s Daniella Lubasu - may only be 19 years old, but she’s already ticked off quite a bit of the usual bucket list. Having made her first song at just 13, she’s since released two EPs, opened for the likes of Beabadoobee and Wallice, and most recently, bagged a spot as BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record.

Dipping into a melding pot of influences - from glitchy hyperpop to classic indie rock, via the rhythms and beats of her Congolese heritage - hers is an exhilarating brand of electropop that really makes a statement.

LISTEN: Her newlyreleased EP ‘DELLARIUM’ is dizzying in the best way.

SIMILAR TO: If PinkPantheress, 100 gecs and Bikini Kill teamed up for the ultimate collab.

LISTEN: ‘I’m Bored, Give Me Love’ is a setlist staple. SIMILAR TO: When you wake up after a heavy night with a raging hangover, but a smile and the sense that it was all worthwhile.

Blue Bendy

Gleefully defying labels at every turn, Blue Bendy are the genre-straddling six-piece who refuse to be put in a box. Words: Daisy Carter.

Though Blue Bendy are, by their own lyrical proclamation, “the third best guitar band in London” (according to their track ‘Mr Bubblegum’, anyway), they’re reluctant to confirm who exactly would claim the silver and gold medal podium spots in this particular event. “Whenever we need something from a bigger band, they’ll know what position they’re in,” laughs guitarist Joe Nash.

This sort of tongue-in-cheek self-awareness is central to the band’s identityboth in terms of their own distinct sound and their place in South London’s fertile grounds. “A big influence on us is just being challenged by other bands; it forces you to adapt,” confirms Joe. “It’d be easy to have much less ambition if you had no competition,” agrees vocalist Arthur Nolan. “If you’re the best band in, say, Huddersfield, what’s pushing you to make anything fucking better?”

Far from sucking them into its oversaturated post-punk sinkhole, however, the capital has instead helped Blue Bendy - completed by synth and keys player Olivia Morgan, drummer Oscar Tebbutt, guitarist Harrison Charles, and bassist Oliver Nolan - to “at least do something different”. Arthur continues: “We’re serious about not taking it too seriously. We mean what we say, and we mean what we play, but you don’t have to be so po-faced about it.”

Taking that philosophy and well and truly running with it, their forthcoming debut album ‘So Medieval’ is a rich, restless exhibition of sky-high ambition, watertight playing, and juxtapositions galore. Over ten tracks, it undulates from something approaching experimental pop (‘Mr Bubblegum’), to widescreen, expansive textures (‘Darp 2 / Exorcism’), to dense post-rock (‘Cloudy’) and back again, while lyrical nods to creationism sit alongside those to pop culture, taking the listener from the sublime to the ridiculous with the turn of a phrase.

Even the visuals are imbued with deliberate contradiction, hinting at the

high-low dichotomy within. Joe explains that “a big reference point was larger than life, hyperpop imagery - a lot of SOPHIE and Caroline Polachek”. “A lot of it is just what we think would be fun, or a bit of a left-field choice that makes us giggle,” takes up Arthur, mentioning the bright refrain of, “Supersonic man / Da da do da da di” on the aptly-named ditty ‘Sunny’. “I think it’s just about keeping ourselves interested,” he continues. “Our best gauge for that kind of thing is our own attention span, which seems to be… very low.”

Yet while there’s a certain silliness to points of ‘So Medieval’, there’s tenderness and depth too. Weighty religious imagery abounds (a product of Arthur’s “lapsed Catholic” background), and is used as a lens through which to explore “a pretty traumatic breakup”. By conflating this painfully human experience with such mythic concepts, the LP frames the emotions involved as being of almost reverential significance; then its self-awareness kicks in, and those lofty poetics are offset with another wry lyrical smile. Take ‘Come On Baby, Dig!’, which references Aphrodite and Satan before ending, deadpan, with the line “I should text her”.

Balancing on the knife edge between humour and heart is a precise art, but it’s one to which Blue Bendy have confidently staked their claim. Having recently wrapped on a UK tour supporting Squid, they’re now turning their attention to their own imminent headline run. What fans can expect, says Joe, remains to be seen. “I think when we played our Friday slot at Green Man, [Arthur] had been up for about 27 hours. God forbid if a festival ever tried to schedule us on Sunday - we’d have to do a Weekend at Bernie’s type thing…”

“We mean what we say, and we mean what we play, but you don’t have to be so po-faced about it.” - Arthur Nolan

As Arthur puts it: “If somebody does something quite conventional, that’s always going to raise more eyebrows than something left-field. I think what unites Blue Bendy is that we always look to take the path less travelled.” And if ‘So Medieval’ (and, in fact, this whole conversation) is anything to go by, DIY can near-guarantee one thing: whatever the band do next, it won’t be boring. DIY

04

JULY

05

JULY

LENNY KRAVITZ

GRETA VAN FLEET � DROPKICK MURPHYS � PARKWAY DRIVE

THE HIVES � THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM � STONE

JANE’S ADDICTION � PJ HARVEY � BLACK PUMAS � MEUTE

EEFJE DE VISSER � JALEN NGONDA

THE STREETS � NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS

SLOWDIVE � JOHNNY MARR � BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB

THE CAT EMPIRE

THE CLOCKWORKS � SKINDRED � DEHD � ALICE MERTON � KINGFISHR

THE SOUTHERN RIVER BAND

MÅNESKIN

SUM 41 � YUNGBLUD � TOM ODELL � SIMPLE PLAN

THE BEACHES � FRANK CARTER & THE RATTLESNAKES

SNOW PATROL � dEUS � BAD OMENS � GARY CLARK JR.

SLEAFORD MODS � LOVERMAN

JAMES ARTHUR � TOM MORELLO � ARCHIVE � GLINTS

DECLAN MCKENNA � KNEECAP

AGAINST THE CURRENT � NECK DEEP � THE ARMED � HOT MULLIGAN

THE RUMJACKS � SPRINTS

06

JULY

07

JULY

DUA LIPA

KHRUANGBIN � AVRIL LAVIGNE � NOTHING BUT THIEVES

THE KOOKS � BRIHANG � EQUAL IDIOTS

RÓISÍN MURPHY � THE BLAZE � JANELLE MONÁE � JESSIE WARE

THE LAST DINNER PARTY � NO GUIDNCE

BENJAMIN CLEMENTINE � MARC REBILLET � ARLO PARKS

CIAN DUCROT � J. BERNARDT � NONAME

PRINS S. EN DE GEIT � PALAYE ROYALE � BOB VYLAN

PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS � DEADLETTER � PEUK

FOO FIGHTERS

ROYAL BLOOD � PRETENDERS � IDLES � THE BREEDERS

BRUTUS � BLUAI

JUNGLE • MICHAEL KIWANUKA � SAMPHA � FROUKJE

WHISPERING SONS � ISAAC ROUX

PARCELS � ZARA LARSSON � LOYLE CARNER

LAUREN SPENCER SMITH � LAWRENCE � MATT MALTESE

HIGH VIS � THE SNUTS � SOCCER MOMMY � SCOWL � HOTWAX � ISE

Get The Gears Turning

Having been named as part of DIY’s Class of 2024, Nottingham four-piece Divorce have now returned with their first music of the year in the form of new track ‘Gears’. Produced by Catherine Marks (boygenius, Foals, Wolf Alice), the chord-striking single tackles the difficulty of trying to maintain a balanced life and keep multiple plates spinning as an independent musician. Of the song’s inspirations, vocalist and guitarist Felix Mackenzie-Barrow has said that ’Gears’ was “written when I’d just moved to London and was working very long hours whilst trying to keep up with increasing band commitments for Divorce. I was spending all of my time working or playing shows and couldn’t maintain any kind of social life or keep up with the spending a social life felt like it would cost. The song came out of those frustrations.”

Divorce have also announced that they’ll be playing five special shows this Autumn; four at Nottingham’s beloved venue The Bodega (25th - 28th September), and one at London’s Islington Assembly Hall on 24th October - which will be their biggest headline show to date.

The Buzz Feed

All the buzziest new music happenings in one place.

Ois for...

Just a few months on from the release of their 2023 EP ‘Slice’, drum and sax duo O. are back with the news that their debut album, ‘WeirdOs’, will be released via Speedy Wunderground on 21st June.

The LP promises 10 tracks of the pair’s now-signature genre hopping creativity, and is set to take in influences as varied as jungle, dance, jazz, and doom metal. Lead single ‘Green Shirt’ acts as our first taster of what to expect, which O. have described as “a short rock/metal rinse out.”

They continue: “To match the distorted amp sounds coming from Joe, we put Tash’s drums through distorted guitar amps on this one. It’s named after Tash’s favourite green flannel shirt, that was lost several times and then eaten by a dog.” Check out the video for ‘Green Shirt’ - which stars Speedy Wunderground’s beloved canine Poppy - over on diymag.com

Speaking more broadly about the album itself, O. have explained that the record is “a dark, heavy album based around our love of riffy basslines, blast beats, dub, noise, and all the weird sounds in between. It was recorded live across 2 weeks in the studio with Dan Carey and aims to replicate the feeling of being at one of our gigs.”

The

Ultimate Choice

London two-piece Fräulein have today confirmed that they’ll be releasing their debut mini-album ‘Sink Or Swim’ on 14th June via Submarine Cat Records, and have heralded the new project by dropping the twinned singles ‘Feels Like Flying (Day)’ and ‘Feels Like Flying (Night)’ - check them out on diymag.com now.

“I reject the belief that an artist should arrive fully-formed,” vocalist and guitarist Joni Samuels has said. “I love when you can see artists’ growth, their progression. I want to always be getting better at playing music, at expressing emotion. This new record, ‘Sink Or Swim’, is the first time we’ve really translated what we can do live to the recording studio.”

The news marks the start of a new chapter for the duo, who have carved out a striking reputation following the release of previous EPs ‘A Small Taste’ (2022) and ‘Pedestal’ (2023), and had recent stints supporting the likes of Big Joanie and Be Your Own Pet on tour. What’s more, their latest project also saw them collaborate with rising outfit Cosmorat in the studio - a sure sign that Fräulein have been busy pushing their boundaries and widening their scope even further for 2024.

THE NEU PLAYLIST

Fancy discovering your new favourite artist? Dive into the cream of the new music crop below.

MRCY - Flowers In Mourning

A homage to MRCY’s various sonic and cultural backgrounds, ‘Flowers In Mourning’ pairs invigorating Afrobeats rhythms with nods to Northern Soul and dub, as Kojo Degraft-Johnson’s crystalline vocals cut through the layers with a tender precision. Simultaneously expansive yet personal, it’s a track which heaves with potential, nodding towards a near-future in which the duo join the likes of Khruangbin and soon to be tour mates Black Pumas as baton-carriers of genre-bending contemporary soul.

cruush - Cotton Wool

Manchester-based shoegaze outfit cruush’s latest single ‘Cotton Wool’ - released in advance of their second EP ‘nice things now, all the time’ - explores the reality of battling with the feelings of imposter syndrome and isolation that typically accompany your mid-twenties. “I don’t wanna talk / I’ll just overthink it all,” sings vocalist Amber Warren, emotively expressing both the restlessness of this period of life and the longing to feel as fearless as your younger self did.

Slow Fiction - Monday

Before you hit play on the latest single by New York five-piece Slow Fiction, you may wish to strap yourself in. The following three minutes are a whirlwind of crashing post-punk and anxiety-filled lyricism, exploring the crushing monotony of everyday existence. “I can’t stand my bad energy / I can’t stand my fake inner peace,” repeats vocalist Julia Vassallo in ‘Monday’’s closing refrain, her panicked vocals matching the frenetic urgency of the rest of the band. Helpless despair never sounded so infectious.

Kenya Grace - It’s Not Fair

For the first ten seconds of ‘It’s Not Fair’, Kenya Grace lulls the listener into something of a false sense of security - her polished vocals are sugar-sweet, lamenting the pain of a breakup that, try as you might, you just can’t close the book on. Soon though, these angelic tones are undercut by something altogether punchier, as synthy loops and a skittering beat rise to meet her yearning vocal line. The end result is what, we imagine, Ariana Grande might sound like if she turned her hand to drum n bass, placing Kenya Grace firmly alongside piri, Biig Piig and the like at 2024’s thriving dance-pop intersection.

dent’sDay

dent’sDay

Back with a more holistic, introspective bang on their third album ‘Humble As The Sun’, London DIY grime-punks Bob Vylan are choosing to balance anger with optimism. But as their words will attest, they haven’t lost any of their political bite.

WORDS: JENESSA WILLIAMS. PHOTOS: ED MILES.

“A disheartened person is no benefit to anybody; if you ain’t got the energy, you are no use to the cause.”

“A disheartened person is no benefit to anybody; if you ain’t got the energy, you are no use to the cause.”

- Bobby Vylan

- Bobby Vylan

The perks of NOT being a wallflower.

What’s eating Bob Vylan of late? Frankly, all manner of things. Capitalism. Congestion. The abundance of films that fail to depict the Black experience through anything other than trauma, and the lack of attention paid to TV that does. They’re concerned about the state of music journalism amongst ever-depleting funding, and fed up with the way that streaming metrics dictate the value placed upon the arts.

Most of all, they’re worried about genocide, and about people with platforms who don’t feel ready or willing to condemn it. But right now, Bobby Vylan (rapper, with a Y) is sitting alongside his mate Bobbie Vylan (drummer, with an ie) in the bowels of the Barbican Centre, wondering why it is that when they perform, their attempts to rally the crowd on a note of positivity tend not to excite as much as when they meet them from a place of pain.

“I’ve always found it weird that when we’re on stage and I say, ‘Fuck the government!’, people will say, ‘Yeaaaah!’” says Bobby, miming a cheering crowd. “But then when I say, ‘If we can do this, you can do anything, we had a dream and you can too!’, people are kind of like, yeah, cool, whatever. I’ve never known why they can so easily cheer the anger, but can’t so easily cheer the selfbelief and the hopefulness.”

It’s a big conundrum to unravel, but there’s something about being flung headfirst into philosophical pondering that feels refreshingly on-brand for a band like Bob Vylan. In the last half-decade, the duo have used their music to explore a wide range of meaty societal issues, transforming from a best-kept live secret to the kind of chart-bothering entities that they are today, right on the cusp of releasing their rather astonishing third album, ‘Humble As The Sun’. That they’ve come this far without ever compromising on their DIY principles is a testament not only to their rabble-rousing spirit, but their insistence that, with the right attitude, independent artists don’t need to compromise on quality or aspirations of success.

“It’s something that we made a conscious decision over from the very beginning,” nods Bobby. “As a band, we are creatively on par with anything that comes out of a major label or a big independent or whatever of the same genre. Just because it’s DIY, doesn’t mean it has to be amateur - that’s true for anything in life, but especially music.”

While Bob Vylan felt assured that they had something special early on, meticulous effort was put in from the off to refine their process, setting up a camera at the back of their shows so that they could identify areas to improve. “The energy of it was the first thing where it was like, OK, that’s already right,” remembers Bobbie. “From there it was about trying to get the right balance of everything; how the drums kick, how we dress, how Bobby likes to talk during the show…”

“The songs deal with issues that are serious and quite heavy, but we’re laughing before we go on stage, and we laugh when we come off,” continues Bobby. “But [at the start] when we played, it all just looked angry. Some of our first shows, we’d come off stage and talk to the other bands and they’d be like, ‘Oh, I didn’t realise you were gonna be this nice!’ There’s this expectation of you as a Black man that you’re going to be angry when you’re taking the bins out, angry when you’re cooking your meal, just so angry plating up your stir fry. But we’ve got so many things in our lives that we’re blessed and happy to have. So I’m like, OK, how can we bring that on stage with us too? The more we talked, the more people relaxed. The sugar helps the medicine go down - do you get me?”

The timeliness of Bob Vylan’s arrival seems to mark a new era of representation within the music industry, proving just how few non-white artists had been properly platformed in the lane of alternative, experimental rock previously. The band’s debut record, 2020’s ‘We Live Here’, was startling for some people not just in its ferocity, but its potent mix of punk and grime, released at the peak of that year’s global Black Lives Matter uprisings.

It was their 2022 follow-up ‘The Price Of Life’ that really piqued crossover interest, however, taking a focused look at austerity and working class struggle well before the term ‘cost of living crisis’ had even been coined. Bob Vylan were heralded as some kind of prophets, when the truth, they say, was more about being innately attuned to underdog experiences, speaking the realities of what was going on in the UK before it had become headline news.

c a k r s

‘Humble As The Sun’: The Best Lyrics ‘Humble As The Sun’: The Best Lyrics

‘Reign’

“I’m black and I’m proud / I watch for their tricks / I’m so black I wake in the morn / And put hot sauce on my Weetabix / Yesterday we were too extreme / Now they hashtag and raise a fist / Try blackball me / They forgot about my black balls / Watch me take the piss.”

‘Dream Big’

“Because where I come from we lock our dreams in a box / Pedal back and forth all day and tuck our jeans in our socks / Pray the alphabet is full and all our P’s don’t get robbed / Where everybody bears a cross but barely believes in God.”

‘Right Here’

“Got the skeleton key, unlocked every door / And I stepped in the room with a bone to pick / Picked up where I left off, throne I sit / Reign supreme like Hypebeast clothing is.”

‘Ring The Alarm’

“Bun it bun it down, bun Babylon to the ground / Watch their heads start rolling every time I come around / Natty on a mission when you hear the Vylan sound / Why’d you think they call me Bob? / I chase those bald heads out of town.”

“Like, we do quite literally live here!” says Bobby, quoting back their album title. “We dropped that during lockdown at the height of the protests around George Floyd’s murder, but it wasn’t written the week he was killed. It was written ages ago, and it’s because we’re living on the ground and seeing what’s going on. Racism isn’t new, and neither is economic hardship bro! It’s rough out here, and we live it, same as anybody else. People say, ‘Oh, if you’re not laughing, you’re crying’.

But I think if we all spent a little less time laughing, we might just burn something down.”

The thing they burnt down, it turns out, was the boundary between the mainstream and independents. When Bob Vylan released ‘We Live Here’, they could see that a fanbase was growing, but say that they were still somewhat “naive” to the process of music promotion, shouting truth to power from their counter-cultural sidelines.

The second they realised that ‘The Price Of Life’ had the potential to infiltrate the charts, they went all-in on promo, determined to, if only for a week, “occupy a tiny piece of the market share”. “The major labels left the door cracked open, and we were like, ‘Oh!’” says Bobbie. “Let’s poke our heads in there and take a little walk around…”

Eventually settling at an impressive Number 18, ‘The Price Of Life’ campaign also won the duo the first ever Best Alternative Music Act award at the 2022 MOBOs: a way to better recognise contributions to Black musical cultures that weren’t just rap and R&B. In customary Vylan style, they used their speech to show sincere gratitude for the recognition, but also to point out the rarity of the achievement. “Everyone is here bigging up Atlantic, bigging up Warner - fuck that!” said Bobby. “Big us up, because we did it without a major label budget.”

In the band’s eyes, their achievements are not in what their records are, but how they get made. “I’d rather have an album that goes to Number 18 in that way than a Number One where somebody else picked the single, somebody else was in the room going, ‘Maybe you should change this…’,” says Bobby. “I’d rather this, every

single day of the week. So whether it’s a Top 20 album or a MOBO, that’s what we celebrate in those instances, and that’s the main thing that we always want to display: the empowerment of artists.”

Having achieved those tangible wins once already, Bob Vylan don’t necessarily feel the urge to replicate ‘The Price Of Life’’s chart-climbing success. While their artistic independence means that they never have to do anything as formal as sitting down and deciding on an official album ‘direction’, they did find themselves itching to explore new lyrical angles, whilst finding new language to inspire.

“The albums before this had to be made,” says Bobby. “Each one of them has had similar threads. ‘We Live Here’ was a very angry album, and it was needed at that time; ‘The Price of Life’ was angry too, but it was also comedic, which we needed at that time. And now, ‘Humble As The Sun’ is about looking at the situations that we’re in, and having that realisation that the same people that fuck things up in this country are not going to be the ones to make it better. It would be crazy for us to think otherwise.”

In this way, ‘Humble…’ is a record that strives towards positive feelings of grassroots community, learning how to keep one’s chin up without succumbing to toxic positivity or political complicity. Bob Vylan’s witty, anti-establishment lyrical barbs are stronger, cleverer and more pointed than ever, but there’s just as much encouragement as there is vitriol, pushing the listener to drag themselves out of bed and make shit happen.

“We’re not giving you this nonsense that some bands are giving you - ‘Joy is the answer’ or whatever; ‘Love is the thing’,” says Bobby. “These little slogans ain’t never worked for someone in my position growing up. It’s more about acknowledging that when things are shit, I’ve still got to do what I’ve got to do and find some way to get through my day.”

In many ways, this stylistic transition between records is fairly subtle. Recent singles ‘Dream Big’ and ‘Hunger Games’ paint the kind of brash, bold moshpit strokes that Bob Vylan fans will already be familiar with, while the Angela Bassett-via-Fatboy Slim-sampling ‘Right Here’ grins harder than any ‘90s smiley face logo. But there are moments of real poignancy too. The album’s titular opener, with Bobby spitting fire over a sprawling, soulful beat, might be one of the most moving, fully-fleshed things the pair have ever made, while ‘Makes Me Violent’ channels grunge rather than out-and-out rock, featuring a piano that once belonged to the Actual George Michael.

A more explicit motivation was the feeling that both members got from removing themselves from the London rat race, essentially learning how to touch grass. For Bobbie, trips to both Jamaica and the outskirts of Paris allowed him to re-evaluate his true wants and needs, shedding some of his inner-city comforts. He watched sunrises and looked up at the stars, shocked at the beauty that could be found. “Honestly, I finally realised why they always draw it like that!” he laughs. “Growing up in and around London, I’ve never seen through the pollution and all that to see constellations before.”

“Just because it’s DIY, doesn’t mean it has to be amateur - that’s true for anything in life, but especially music.”

- Bobby Vylan

Recording for the first time with producer Jonny Breakwell in “proper studios,” the album was an exercise in loosening their reins, knowing that you can maintain an independent ethos while still leaning on the expertise of friends. “Being able to go, right, we know what we’re doing enough now that we can trust somebody else to help - it just makes the whole thing grow,” says Bobbie.

Bobby was also getting his Vitamin D in, moving to the Kent seaside and walking daily along the beach. When he returned to the city to record, he took time to sit in the studio garden, feeding the birds and generally trying to reconnect with life’s bigger picture. “After a while, you just start to meditate,” he explains. “I was having these conversations with myself, the nature around me, the sun even, kind of figuring out what it was I wanted to say.

“Things are hard here, but there’s way more to our existence than the bricks and mortar that we surround ourselves in. When the bill comes through, when you’re cramped on the tube, it’s easy to forget. But a disheartened person is no benefit to anybody; if you ain’t got the energy, you are no use to the cause. It’s important to find ways to

The Bobs had been taking lessons from the Homer Simpson school of hedge-hiding.

continue to be positive and energetic and hopeful, because you will be more inclined to continue against the struggle.”

It’s a simple profundity, but one that Bob Vylan hope they can pass onto others, striving for nuance on big red-button topics. Album highlight ‘He’s A Man’, for instance, can be read as a comedic diatribe against the oafishness of lad culture, going on benders and claiming that the “g spot don’t exist”. But when you dig a little deeper, it’s also an entry point to a much larger conversation about the crisis in men’s health and incel radicalisation.

“It’s great that a conversation has started about men being more open and entitled to mental health support, but if you feel like the only one who doesn’t have access to that, it can make people lash out in strange ways,” says Bobbie.

“You get certain demographics of Gen Z men who feel doubly hard done by, and so are becoming really right-wing. There’s no easy answer to it, but there needs to be more conversation, more resources.”

“Men are victims of the patriarchy, just in a different way,” nods Bobby.

“The biggest killer of men under the age of 40 is suicide, and the second biggest is heart attacks. You can’t tell me that’s coincidence; you’re telling me I’m either going to take my own life, or the stress of how I’ve been living is gonna kill me anyway? That doesn’t sound like an appealing way to live.”

which they had previously profited. “It’s a cowardly fucking thing. So fuck IDLES, fuck Sleaford Mods, and fuck every single one of those fucking apolitical bands that don’t want to fucking speak up [when they’ve] got a fucking bullshit album to sell. We can’t respect that at all.” Neither band have responded directly to them, but both have since made statements calling for something akin to a ceasefire, suggesting that the message maybe did cut through.

Self-belief!

A MESSAGE TO DIY ARTISTS, FROM BOBBY VYLAN…

‘He’s A Man’ is a collaboration with good friends SOFT PLAY, a relationship founded when Bobby, messing around with a remix of their song ‘One More Day Won’t Hurt’, decided to reach out to guitarist Laurie Vincent for a stem of his original vocal. One collab turned into several, and a friendship blossomed - enough that internet rumours persist that it was Bob Vylan who encouraged the band to change their name from their previous moniker, Slaves.

Bobby: To some artists, the fact that a label picks them up is validating, but it doesn’t always make any sense. You don’t need a label to put your stuff on Spotify. The internet has so much power now - it’s the gateway to everything. If there’s something you can’t do, like budgeting or PRS funding sheets or booking shows, find someone you trust who can, and share the wins with them. And you need to ask yourself, if the major label is coming to you - let’s be honest, in this day and age, nobody is dropping off their stack of demos - you’ve done something that’s caught their eye. So if they’re offering you five, know it’s at least worth 10. So many artists get caught up in being grateful, but if you don’t know your worth, someone else is only going to decide it for you. s a c r k

“It’s true-ish,” says Bobby. “I know they were thinking about it already, but I did say to him, ‘I love your band, but I can never wear your merch; I can’t attach that word to me the same way that some of your fanbase might’. Some people are gonna get upset about it; ‘world’s gone woke’ or whatever. But it’s like, if the music is still good after they’ve changed their name, who cares?”

Another big talking point in the Vylan universe has been their vocal advocacy for Palestine, or rather, a widely-circulated video clip from a gig in which Bobby called out the bands who he felt were not matching the ‘punk’ energy from

“Either way, it definitely does encourage other people to make sure they use their voice,” says Bobbie, the bandmate ever-soslightly more inclined towards diplomacy. “Other people from other bands also started posting things about using their platforms, and that was good to see.”

“I mean… in that instance [of a gig environment], emotions are high,” says Bobby, also choosing his words thoughtfully. “I have a personal connection to that struggle; it is something that I feel quite strongly about. Whereas for other people, maybe it’s the protest of the week. But it does make it hard to watch people who have made a living off of speaking up for the oppressed kind of sitting back and doing nothing. It’s harder still when it’s not the first time I see those bands doing it. They’re free to do whatever they want, but as a fan - or a former fan - I just become a little bit upset.”

Where Bobby was also upset, if not overly surprised, was how quickly the gravity of his words was subverted and played out in magazines as some sort of superficial band beef. “The whole focus became ‘Bob Vylan said this about this band’, not ‘Bob Vylan urge other bands to stand up for the people of Palestine’,” he says. “Some of the publications that reported on it are trash anyway, so it’s like, alright, let them have their clickbait. But it was never about targeting any band or judging their music. It’s about using the platform we have for some kind of good while we’re here on this earth. As we’ve established already, there are far bigger things than us. So I dunno - what are we doing with our time here?”

As ‘Humble As The Sun’ rather heavily implies, it’s a question that perhaps we could all do with asking. There’s a lot for Bob Vylan to be angry about - a lot for us all to feel indignant, exhausted and even helpless about. But if peaceful solutions are ever going to come, the two musicians are adamant that we all need to find ways to stay motivated: not just by fury, but by the genuine feeling that a positive future is possible for all. Whether it’s grassroots music or bigger forms of activism, change is a marathon, not just a sprint; why can’t we learn to cheer for both?

“People need hope, man,” says Bobby. “But more than that, they need selfbelief. Some people can live with not saying anything, never speaking up. But us? Me? Bob Vylan? Never. It’s the very least of what we can do.”

‘Humble As The Sun’ is out 5th April via Ghost Theatre. With thanks to the Barbican Conservatory. DIY

“It’s hard to watch people who have made a living off of speaking up for the oppressed sitting back and doing nothing.”

“It’s hard to watch people who have made a living off of speaking up for the oppressed sitting back and doing nothing.”

- Bobby Vylan

- Bobby Vylan

Baby One

That’s why her hat is so big… it’s full of secrets.

Time More

Following a wild stint of milestoneticking , girl in red is back with second album

‘

I ’ M DOING IT AGAIN BABY

!’.

An album as joyous as its title , it finds Marie Ulven embracing the next phase of life .

Words : Kate Brayden .

The pressure of following up a massively successful breakout debut album isn’t lost on Marie Ulven, better known as girl in red. The Oslo-based musician burst into the mainstream with her 2021 record ‘If I Could Make It Go Quiet’, and now, three years later, the 25-year-old artist has signed with major label Columbia, collaborated with The National’s Aaron Dessner, and was hand-picked to support Taylor Swift on her Eras Tour last summer. Not bad for an alternative act from the tiny port town of Horten, Norway.

This month, Marie returns with her hotly-anticipated second offering ‘I’M DOING IT AGAIN BABY!’ and, following the youthful explorations of her debut, it showcases a more playful side to girl in red. “I do feel like a totally different person, actually,” she admits, while also walking her dog. “In a good way. I’m settling a bit more into myself, but I haven’t fully figured it out. That’s probably the most common experience of your twenties: you spend ten years being fucking lost and then you get into yourself in your thirties. Honestly, I just want the world to know who I am now instead of who I’ve been before.”

In previous interviews, she’s compared the transition to that of Billie Eilish between debut ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ and ‘Happier Than Ever’. “I can relate to Billie’s journey, in a way. Not her career journey, but just her mental state,” she continues, nodding. “You can feel that her early music is quite dark, and now it’s more optimistic. I feel like I matured very quickly because of my parents’ divorce and my dad was hit by a car, and I was met with a lot of hard and difficult questions very early on in my life. It made me grow up fast. It also takes a lot out of you to tour and constantly have to meet your fears while travellingwhich for me is flying.”

Alongside her aerophobia, in 2021, the musician was diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder and OCD, following a series of mental health struggles. Although conditions which can present barriers for taking her music to the live stage, “things are getting better for me in that regard,” Marie says, sounding hopeful. “We’re making runs that are more doable. My team is getting to know me in a touring setting.

“ I just want the world to know who I am now instead of who I ’ve been before

“I’ve had some pretty uncomfortable experiences,” she continues. “We were involved in an accident where a car almost hit us but flipped over several times and hit a tree. We’ve got bigger cars to protect us a bit more now. We’re limiting my anxiety as best we can, because I do low-key feel like I’m risking my life by leaving for a tour. Especially with Boeing!” she laughs nervously, referencing the aircraft manufacturer’s recent spate of safety issues. “Doors be flying off!”

Doomsday vibes aside, ‘I’M DOING IT AGAIN BABY!’ presents a confident new chapter for girl in red. Opener ‘I’m Back’ kicks off with gentle piano chords and sweetened vocals as Marie declares, “I’m back, I’m better than ever / Life’s too

world, whereas I’m in a different indie realm. I love doing stuff that’s a bit weird and electronic.”

The tour also yielded another opportunity for girl in red when, following her performances, ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’ collaborator (and The National guitarist) Aaron Dessner invited Marie to his Long Pond Studios in the remote Hudson Valley last year. “Aaron is an amazing person. He’s so chill, he just makes you feel so at home. The space is built like a cabin and he drives to the local town and gets you a really nice oat latte,” she laughs. “He’s the sweetest. It’s a low shoulders type of energy, which I really like.”

Yet, even though the stars have been coming out for girl in red’s second album, Marie has still continued working with long-time collaborator Matias Telles, keeping one foot in the familiar while embracing the new. “When you get some sort of success, I think it’s very easy to ditch your Day Ones,” Marie notes. “I feel safe in the space with Matias. It’s very rare that you find a person who understands you creatively, but Matias is like a soulmate. It took a while before we nailed the vibe I was trying to convey for Album Two, but I wanted to nurture that relationship.

“Even though there were low points, you can really tell that I was able to let loose and be free again,” she continues. “Struggling to make it was something I took really heavily. I felt like I’d lost it, that I wasn’t relevant or interesting or good. I was saying the most

girl in red (in numbers)

3

Norwegian GRAMMYs (Spellemanprisen) won for ‘If I Could Make It Go Quiet’

5 18

Dates supporting Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour

Age when she released breakthrough debut single ‘I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend’

27, 600

Population of her teeny hometown of Horten, Norway

2 . 8 million Instagram followers

969 million

Streams of uber-hit ‘we fell in love in october’

horrible things to myself - I even told Taylor while on the tour that I wouldn’t be able to make the second album. She said that she’d experienced the same thing with her second album and third, and now they’re just coming naturally. That’s what I want to do: push through all of the lows and get to a point where I just keep making albums.”

‘I’M DOING IT AGAIN BABY’ concludes in two minutes of explosive electronic freedom with ‘*****’ - inspired by Andy Warhol and Studio 54. “I make magnificent trash, it’s everything I have,” she declares, tongue in cheek. “Five star rating and I’m writing a hit.” Firmly shunning expectations of repeating the sound of her debut, Marie Ulven just wants to be proud of her own output. Baby, she’s done it again.

‘I’M DOING IT AGAIN BABY!’ is out 12th April via Columbia. DIY

“ Nowadays, sadness sells. Some pop musicians are making the most shallow mental health songs that don’ t tell the story. ”

Brand Update

Reimagining their earliest work in a fresh new form, ‘Our Brand Could Be Yr Life’ sees BODEGA revisiting the past and picking up the very present threads.

Words: Lisa Wright.

If you could go back and redo a decade-old version of yourself, how would you do it? Would you still feel a kinship with the person you’d once been, or would you want to rewrite them into a new form? For NYC art-punk quintet BODEGA, who’ve spent the last two years adapting and reinterpreting their early incarnation BODEGA BAY’s under-the-radar 2015 album into this month’s forthcoming third LP proper, the answer is a little of both.

Where that original collection came in at 33 tracks of, in singer Ben Hozie’s words, “anti-music”, ‘Our Brand Could Be Yr Life’ (BODEGA’s Version) slimlines proceedings down to 15 tracks of actual proper songs. But though the presentation has been filed and polished, the concept at its centre remains the same: a wry indictment of bands positioned as brands that feels even more pertinent in our social media-obsessed age than ever. “Unfortunately the manifesto’s stood up too well…” grimaces Hozie, calling in from his New York home.

Hozie - one half of the band’s central duo alongside co-vocalist Nikki Belfiglio - speaks of BODEGA BAY with the familiar fondness generally reserved for those nascent, reckless, obstinate versions of ourselves we find in the rearview mirror. He recalls early shows where they’d “play on the same bill as all these good bands but do obnoxious things - play the same song 10 times in a row, or recite poems instead of playing”, describing them as a “performance art troupe” more than a band in any traditional sense. As such, their first and only record was equally unwilling to play the game. “It wasn’t supposed to be ‘good’, sonically,” he explains. “We all recorded every instrument into a MacBook internal mic so it has this insane digital distortion. That genre was big at the time - not even lo-fi but no-fi.”

Even back then, however, the members of BODEGA BAY had harboured a secret love of classic songwriting - of The Beatles and the Great American Songbook - beneath their early-twenties penchant for disruption. And so, when the band’s current incarnation decided to revisit their beloved early output (inspired by Car Seat Headrest’s similar exercise on ‘Twin Fantasy (Face to Face)’), there was an obvious way to approach it. “We used to fantasise in BODEGA BAY of making our ‘Pet Sounds’, our really orchestrated record, so 10 years later it’s like: ‘Why don’t we actually do the fantasy and try to make a beautiful-sounding album?’” Hozie says. “There’s an ‘I don’t give a fuck’ quality to the original that’s cool and you just can’t fake, but the new one’s way more beautiful which you can’t fake either.”

The updated ‘Our Brand Could Be Yr Life’ begins with a new song, ‘Dedicated to the Dedicated’.

A line repurposed from the liner notes of an early promotional prank, in which BODEGA BAY would slip fake 33 1/3 series biographies about their record into Barnes & Noble stores, its ethos

of commitment to the art above all is something the band have consistently kept front and centre throughout the years. When they vent about the commodification of artists, it’s coming from a place of genuine frustration; the record, Hozie states, is “an essay of sorts on the fall from grace of New York DIY music”.

But this line of questioning - always expressed with obvious intellectual smarts - has also led to BODEGA being pigeonholed as somewhat lofty or unapproachable. “I think people thought I was this angry guy who was shaking people and trying to ram something down their throats and that wasn’t how I felt at all,” says Hozie. “Like, is that what I’m putting out in the world?” ‘Dedicated to the Dedicated’ was written in a particularly self-reflective moment following a “pretty nasty” internet comment. “I wrote this song to get out of it,” he says. “I don’t care if you don’t like me, I’m just gonna keep singing my songs.

“With this new record, we’re really trying to amplify a lot of the playful parts of the band. Our band is pretty silly; a lot of songs on [last album] ‘Broken Equipment’ are borderline novelty…” Hozie continues. “I always think the best punk songs do two things at once: they embody whatever earnest thing the text is saying, but at the same time they’re winking at the audience. All the bands I see now are painfully sincere but if you take a look at any of the classic New York bands - The Velvet Underground or Ramones or New York Dolls or Talking Heads or Blondie - they’re all extremely ironic in a great way. I miss that irony and it’s always been a strategy of BODEGA’s to play that game.”

For a start, the irony of BODEGA’s anti-brand stance essentially now becoming their brand is far from lost on the vocalist. “There’s a George Carlin comedy skit where he’s like, ‘I was at a bar and this guy worked in advertising, and I told him I hate advertising, and he goes: Oh you’re one of our biggest demographics! The ‘I hate advertising’ people! We can sell so much shit to you’,” he chortles by way of comparison. But beneath the layers of sincerity and silliness, concept and instinct, the main thing ‘Our Brand Could Be Yr Life’ shows is a band who are still - a decade into their tenure together - taking delight in challenging themselves and the established norms; who may have changed their method of delivery over the years, but whose message has stayed impressively untarnished from their underground, outsider beginnings. By any metrics, it makes BODEGA a b(r)and worthy of continued investment.

‘Our Brand Could Be Yr Life’ is out 12th April via Chrysalis. DIY

Update

“The best punk songs do two things at once: they embody whatever earnest thing the text is saying, but at the same time they’re winking at the audience.” - Ben Hozie

Contrary to appearances, BODEGA did not, in fact, play T in the Park 2016.

Photo: Ebru Yildiz.

DANCE YRSELF CLEAN.

Armed with a coming-of-age record like none you’ve heard before, Porij have arrived - and here, bringing heart to the dancefloor is the order of the day.

Words: Daisy Carter. Photos: Emma Swann.

It’s only 2pm on a moody Monday afternoon, but it may as well be 11pm on a Friday - if you’re Porij, it turns out the party’s never too far away. We’re downstairs at The Social doing our best to bring Ibiza to Soho for this very shoot, and the band’s frontperson Scout Moore (better known by their stage moniker Egg) has jumped on the aux, pumping Charli XCX out at full volume over the venue’s PA.

Far from absurd, it’s a scene that actually seems bang on brand for the Manchester-formed, now London-based quartet. Over the past few years, they’ve carved out a niche for themselves as a band who combine the intrinsic physicality of beat-driven dance music with the perhaps more cerebral, emotional pull of lyrics and live instrumentation. Porij could as easily play a set at any given indie venue as they could a late-night festival tent (or indeed the mammoth Etihad Stadium, where they recently supported Coldplay on a run of dates), and they wear these chameleonic credentials with aplomb.

“Actually, that’s kind of how we started,” grins Egg later, as we chat over pints in the bar alongside bassist James Middleton, guitarist Jacob Maguire, and drummer Nathan Carroll. “Jazz gigs, indie gigs, dance gigs - it was like, ‘Yeah, we’ll chuck Porij on the bill’.” Although plainly not a jazz band, they have one foot firmly planted in each of the other two worlds: a product of their collectively eclectic tastes, Porij are an apt continuation of Madchester’s genre-blurring legacy.

“The beauty of music is that it fits in so many different places,” enthuses Nathan, as conversation turns to the parallels between live music venues and club spaces - and the serious existential threats currently facing both. “I think if we lose the spectrum of [nightlife], it all becomes very samey, and then we lose that beauty. I want to go to a weird pub in the middle of an industrial estate to listen to dub music at three in the morning after I’ve been to a sold-out show at Ally Pally, you know?”

Egg agrees, commenting that a capitalistic “shift towards these bigger and brighter things” means that “we’re losing the more intimate places where you really have a sense of community in the club scene” - something they note has always been trailblazed by queer people and people of colour. “Oftentimes, it’s a chosen family, and so these communities are really tight knit,” they continue. “Having these queer spaces like [London club nights] Riposte or WET where you can go out and meet people is really important.

The queer scene is thriving through club music right now, which is SO cool.”

Acriticism that’s often unfairly levelled at dance music is its ostensible lack of emotional depth, which Porij not only refute wholeheartedly, but also deftly defy in their own output. “We wanted to play dance music live, and I think when you do that it does become inherently human,” Egg explains. Thematically, too, the band are unafraid to dig into meatier, more complex territory: their 2021 breakout track ‘Nobody Scared’ looks at femicide and the Reclaim the Night marches, while forthcoming debut LP ‘Teething’ - their first proper statement as their current unit, following some early lineup changes - is an intimate exploration of self-discovery in your early twenties.

“It’s all about the beauty of growth and how that’s not always an easy process, but there’s something really special about that,” Egg continues. “It was written at a time which was really formative because we were all over the country and everything felt super up in the air; we’d just come off our headline tour, we hadn’t been signed, and I personally felt very lost.” Nathan agrees, sharing that “focusing on making the album was the thing that grounded my entire life”. It gave them what he calls “a sense of purpose” amid a period of intense tumult, during which he and Jacob made the move from the capital of the North to the capital proper to join Egg and James.

Inevitably, this external upheaval bled into the record, which was recorded in East London over a series of months with one of the band’s Mix With The Masters heroes, David Wrench (Frank Ocean, FKA twigs, The xx). “On one of my first nights out in London, I went to Heaven with a few friends for some mad club night,” says Nathan. “We were in the studio a week after that, and I was viscerally remembering that experience. [When creating music] you’re feeding off all these things - all the bright colours of the city, you know?” There’s a brief pause, before everyone bursts into laughter. “That’s the GAYEST thing you’ve ever said,” Egg teases.

Ultimately though, “Porij has always thrived in chaos,” Egg states, “and I think we like it like that.” And on that evidence, it’s little wonder that ‘Teething’ is the opposite of a straightforward, one-note offering. Because the four have such a wide range of tastes between them (James is “a massive dubstep fan”, while Jacob is apparently “renowned” for his Disclosure obsession), Nathan explains that recording the LP was “almost like pass the parcel” - a process

“There’s a horrific onslaught against trans people in the media right now. It’s scary to put yourself out there, but it’s really important.”

- Egg Moore

-

“We wanted to play dance music live, and I think when you do that it does become inherently human.”

Egg Moore

of “trying to find the right musical hat to put on each track via different genres”, depending on the experience they wanted it to evoke. “The escapism of going to a techno night; the happiness of a garage night; the intensity of a drum n bass event…” Jacob lists. “Certain genres pair perfectly with a certain feeling.”

‘Teething’ is a record that truly runs the emotional gamut, from the opening snarling bite of ‘Marmite’ (“You’re like Marmite, fickle to me / Mixed reception, no one can agree”), to the tender euphoria of ‘My Only Love’, via the garage bounce of ‘Unpredictable’ and the immersive trance of ‘Endlessly Waiting’. Finally making a longform project allowed Porij the scope to fully embrace the broad sonic palette their trio of EPs dipped a toe into, while lyrically the album is, in Nathan’s words, “a beautiful space for Egg to be totally vulnerable and totally honest”.

It’s on ‘Stranger’ that this soul-baring is most apparent, as they explore their non-binary identity and experience of gender dysphoria with a candid transparency thus far unheard in Porij’s work. “I really didn’t like the song for a long time because it just felt too…” Egg pauses to take a sip of their pint. “I felt embarrassed by how raw it was. It’s been quite intense playing it live, but I also think that it’s been really beautiful to be able to share all of myself. And actually, I came out as non-binary in part due to Porij; back in the early days, we always got called a boy band, and I’d think, ‘You just heard me sing - do you think I’m chemically castrated?’”

They continue: “It was lockdown, and I kind of came to terms with things. We were about to release a single, so that element of pressure kind of gave me the guts to go, ‘I’ve gotta say this now’.” “We had a really good photo of you that we were gonna use for

a social media post,” recalls James, taking up the story and smiling at Egg. “And you went, ‘Can I use that one to come out with?” They grin: “Yeah, ‘cos I thought I looked really hot in it!” The band all smile too, their mutual love for one another clear, before Egg acknowledges that many other queer people don’t receive the acceptance they deserve. “There’s such a horrific onslaught against trans people in the media right now, which is why it’s scary to put yourself out there. But that’s also why it’s really important.”

What would it have meant to have heard ‘Stranger’ or seen a non-binary person fronting a (pseudo) indie band when they were younger? Egg is quiet for a moment, then says: “I had a really wonderful experience on our January tour. We played Rough Trade in Nottingham, and afterwards this woman who worked in a school came up to me and said, ‘Thank you for being someone that young people can look up to’. I think that was the first time I’d actually really thought about it like that, because I’m just… living, as a person.

“And I bawled my eyes out, so in all the photos [with other fans] I’m just like, ‘It’s been a really good gig, thanks for coming’,” they say, scrunching up their face and pretending to sniffle as the others laugh. “It really blew my mind, and it was really touching for her to say that.”

These four should probably get used to interactions like this; with all its emotional and sonic range, ‘Teething’ taps into something that’s expansive yet intimate, broadly relatable yet poignantly specific, and utterly, unmistakably human. If anyone can put to bed the notion of dance music being devoid of depth, it’s Porij.

‘Teething’ is out 26th April via PIAS. DIY

HOW D’YA LIKE YOUR EGGS IN THE MORNING?

We find out what’s on Porij’s breakfast buffet bucket-lists.

Egg: I want to eat my weight in hash browns. Quite often on tour, that’s all I’ll get for breakfast. You like a bit of a smoked salmon bagel vibe, don’t you Jacob?

Jacob: Yeah, sometimes - it depends. Nathan: I can’t have much more than toast or a bagel in the morning, with a mint tea.

James: Oh, I love having leftover curry for breakfast! I did it recently and it was great.

Egg: Jammo’s going edgy for the debut album. I had a trifle for breakfast the other day though, and it honestly made me giddy.

Louis Culture

Widowspeak

H31R/ Niecy Blues

Julia Holter Tapir!

Discovery Zone

FRI 29TH MAR LAFAYETTE

Bingo Fury

WED 3RD APR

PAPER DRESS VINTAGE

Kirin J Callinan

THU 18TH APR

VILLAGE UNDERGROUND

THU 18TH APR FOLKLORE

WED 24TH APR OSLO

THU 4TH APR KINGS PLACE

Adrianne Lenker

WITH FRIENDS

SAT 27TH APR

SUN 28TH APR

SUN 28TH APR (MATINEE) BARBICAN CENTRE

TUE 9TH APR EARTH THEATRE

Karim Kamar

WED 1ST MAY GRAND JUNCTION

TUE 16TH APR PECKHAM AUDIO

Fly The Nest with special guests

TUE 30TH APR

BELOW STONE NEST

Douglas Dare

THU 9TH MAY CORSICA STUDIOS WITH JOHN FRANCIS FLYNN, ANDY IRVINE & MORE

FRI 3RD TO MON 6TH MAY MOTH CLUB

Clarissa Connelly

Hurray For The Riff Raff

WED 15TH MAY KINGS PLACE

Kiasmos

WED 29TH MAY HERE AT OUTERNET

Ceremony

FRI 17TH MAY ELECTRIC BRIXTON

Jessica Pratt + Joanna Sternberg

THU 6TH JUN UNION CHAPEL

Ty Segall

THU 27TH JUN UNDERWORLD

FRI 28TH JUN

RALLY Festival The Magnetic Fields

SAT 24TH AUG

SOUTHWARK PARK

SAT 31ST AUG

SUN 1ST SEP BARBICAN CENTRE

FRI 10TH MAY CAFE OTO

Erlend Øye & La Comitiva

Muireann Bradley Cola

FRI 17TH MAY

SAT 18TH MAY

THE GEORGE TAVERN

Jessica Pratt

FRI 7TH JUN EARTH THEATRE

The War On Drugs

SUN 12TH MAY EARTH THEATRE

Nils Frahm Joe Rainey

SAT 18TH MAY GRAND JUNCTION

Bikini Kill

Sen Morimoto

Féile MOTH Meth Math

TUE 14TH MAY THE LEXINGTON

Keeley Forsyth

WED 15TH MAY CORSICA STUDIOS

Fly The Nest with special guests

THU 23RD MAY ICA

Bikini Kill

WED 12TH JUN ROUNDHOUSE

THU 13TH JUN O2 ACADEMY LEEDS

FRI 14TH JUN O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW

SUN 16TH JUN THE CROSSING, BIRMINGHAM

Sheer Mag

TUE 28TH MAY

BELOW STONE NEST

Mannequin Pussy

THU 20TH JUN SCALA

Wednesday

THU 11TH JUL

FRI 12TH JUL ROYAL ALBERT HALL

Roar

THU 11TH TO SUN 14TH JUL (6 SHOWS) BARBICAN CENTRE

Kiasmos + Rival Consoles

SUN 11TH AUG LAFAYETTE

TUE 20TH AUG SCALA

IAMDDB Daniel Norgren

THU 26TH SEP ISLINGTON ASSEMBLY HALL

MODEL CITIZENS

Bucking expectations and focusing on trusting their gut, the new album from WALLOWS sees the Californian trio embarking on their biggest chapter yet.

Words: Sarah Jamieson.

It’s been a big week for Wallows. Jumping on a call from their respective homes in Los Angeles, the band - longtime friends Dylan Minnette, Braeden Lemasters and Cole Preston - have just landed back from a trip to New York, fresh from announcing a huge world tour that’s set to take in some of their biggest milestones yet. “I’ve been thinking about it more than I usually do I guess,” Dylan admits of their newly-announced run, which includes dates at the legendary Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Madison Square Garden and their hometown’s Kia Forum, alongside a European tour culminating at London’s Alexandra Palace. “It’s more nerve-wracking because they’re bigger shows, but we’re feeling good. We’re just excited.”

Currently in the middle of gearing up to release their third album ‘Model’, this is the moment that Wallows have been building towards for some time. Having formed over ten years ago as teenagers involved in a local music programme, the trio have since channelled their love of guitar music into an eclectic discography book-ended by their full-lengths, 2019’s ‘Nothing Matters’ and 2022’s ‘Tell Me That It’s Over’. Reaching these objective new highs has been sending the trio of old friends down memory lane. “We daydream and reflect a lot I’d say! When you start to think about how this band started, and the pieces that had to fall together to make this happen…” Braeden starts up, before composing his thoughts. “The years before people even knew us, when we were a band just playing to our family and friends, or a 100 capacity room where only 30 people were there, we were just writing songs and trying to keep growing,” he continues. “It’s funny, when we were kids playing those shows, it meant so much to us. It meant as much as the Greek Theatre [in LA] meant to us when we played. You wanted to put on a great show with the songs you had even though no one was really there. It always felt like something important.

“Looking back, knowing that we’ve just announced a Forum [show]…” he grins. “I remember going to see bands at the Forum when I was 15, being like, ‘Could you imagine playing here?!’ Now that it is happening, it is a ‘Wow, we’re here’ moment. It’s almost like when you grow in height, you never notice you’re getting taller but then you just are.”

Growing, it turns out, has played a key part in Wallows’ forthcoming third album ‘Model’. Aiming to produce their “most concise, cohesive, all killer, no filler” record yet, the trio returned to working with John Congleton - who they’d worked with on their debut - and in turn managed to recapture some of the innocence of their first work. “It really just became instinctual,” Dylan nods. “We started with guitar, bass, drums and really tried not to layer anything on there that didn’t need to be there, and

I think it’s really brought back some of that honest, eager quality.” “It was nice to be in the studio with him because there is a special connection with him as a producer,” Cole nods. “He’s the first producer that we sought out and worked with, so going back in with him, there is a different level of rapport and comfort that you have.”

“I remember one of my most used words during the recording process was ‘relinquish’,” notes Dylan, on the band’s collective mission. After the more drawn out, overly analytical process that accompanied the making of ‘Tell Me That It’s Over’ - a record that skips around musically, dipping into synth-pop and new wave along the way - this time around, they wanted to trust their gut. “I really didn’t want to overthink this time,” the frontman says. “I wanted to choose my battles, and really trust the process.”

This self-assured spirit seems to permeate everything from the record’s sound to its mononymic title and enigmatic artwork. A name that manages to be both “strong and memorable” while also open to interpretation, it’s something the band have managed to reflect in the album’s accompanying aesthetics. “When we landed on ‘Model’ for the title,” Braeden explains, “the main thing we knew from the get-go was that the last thing we wanted on the cover was gonna be some model person, or a mannequin or something.” Instead, the band teamed up with Aidan Zamiri, who produced an image of “a space that’s maybe a little off, because the sunset in the background isn’t actually a sunset, it’s a prop wall”.

“I do think there’s something cool about these sorts of constructed spaces,” adds Cole. “That’s a huge component of the world that we live in today, where everything is a representation of something, and sorting through what’s real is seemingly more difficult every day. I think that’s true for almost every aspect of life in a sense: is this person genuine? Am I genuine? Is this the right thing to do? It’s sort of a reflection of what we’re all experiencing now that we’re this age, and we’re thinking on what version of a band we want to become. What is the expectation for us? Are expectations real? Everything is a question and we’re not trying to answer it but we’re doing the best we can.”

“We love things that are right but not,” Dylan nods, “almost perfect but not quite. I think that’s how we felt sometimes recording this - like we needed to please the label, people around us, fans. It’s easy to question yourself when you have all this material and all these things; you need to be this perfect representation of yourself, for whoever else. Then we just ended up being the best representation of ourselves.”

‘Model’ is out 24th May via Atlantic. DIY

“I really didn’t want to overthink this time. I wanted to choose my battles, and really trust the process.”

- Dylan Minnette

Wising

Up

Thrust into the spotlight via a moment of unexpected viral success, Lizzy McAlpine is making firm choices on third album ‘Older’: a record that prioritises artistry over chasing fame. Words: Rhian Daly.

Last year, Lizzy McAlpine thought she was done with her second album, ‘Five Seconds Flat’. The record had been out in the world for 12 months, and the Philadelphia-born, LA-based singer-songwriter was deep in the process of making its follow-up. Then, ‘Ceilings’ - a track that hadn’t been released as a single - suddenly got picked up as part of a TikTok trend where users filmed themselves lip-syncing to the song, running through fields, city streets and along beaches. It sent ‘Ceilings’ viral, launching her up the UK singles chart to an eventual Number Six spot, and pulled its creator back into the world of the album.

Sitting on the porch of her home today, Lizzy is largely nonplussed about the attention that experience brought her. “It was cool,” she shrugs. “It was fun. I really wasn’t expecting it - I didn’t try to go viral on TikTok, but it was amazing.” However, despite her relative nonchalance, the track’s success allowed the singer to tick off some of the things she had on her bucket list, like performing on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon or filming a Genius lyric video.

Simultaneously, the experience of unexpectedly having to revisit that record was proving jarring. “I had definitely moved on, but then I did a second tour around that album, and I was kind of miserable,” she says, quickly backtracking to correct herself. “Not at the beginning - when ‘Ceilings’ first went viral, I was like, ‘This is really cool!’ But then it didn’t stop.”

Touring ‘Five Seconds Flat’ another time was hard, the singer explains. She’s spoken before about the relationship she has with her songs - a cycle that begins with her liking them before growing bored of and falling out of love with them as she becomes a different person from the one who wrote them. “Performing those songs always felt weird, but especially on that second tour,” she says. “I was like, ‘This is not me anymore - I have to go on stage and pretend to be an old version of me right now’. It was so draining.”

It was an eye-opening time for the 24-year-old, and one that put her in the middle of a process of upheaval and reckoning as she tried to figure out who she wanted to be as an artist. She grappled with big questions over her career - follow this current path to perhaps even greater success, despite it not connecting with her anymore? Or take another direction, maintain her integrity and find creative satisfaction? The latter became the only option. “I became less concerned with being famous or whatever - not that I ever really was that concerned with it,” she says of that time. “But I realised I just want to make art, and I don’t want to play ‘the game’ but do things that are cool and fun for me. I just want to feel good while I’m doing my job.”

Feeling good is something McAlpine can lay claim to thanks to her third album - and major label debut - ‘Older’, which may even have broken that cyclical love-hate relationship she’s previously had with her music. Some of its tracklist has been with her for three years, others for just a couple of months, but she’s yet to see her feelings towards them sour. “It’s very weird for me!” she laughs. “I think it’s because it took so long to get them right, so for a while I was listening to them half-baked, or they didn’t sound exactly like what I had in mind.”

Now happily complete, ‘Older’ is a lush, layered record of folk-tinged indie. Its songs grow and swell with poignant instrumentation, but know exactly when to strip things back to just the singer’s voice and a guitar, letting her words shine and deliver an emotional sucker punch to the heart.

It also presents a more evolved version of the singer-songwriter - and you can feel that transformation taking place across the record itself. She started writing this collection of songs when she was still in the relationship prior to her current one, acknowledging “the cycle that happened [with]in it”. Halfway through the record’s conception, things changed. “I met my current boyfriend and everything shifted,” she says. “I was no longer in that cycle, so I started to distance myself from it naturally, and that gave me new songs and new perspectives on the situation.”

These new perspectives were followed by new methods in the studio, with Lizzy forming - or rather, nicking - a band. Late last summer, after trying to finish the songs with a host of different collaborators, she was feeling lost.

“I didn’t even know what I was searching for, but I knew I needed something new and people to take this in the right direction. I just didn’t know who or how to find them,” she recalls. One night, she went to see Ryan Beatty in LA and had a eureka moment as soon as his band started playing: “I was like, ‘This is what I’ve been missing! I need these people!’” Luckily, her boyfriend’s friend’s brother was in the band, allowing her to make the introduction and, as she says with a mischievous grin, “steal them”.

Band successfully nabbed, Lizzy was finally able to translate what she heard in her head onto record. “I listened to the versions I had before I worked with the band, and it’s like a different record,” she shares. “It was very polished and perfect. With the band, we did a lot of songs in one take, with everyone playing together, and then added stuff on top. You can feel the passion from everyone in the room [in the songs now] - it just brings so much emotion into the music.”

Case in point is the double whammy of ‘Broken Glass’ and ‘You Forced Me To’. The former takes on a forbidding tone, with whispers of strings threading an eeriness through the song as Lizzy reflects on the toxicity of her old relationship. “Broken glass on the table, pick it up, hold it to your throat,” go the opening lines. “I can see who you are now that the window’s broke.” Midway through, it becomes a thundering storm, battering ram drums pummelling below as the strings grow more frenzied. Immediately after, ‘You Forced Me To’ takes a different - but still slightly sinister - approach; just Lizzy, a fingerpicked melody and piano ripple. “‘Broken Glass’ is the realisation and coming-to moment where I’m like, ‘Oh my god, this is horrible’,” she says. “‘You Forced Me To’ also sounds creepy but in a different way - it feels so intimate.”

“

Though ‘Ceilings’’ viral moment saw more eyes on her than ever, there’s long been an element of finding her voice in public for Lizzy. Sometimes, she wishes those first two albums weren’t available for the world to hear, but she also recognises she wouldn’t be at this point without them. “I’m so grateful for the way that things happened, and I feel like I’m at a point now where I can just do whatever [I want], which wasn’t the case with the last album. I think it all happened for a reason, even if it is hard to listen to my old stuff.”

Because of those two previous albums, she’s now able to bring some of her ambitious ideas to life. After creating a short film around ‘Five Seconds Flat’, this time she’s been working on a documentary of the making of ‘Older’, which she plans to screen at viewing parties. “It really just shows me as an artist, which I’ve been wanting people to see more in-depth and transparently,” she says.

I ’m so grateful for the way that things happened, and I feel like I’m at a point now where I can just do whatever [I want].”

As she talks about the ins and outs of ‘Older’, Lizzy is consistently excited and engaging. It’s no surprise to learn, then, that she calls this album her truest statement yet. She still fully stands by ‘Five Seconds Flat’ and 2020 debut ‘Give Me A Minute’, however. “I wouldn’t have released those albums if they didn’t feel authentic to me in the moment,” she reasons. “I’m trying to remember they’re who I was at a certain point in time, and just because it’s not me anymore it doesn’t mean it’s bad and should disappear forever.” But as part of that process, she’s viewing authenticity as an ever-transforming concept - just like who she is as a person. “Something different will feel authentic to me in that moment, and then maybe a year later, I’ll be in some completely different place,” she says.

They’ve also helped her to catch the ear of other artists, like music’s most suddenly-famous man Noah Kahan, who invited her to feature on his song ‘Call Your Mom’. “He asked me to sing it at The Greek [Theatre in LA] and then he was like, ‘We should just record it’,” she says nonchalantly of the collaboration. The pair had never met in person before that show - she assumes they first connected on Instagram because “that’s how I meet most people these days”.

“People loved it so much, so I was like, ‘I’m down’ and that was that. It was pretty simple.”

Now she’s in a better groove with her own work, there’s plenty left for Lizzy to achieve and enjoy. She’s reluctant to share exactly what some of those things might be, keeping the bucket list on her phone notes app tucked away. “I don’t want to jinx anything by saying them out loud,” she laughs. Instead, she offers up what she hopes people will take from ‘Older’. “I hope they’re reassured that life is messy for everyone. And not having anything figured out is totally fine.” She smiles and, perhaps unwittingly, nods to the lesson of her whole career so far: “It’s all a journey.”

‘Older’ is out on 5th April via Columbia. DIY

I realised I just want to make art, and I don’t want to play ‘the game’. ” “

Behind Cover The

“My boyfriend and I went to my family’s farm in West Virginia and shot photos all over this past 4th of July weekend. We found this lake, and I knew those photos were probably going to be important. We got the film back, and I just saw this photo – it’s so striking; I look a little bit scared and confused, but it’s also bold. That expression encapsulates what I’ve gone through in the last three years – and just my whole life – growing up. It seems like you can look at it a million times and every time, it will give you a different emotion. And that is what life is like, for me at least, especially in my mid-twenties.”

REVIEWS

This month: Vampire Weekend, English Teacher, Kacey Musgraves and more.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND

Only God Was Above Us

Columbia

While most will remember 2019’s ‘Father of the Bride’ as a divisive release, it’s probably important to remember there hasn’t been a point at which Vampire Weekend have been a universally loved act; from the moment they bounded over the hill as fresh Ivy League graduates in vividly-hued polo shirts pondering architectural particulars they’ve laid claim to be musical Marmite. And, given that the essence of this fifth full-length pulls wholly from past material - the swooping piano stabs and rollocking drum fills that characterise their self-titled debut and ‘Contra’; the warmth, introspection and debt to hip hop that peppered ‘Modern Vampires of the City’ - it’d be hard to suggest ‘Only God Was Above Us’ would be a record to silence the haters.

What it is, however, is a rich, textured record that oozes with warmth; full of sonic layers clearly laboured over in intricate detail, yet never sounding painstakingly so. A playful snippet of tape reversal appears to open the subtly shuffling ‘Classical’, while

‘Capricorn’ builds like a skyscraper, contrasting abrasive noise after noise with its soothingly-delivered hook, “You don’t have to try.” A trademark piano motif swoops through ‘Connect’, while an organ fizzles underneath alongside both a bubbly double bass and intermittent synth bloops. The hazy, melancholy ‘The Surfer’ pairs a hip hop rhythm section with whirling, dream-like strings and a late-‘60s psychlike guitar line. All the while still sounding only like Vampire Weekend.

The record’s dual centrepiece - and perhaps the spot where cynics might yet be turned - is a true gem. First, ‘Gen-X Cops’ is a blistering slice of urgent noise-pop that contrasts plinky pianos with deliciously abrasive guitars and is at once straightforward earworm and delightfully obtuse (just what does “Each generation makes their own apologies” mean, anyway? And why won’t it leave

Their most accomplished album yet.

one’s head?). Then, upping the contrast levels if losing a few in immediacy, ‘Mary Boone’ (itself a Vampire Weekend staple as niche New York City reference - the self-styled Martha Stewart of the art world, she was imprisoned for tax fraud in 2019) offers an increasingly disconcerting baroque choir contribution atop the instantly-familiar, grounding, sampled beat of Soul II Soul’s ‘Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)’. If you’re going to make your first foray into sample usage, best make it a classic.

So, taking all the wide-eyed playfulness of their earlier work, and the confidence in creating a sonic tapestry of their latter, ‘Only God Was Above Us’ is both their most accomplished and most Vampire Weekend album yet. Emma Swann

LISTEN: ‘Gen-X Cops’

 ENGLISH TEACHER

This Could Be Texas Island

Where many of UK alternative’s most notable recent debuts have been albums that declared their intentions loudly, putting humour / bombast / rage (delete as applicable) front and centre in a way that clarified their niche from the off, English Teacher’s much-anticipated opening statement opts for a trickier path. ‘This Could Be Texas’ is an album that unfurls itself with each listen; it is neither easily categorised nor, you suspect, written with quicklydigestible earworms in mind. Instead, the Leeds quartet choose to walk down wildly varying paths whose connecting thread is primarily in their poetry. Filled with tenderness and a rare, soft sentimentality, it allows the band to group the rattling post-punk of ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’, the autotuned experimentalism of ‘Best Tears of Your Life’ and the fragile, piano-led sweetness of heartbreaking highlight ‘You Blister My Paint’ under one still-cohesive umbrella.

Their not-so-secret weapon lies in vocalist Lily Fontaine: a frontwoman who, since the band’s reasonably-recent beginnings, has audibly blossomed in a way reminiscent of Ellie Rowsell’s star-making trajectory with Wolf Alice. Their 2021 breakthrough track ‘R&B’ - a withering takedown of genre stereotyping - is given a reworking here; its vocals sharper and more cutting, and its production beefed-up and direct, it nods to Lily’s journey from those first moves to now. But it’s in moments such as ‘Mastermind Specialism’, with its rich vocals placed at

the centre amid strange, sad, nostalgic couplets (“I am the lamb you had for your tea / And I am the tiger who came”), or epic closer ‘Albert Road’, where her voice builds to a staggering crescendo, that you hear the full scope of what she can do.

‘This Could Be Texas’ is riddled with complexities that, even 18 months ago, English Teacher likely wouldn’t have had the confidence to execute. Lewis Whiting’s guitars, which frequently tread Graham Coxon-like realms of noise-wrangling brilliance on the live stage, are cleaner here, lending a mathy sensibility to ‘Nearly Daffodils’, and conspiring with Nicholas Eden’s bass to weave around the repetitive mantras of ‘I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying’. The album’s title track ends, after a pause, with spring-like sounds and violins, before ‘Not Everyone Gets To Go To Space’ then arrives like an old video game rebooting after years in the attic. Throughout, Lily’s lyrics dance between familiar, humorous domesticity, and something more episodic and strange. “Mum’s bones are breaking / Cut-outs in the photographs / Splitting our prescriptions / Broken biscuits.”

The picture it paints as a whole is a hugely rich one - not just of the album itself, but of English Teacher as the opposite of a flash-in-the-pan buzz band; as a group really only just getting started. The sentiment behind ‘This Could Be Texas’ is that it could also be anywhere, but already the Leeds quartet are securing themselves as far more singular than that. Lisa Wright

LISTEN: ‘You Blister My Paint’

ART ATTACK!

The artwork for ‘This Could Be Texas’ was painted by vocalist Lily Fontaine’s mum, artist Gilly Grist. We asked them for a little more insight into why the image was painted - and chosen.

Lily: My mum’s artwork was a constant across the many, many places that we’ve lived, often depicting the landscapes surrounding us. With home being a recurring motif on the album, and the fact it pisses me off that her artwork is unrecognised despite her talent, it always made sense to use her work. Plus, I can’t paint. The figure in the centre was added by me after I found it hiding in the corner of an AI generated photo - I’m obsessed with the glitches of AI generation, where shapes are created that are both recognisable yet entirely undefinable, and this is what my drawings attempt to replicate. To me it is an alien that has just landed. A musical machine with a beating eardrum.

Gilly: The Cow and Calf stones high up on Ilkley Moor, near Leeds, have held an attraction for me for many years. This image was actually painted in the very late ‘80s. Originally based in Yorkshire, then, until recently Lancashire, l am predominantly a landscape and portrait artist: my involvement in the creative face of English Teacher’s singles and now, their new album, is a privilege.

The opposite of a flash-inthe-pan buzz band.



LIZZY MCALPINE

Older Columbia

Grappling with the success of a viral hit can be challenging at the best of times, let alone when you’ve already moved on to an entirely new project. That’s a predicament that Lizzy McAlpine found herself facing when her track ‘Ceilings’ - taken from her 2022 album ‘Five Seconds Flat’ - was suddenly thrust into the TikTok hype machine after she’d already begun work on its follow-up. But rather than let the song’s sudden success dictate her next move, instead, the 24 year old stayed the course, going on to create a delicate but rich third record that sees her songwriting continue to evolve. Managing to be both bold and understated, ‘Older’ sees Lizzy layer her take on confessional indie-folk with widescreen instrumentation to gorgeous effect. Whether in the woozy Americana lilt of ‘I Guess’, the cinematic strings of ‘Drunk Running’, or the grand swell towards the culmination of ‘Broken Glass’, there’s a confidence imbued within her offerings here - both musically and lyrically - that, you sense, has only been possible with growth. A luscious album that sees the singer shrug off the pressures of present day virality in favour of creating something much more classic. Sarah Jamieson LISTEN ‘I Guess’



BULLION Affection

Ghostly International

Bullion - aka Nathan Jenkins - is a name many don’t know but should. With a production CV that boasts work with the likes of Carly Rae Jepsen, Ben Howard, Westerman and Nilüfer Yanya, ‘Affection’ follows in the footsteps of 2020’s ‘We Had A Good Time’ in using his skills for himself. It makes for a sugary, bright, and appropriately affectionate record filled with alternative pop and fun rhythms. From the shimmering title track to Carly lending her dreamy whispering to ‘Rare’ via the swelling atmosphere of ‘40 Waves’ and whimsical ‘Cavalier’, the record is a varied collection, with vibes shifting around the album’s confessional tone. While this does mean the record lacks cohesion at times, it’s this loose and disjointed approach that gives the whole thing its charm. Suited to the ever-unveiling shoots of spring and its longer days - at least for those of us in the northern hemisphere - it’s a joyful listen from start to finish; a playful, experimental, and carefully crafted debut, which is hopefully just the beginning of what Bullion has to offer. Matt Brown

LISTEN: ‘Cavalier’

 LUCY ROSE

This Ain’t The Way You Go Out Communion

It’d be easy to assume that, after Lucy Rose’s recent harrowing health scares - the singer was diagnosed with a rare pregnancy-induced osteoporosis after the birth of her son Otis - her latest musical offering would channel the introverted pain she must have felt in the face of such a debilitating condition. Instead, though, ‘This Ain’t The Way You Go Out’ is a triumphant, joyful record that ushers her into entirely fresh sonic territory. Granted, the raw moments in which she faces her recent experiences are heartbreaking - take ‘This Ain’t The Way’’s lament of “Thought I’d been through the hardest time of my life / I lost who I was and I lost all my fight / It took my body and my soul / and now I’m figuring out what’s left behind” - but there’s also so much vibrancy and life to be felt here too. The jazz-imbued one-two of ‘Light As Grass’ and ‘Could You Help Me’ gives the record a rich introduction, while ‘Sail Away’ descends into a heady, dance-tinged mist; by the time the funky gratitude of ‘The Racket’ closes proceedings (“I won’t let you bring me down”), it’s hard not to be in awe of the scale of her growth and transformation in every sense of the word. Sarah Jamieson

LISTEN: ‘The Racket’

 BOB VYLAN

Humble As The Sun Ghost Theatre

Across the 250 seconds of ‘Humble As The Sun’’s titular opening track, Bob Vylan distil the manifesto of a lifetime. Where the closing moments of 2022’s ‘... Presents The Price of Life’ left the London duo in a righteous fury, declaring frenzied war on the racist infrastructures of the country they reluctantly call home, two years later they return with a new frame of mind. Over church-like keyboards and steady, meditative pacing, with the resonant vocals of Nottingham singer Jerub acting as a tender foil, the pair introduce an album that still rings with frustration and vitality, but decides to actively prioritise positivity and choose hope. “The sun is fucking rising now / I’mma melt this glass ceiling / WATCH ME SHINE,” wills vocalist Bobby as lightly jungle-esque beats elevate the track to its close.

Though, from there, Bob Vylan’s third largely ups the pace, from the electronic, Prodigynodding beats of ‘Reign’ to the prowling punk of ‘Dream Big’, this purposeful shift in perspective nonetheless tweaks the message from aggression to defiance. The former track makes cheeky jokes about being robbed - not at gunpoint, but of the Mercury Prize - while the latter is a call to stay hopeful even when life deals you a rough hand. ‘Right Here’ samples the Fatboy Slim track’s famed use of Angela Bassett’s voice, spitting dextrous bars (“Do my locks make you nervous? Good you deserve it / Appetite for chaos, I Venus serve it”) before landing firmly in the (right) here and now; recent single ‘Makes Me Violent’ is a Seattle grunge-indebted discussion of situation-based depression that still decides on a path of “no violence”, while the comparatively vitriolic ‘Ring The Alarm’ - a mix of gnarly riffs and drum and bass beatshits harder following such a journey in dynamics. “I see Lucifer on earth / Dressed up like the London Met,” sneers Bobby.

The record ends with the victorious thrash of ‘Still Here’: “They’ll never take me alive / I survived, I survived, I survived”. Though it’s still a firm middle finger up to the forces trying to keep Bob Vylan, and the Black and working class populations that they fight for, down, it’s also one shouted gleefully from the top of the podium. Bob Vylan still have a lot to be furious about, but ‘Humble As The Sun’ is a winning exercise in shifting focus; after all, as the old saying goes, the best revenge is living well. Lisa Wright

LISTEN: ‘Reign’

An album that rings with frustration and vitality.

COSMORAT

THU 28 MAR

WHIRLED CINEMA

THU 4 APR

SHACKLEWELL ARMS

THU 11 APR

ST PANCRAS OLD CHURCH

GOAT GIRL

THU 28 MAR

SOLD OUT

ICA

JUNE MCDOOM

THU 4 APR

FOLKLORE

FRI 5 APR

THE OLD CHURCH

ISOBEL WALLER-BRIDGE

THU 11 APR

ICA

VERA SOLA

FRI 12 APR

CHATS PALACE

PALEHOUND

TUE 16 APR

HACKNEY OSLO

MOLLY LEWIS

WED 17 APR

THE LEXINGTON

TIRZAH

FRI 19 APR

IN THE ROUND FESTIVAL ROUNDHOUSE

KELLY MORAN

WED 24 APR

ISLINGTON ASSEMBLY HALL

FLORENCE ROSE

MON 29 APR

SOLD OUT

FOLKLORE WED 15 MAY

PAPER DRESS VINTAGE

KAI BOSCH

WED 1 MAY

THE SOCIAL

MITSKI

FAT WHITE FAMILY WED 19 JUN

TROXY

THE GARDEN 25/26 JUN

SOLD OUT

HEAVEN

THE NATIONAL

FRI 5 JUL

CRYSTAL PALACE PARK

EZRA FURMAN

16/17 JUL

UNION CHAPEL

ALL SOLD OUT

8/9/10/11 MAY

EVENTIM APOLLO

FRANCIS OF DELIRIUM

TUE 14 MAY

HACKNEY OSLO

LIP CRITIC

WED 15 MAY

WINDMILL BRIXTON

LANKUM

18/19 MAY

SOLD OUT

HACKNEY EMPIRE

FIEVEL IS GLAUQUE

MON 3 JUN

THE WAITING ROOM

LOREN KRAMAR

TUE 18 JUN

THE GRACE

FUTURE ISLANDS

SAT 27 JUL

CRYSTAL PALACE BOWL

NAILAH HUNTER

THU 5 SEP

HOXTON HALL

JUNGLE

THU 12 SEP

THE O2

LANKUM

SAT 16 OCT

EVENTIM APOLLO

PALACE

SAT 30 NOV

EVENTIM APOLLO

 BODEGA

Our Brand Could Be Your Life

Chrysalis

BODEGA’s fascination with - and frequent disdain for - many of the things that define our modern culture has been well-documented over the course of their first two studio albums, and now, as if just to prove that their satirical skewering of such matters is more than just an affectation, they’ve re-recorded the LP they released under a past guise,

BODEGA BAY. The original version of ‘Our Brand Could Be Yr Life’ is over eight years old, but hardly needs to be dragged into the present day, so prescient were the Brooklyn collective’s 2016 musings on the commercialisation of pretty much everything. Back then, they recorded the record into a MacBook mic on GarageBand; now, they’ve gone back and pruned what was a sprawling 33-track manifesto into a much tighter 15-track concept album that makes deft use of their much-developed musicianship in the years since BODEGA took off. Their observations remain cutting; on rampant commodification (‘ATM’), on sex work (‘GND’), on the diluting effect of gentrification on art (the three-part epic ‘Cultural Consumer’). Now, the scuzz and rough edges of their younger selves is swapped out for the fizz and crackle of these vital reworkings, which take in some of their most varied sounds to date; in amongst the usual post-punk vigour are hints of shoegaze, psychedelia and - on the standout ‘Major Amberson’ - melodic pop. BODEGA’s collective finger remains on the pulse, as they continue to cut their targets down to size nearly a decade after these songs were first penned. Joe Goggins

LISTEN: ‘Major Amberson’

 NIA ARCHIVES

Silence Is Loud

HIJINXX / Island

There’s a slight irony in the fact that an album so jam-packed is entitled ‘Silence Is Loud’, but the remarkable feat of Nia Archives’ debut is that it somehow never feels too much or too choppy; for all its referential nods and sonic variation, this is still a project that is cohesively, distinctly her. Painting from a determinedly broad genre palette that takes in British indie, plus R&B, dancehall and more, her status as the trailblazer of new-gen junglists has never been more assured. ‘Forbidden Feelingz’ and ‘Out Of Options’ nod to ragga and lovers rock respectively; ‘Cards On The Table’ sees her take cues from the laconic delivery of Lily Allen (“Your eyes are blue / Mine are brown with a tint of hazel / Ain’t no one like you / I guess that my cards are on the table” is a bar that could easily sit on the ‘00s icon’s ‘Alright, Still’); and the airy synths of closer ‘So Tell Me’ have a nostalgic hopefulness that recalls Britpop at its most wistful. There are points at which Nia leans into her rave roots with more club-ready results (‘Unfinished Business’; ‘Tell Me What It’s Like’), but it’s where she pares back the intensity that her multi-hyphenate talent - as a singer and vulnerable lyricist, as well as a beatmaker and producer - is permitted the space to really shine. The title track and its reprise are a case in point: while the former is a heady mix of propulsive drums, whirring electronics and reverb-drenched vocals, the latter arrangement - completely sans drums - is as sparse and unguarded as we’ve ever heard Nia, her soulful vocals (quite literally) cutting through the surrounding noise.

Daisy Carter

LISTEN: ‘Cards On The Table’

Her trailblazer status has never been more assured.



THE BLACK KEYS Ohio Players

Nonesuch

The progression from 2019’s uninspired ‘Let’s Rock’ to The Black Keys’ last full-length, ‘Dropout Boogie’, in 2022 was welcome, introducing greater variety into what had been reduced to a stale, by-numbers formula for the pair. Across ‘Ohio Players’, in an almost contradictory move, they find a sound that’s pitch-perfect - pure ‘60s guitar pop with a touch of soul here, a smidgen of surf rock there - and yet seem determined to fidget away from it with mixed results. There’s a thread that runs from the Dust Brothers-like shuffle that underpins opener ‘This Is Nowhere’ to the actual Beck-featuring ‘Paper Crown’ - a track so very fun, but also so imbued with the star’s own style, it’s almost as if Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney are the guests alongside Juicy J. Conversely, when they opt for their signature sound - ‘Please Me (Till I’m Satisfied)’, ‘Live Till I Die’, and especially closer ‘Everytime You Leave’ (the production of which sounds wholly digital and cold in comparison to what comes before) - it’s as if they’re playing it too safe. Because ‘You’ll Pay’, ‘Read Em And Weep’, ‘Only Love’, ‘Fever Tree’ (a charming cover of William Bell’s ‘I Forgot To Be Your Lover’), and ‘Don’t Let Me Go’ are all peppered with a shimmering strut, and the kind of euphoria that’s surely only a well-filmed choreo sequence away from the kind of virality enjoyed by Jungle of late. And this is a lane that fits The Black Keys like a glove. Emma Swann

LISTEN: ‘Paper Crown’

 MAGGIE ROGERS Don’t Forget Me Polydor

There was a sense running through both of Maggie Rogers’ first two records that perhaps she was yet to find her voice, figuratively speaking. In literal terms, it has always been there. One of the few constants on both 2019’s ‘Heard It In A Past Life’ and 2022’s ‘Surrender’ were her routinely gorgeous vocals; honeyed without being saccharine, sumptuously rich but nimble enough to carry the kind of breezy indie pop that’s at the core of her songwriting. Musically, though, she perhaps tried on a few too many different hats for her debut, and then stuck too resolutely to an indie folk setting on her second, which is why it bodes well that the process behind ‘Don’t Forget Me’ apparently left precious little room for overthinking, recorded as it was across five days, and consisting as it does of mostly first-take recordings. It means these songs are light on their feet, imbuing classic pop structures with nippy urgency on the likes of ‘Drunk’ and ‘The Kill’, while offering up a clutch of sunny gems tailor-made for summertime road trips, especially the standout ‘So Sick of Dreaming’. Breaking them up are a couple of smartly crafted ballads; ‘I Still Do’ and ‘All the Same’ yearn without being overwrought, while the title track brings the curtain down handsomely. Most important is that the whole piece has a wonderful looseness to it, something that spreads to the laid-back and frequently witty lyricism. ‘Don’t Forget Me’ is the sound of an artist finally beginning to sink cosily into her own skin, and enjoying herself enormously in the process. Joe Goggins

LISTEN: ‘So Sick Of Dreaming’



BUZZARD BUZZARD BUZZARD

Skinwalker

Communion

To take ‘Skinwalker’ alongside its associated bumph - a literary-inspired space journey, apparently - might bring to mind hellish ideas of prog musicians in sparkly capes - or worse, Muse. In fact, there’s just one point during Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard’s second album proper that comes close to erring on the wrong side of earnest. Save for the wholly conceptual ‘The Drowning Bell’, the Cardiff-based outfit’s latest is better enjoyed as a quick trip through pop’s past, albeit with a higher-than-average quota of batshit lyrics. Take ‘In My Egg’; a blistering track which brings to mind T. Rex (their love for the decade taste forgot has not waned) and has frontman Tom Rees repeating its titular phrase for much of its runtime. Or ‘Sugar Sandwich’, possibly a rare moment where one might ask: ‘What *would* it sound like if Status Quo were to cover Adam Ant?’ But when ‘Skinwalker’ successfully skirts this line - between po-faced sincerity and questionable pastiche - it’s pure fun. ‘My Star Sign Is A Basset Hound’ revels in its bombast, with a guitar lick that drips with late-‘90s indie bandwagoning; if the Buzzards had found it, alongside the similarly epic ‘Leatherbound’, down the back of a long-lost studio sofa, it would come as no shock. Perhaps most impressive of all - it’s easy to be weird, after all - is ‘National Rust’. The kind of alt-pop song that’d fit in seamlessly on a Kaiser Chiefs record or next to Declan McKenna, its whipsmart bridge, funky middle eight, and daytime radio chorus make for an enviable display of pop nous. The record may not always hit right - ‘Chew’ echoes Royal Blood if amps were turned only to seven - but when it does, it’s a joy.

Jessie Brown

LISTEN: ‘National Rust’

 LYNKS

Abomination

Heavenly

This is what happens when you give a mic to a twink,” sings London’s masked drag icon Lynks on this, their debut. By the time punchy penultimate confessional ‘Lynks Thinks’ plays, with its wry spoken word bars diffusing over bubbly electronics, the answer to that implied question is abundantly clear. Across ‘Abomination’ - which rids religious shame in favour of scalding, erotic damnation - Lynks dissects the modern queer landscape, whilst paying homage to gay history’s electropunk highs and lingering horrors in equal measure. The result is a raucous ode to sex positivity, where the act is social currency - “My life ends the day I’m not invited to the orgy,” they spit on the thumping ‘Use It Or Lose It’ - and survival comes second to desire. “If I get murdered I’m sure I’ll only have myself to blame,” Lynks surmises on ‘Sex With A Stranger’, before recommitting to reckless abandon over largely clubby cuts. Closer ‘Flash In The Pan’ - a metaphysical Bleachers-meets-Perfume-Genius 80s synth-pop epic - soon breaks the matrix: suffocating under inevitable mortality and religious judgement, Lynks concludes that these persistent horrors are just as fleeting as bliss, so it’s best to make the most of it. A vintage-future gay epic, ‘Abomination’ is a singular debut and quintessential cultural capsule - of both post-postpunk and gay modernity - from one of the UK’s most fearless off-piste queer acts. Otis Robinson

LISTEN: ‘Flash In The Pan’

 PORIJ

Teething

Play It Again Sam

A lot of the minimalist debut from Manchester-formed, London-based electro-pop outfit Porij owes a debt to UK garage, in the driving drum patterns that lay the foundations for the band’s otherwise breezy melodies. It’s a key component in a largely unclassifiable sound, one that leans into extended builds and select crescendos, and that isn’t afraid to pull itself back to make space for the bigger moments. When they come, they hit hard; not least on the dancefloor-ready ‘You Should Know Me’ or the latter moments of ‘Unpredictable’. Elsewhere, ‘Teething’ sets a gentler pace, bookended by the more musically-reserved ‘Marmite’ and the vocal-led ‘Slow Down’. But even in these moments, vocalist Egg’s words pack a punch. “You don’t stand a fucking chance,” they snarl on the opener’s soon-to-be-iconic spoken word intro, while the album ends with an echoed sigh of melancholic relief: “Finally I’m on my own”. It’s indicative of the confidence that runs through the band’s long-awaited debut, one that paints ‘Teething’ as both the party and the comedown. Ben Tipple

LISTEN: ‘You Should Know Me’



GUSTAF

Package Pt. 2

Royal Mountain

The current post-punk revival wasn’t even particularly new when Gustaf released their debut - ‘Audio Drag For Ego Slobs’ - back in the dark days of 2021. So the fact that three years on, there’s a whole new generation of artists peddling pulsing basslines, insistent drums and a vocal delivery which constantly skims the line between deadpan lecturer and inebriated pub ranter, makes it all the easier for the New Yorkers to get lost in the ever-more-overloaded marketplace. Their sonic angst is at its best when jittery and maniacal; the guitar stabs of ‘Weighing Me Down’ make like a clenched jaw in an impressive manner, while ‘Hard Hair’ might not quite reach punk fury but fizzles with life after its somewhat over-egged preceding partner-in-crime, ‘Here Hair’. Wearing their lineage on their sleeves isn’t necessarily a bad thing - vocalist Lydia Gammill frequently channels all the petulance of early Parquet Courts while making good use of James Murphy’s delivery notes (see ‘Close’) - but all too often the requisite repetitiveness of the band’s chosen style swaps potential earworms for boredom (‘What Does It Mean’, ‘Produce’). Its title suggests a sequel and - much like its cinematic siblings - sequels do a roaring trade of the same, but different and again. Ed Lawson

LISTEN: ‘Close’

 KACEY MUSGRAVES

Deeper Well

Interscope / MCA Nashville

Part way into her sixth studio album, country crossover star Kacey Musgraves compares herself to a palm tree swaying in the wind. “I won’t break,” she croons, “I’ll just bend, and I’ll sway.” It’s a fitting analogy for ‘Deeper Well’; gentler and steadier than the tongue-incheek wordsmithing of mainstream breakthrough ‘Pageant Material’ or the pop sensibilities of the GRAMMYwinning ‘Golden Hour’ and its more subdued follow-up ‘starcrossed’. There’s an altogether calmer atmosphere on display here, that in its beauty forgoes some of the immediacy that characterised her earlier catalogue’s stand-out moments. At its best, ‘Deeper Well’ toys with understated synths and strings, opener ‘Cardinal’ arguably placing the album’s highlight up front. ‘Anime Eyes’ – the most ‘pop’ track on the record – builds to dramatic spoken word in a rare step away from the stable pace. Yet for the most part, ‘Deeper Well’ exists in a state of content bliss, a reset of sorts for an artist whose quick quips and countless soft drug references have been all-but retired. Instead, Kacey opts for warm melodies and silky vocals to lead the charge, as beautiful, calm, and therapeutic as a palm tree swaying in the wind. Ben Tipple

Listen: ‘Cardinal’

Beautiful, calm, and therapeutic.

 BLUE BENDY

So Medieval

The state51 Conspiracy

Blue Bendy are, perhaps more than most, a band suited to the medium of a long-form project. While 2022 EP ‘Motorbike’ did well to whet appetites, providing a four-track taste of the South London six-piece’s really quite considerable sonic range, it was also – by their own admission – slightly claustrophobic in its glut of ideas. Here, though, they face no such constraints, and the result is an album that revels in its scope. Take the nominally-twinned ‘Darp’ and ‘Darp 2 / Exorcism’: the former an undulating, guitar-led number that progresses with the steady power of a swelling wave; the latter an exponential expansion that sees said wave eventually break into a moving and cathartic crescendo. Elsewhere, ‘The Day I Said You’d Died (He Lives)’ and ‘Come On Baby, Dig!’ have futuristic synth flourishes that tint the tracks with experimental pop colours, while ‘Cloudy’ is a six-minute post-rock romp through twinkling keys, abrasive guitars, and choral backing vocals. Lyrically, too, there’s a lot to unpack – grandiose motifs of gods and mortals are punctuated with humour and pop culture (‘I’m Sorry I Left Him To Bleed’’s nod to Kendall Roy a particularly choice reference), and Arthur Nolan’s vocal delivery ranges from tongue-in-cheek (‘Sunny’) to disarmingly confessional (‘Mr Bubblegum’ especially is imbued with a similar unembellished anguish to that of ex-Black Country, New Road frontman Isaac Wood). For all its bombast and ambition, there’s also a keen intimacy to ‘So Medieval’ – it is, fundamentally, a bit of a breakup album - and it’s this tonal contrast which keeps the listener on their toes at every turn. Though the record’s sprawling, complex arrangements and unpredictable time signatures don’t exactly lend themselves to singalongs, Blue Bendy’s debut is one which rewards the time spent with it in spades. Daisy Carter

LISTEN: ‘Darp 2 / Exorcism’

CLOUD NOTHINGS

Final Summer

Pure Noise

For a band best recalled as having recorded with famed non-producer Steve Albini and for bringing a jolt of distortionfuelled riffage into the hazy, anonymised lo-fi new music scape back in the 2010s, that ‘Final Summer’, the eighth full-length from Cloud Nothings, begins with an extended, curiously synth-like intro is likely to take more than a few aback on first listen. It’s a trick, of sorts, the title track eventually making itself known in a more familiar style. Yet - in what becomes a pattern throughout ‘Final Summer’ - Dylan Baldi’s vocals are presented in a somewhat hushed manner, turning what could be a bona fide rock banger (there’s a pep in this chorus, to be sure) into an also-ran. On the numbers that more closely resemble the Cloud Nothings trademark sound - see the melodic ‘Mouse Policy’, or the bright ‘The Golden Halo’ - it’s an ideal fit. But take ‘On The Chain’, for example: a sea of lush, fiery guitar sounds suggests so much, and while Dylan’s delivery is little different - there’s the occasional roar yet, as on ‘I’d Get Along’ - the muted way in which they’re almost hidden makes for a frustrating mismatch. Alex Doyle

LISTEN: ‘The Golden Halo’

 METZ

Up On Gravity Hill Sub Pop

Much like the shadowy rose that adorns the cover of this fifth album from the Canadian noiseniks, ‘Up On Gravity Hill’ is a curious and (eventually) overwhelmingly satisfactory juxtaposition of dark and light. Or to be more specific, heavy and light. Wasting no time as ever, double-headed opener ‘No Reservation / Love Comes Crashing’ is loud, pummelling and pleasantly dissonant, while a bluesy clang trundles by below the surface. A sludgy chug is paired with a soft, almost playground-like chant on ’99’, while in what’s likely a full-circle moment for the sound that made the reputation of METZ’s label, amid the push-pull tension of ‘Entwined (Street Light Buzz)’ sits a guitar lick that wouldn’t seem out of place on Blur’s self-titled (see too, the “na na nas” of ‘Wound Tight’, for that matter). The clever contrast is at its height on closer ‘Light Your Way Home’, where Black Mountain’s Amber Webber joins for the softest vocal line atop the record’s heaviest moment, but perhaps best of all is how direct the whole thing is, typified by ‘Glass Eye’, on which the outfit’s uncompromising sound brings sonic clarity while sporadic backing vocals offer classic ‘90s boyband echoes. A solid record. Alex Doyle

LISTEN: ‘Glass Eye’

METZ drummer Hayden Menzies on the ease of working with longtime pals and pushing punk parameters. Interview: Joe Goggins.

Where were the three of you up to after ‘Atlas Vending’? Did you all jump into different projects for a while?

[Frontman] Alex [Edkins] got into his side project, Weird Nightmare, and [bassist] Chris [Slorach] was scoring for film and TV - he did that Amazon show, The Boys. That was inspiring, to see them step out and do other things to fill that void we feel in the absence of creating together. For me, I was having a hard time getting myself motivated; there were times when I didn’t want to do anything. Eventually, I started painting again, which I’d always done, but in a more serious way; we were all trying to figure out the language that the world was speaking at that moment.

The three of you have known each other since you were really young; by now, is there a mutual creative language between the three of you that makes it easy to settle back into the writing process after a while away? Definitely; it’s quite unique. Like any relationship, it’s not supposed to stay the same - it evolves. It changes shape depending on what the song calls for, which is easy when there’s a lot of mutual respect and admiration. Sometimes Alex will bring us a fully-fledged song and Chris and I will find a way to flesh it out, and others, we’ll just start with a beat or some bass fuzz and that’ll

spark an idea. Either way, we know how to build a record out of it.

The feeling with this record is that you’re operating outside of standard punk parameters; is that something you were pushing for?

It wasn’t a deliberate decision, but I don’t think you ever want to walk the same path over and over. From the inside, we don’t really notice it whilst we’re working; we feel like we’re painting with a few bold colours, but then you find a new shade of blue that you love, and all of a sudden you realise you’re really evolving. I think this record is a lot more accessible in that it’s more beautiful, it’s more textured, there’s more layers for people to sink their teeth into. We don’t want to just drown in feedback all the time, you know?

Alex’s lyrics seem more personal than they’ve ever been this time around; how is it to observe that as somebody who’s been his friend for so many years?

I can’t speak to that content entirely; it’s not my place to say on record what’s literal and what isn’t. What I will say is that there’s a noticeable sort of openness in his words that is really wonderful; it suits the album well. There’s a morbid beauty to it.

APR 02 03 05 06 07 08

BEAVERTOWN FREQUENCIES:

ENOLA GAY + KEO + BODY HORROR

FRESH

FANNY LUMSDEN

FEEL IT

SHOWHAWK DUO

SLOWJAMSWITHA

FAST ANIMALS & SLOW KIDS

KARL BENJAMIN

JAMIE LAWSON

BAYONNE

OLD DIRTY BRASSTARDS:

POP PUNK ON BRASS

FEEL IT

MYKKI BLANCO

FRAN & FLORA

JAKE SCOTT

JERUB

THE LILACS

FEEL IT

HITS DIFFERENT

ALFIE JUKES

THE VELVET HANDS

FEEL IT

DOTAN

X-POSURE LIVE 25:

86TVs + PRIMA QUEEN + CHARTREUSE

HONEYMOAN

MAY

02 03 04 05 07 08 10 13 15 17 19 20 22 23 24 25 26 31

THE FAMILY RAIN

BLUE ROSE CODE

FEEL IT

OLD DIRTY BRASSTARDS: 80s GREATEST HITS ON NEMZZZ

BEAVERTOWN FREQUENCIES: DO NOTHING + HUMAN RESOURCES + ADULT DVD

LYRA

AFFLECK’S PALACE

FEEL IT

SEKOU

RUM JUNGLE

FEEL IT

MYLES SMITH

MYLES SMITH

SARAH JULIA

SAM FISCHER

ROBERT FORSTER

FEEL IT

ROBERT FORSTER

MICK HARVEY

EMMA NOBLE

FEEL IT

 DRAHLA

angeltape

Captured Tracks

Landing five years after their debut, ‘angeltape’ sees Drahla make an intrepid return, cementing their shift to a much darker, tonally rich sound. It’s not without rekindling the best of their former work, though, with familiar existential questions continuing to permeate through avant-garde arrangements; “Until you reach resistance / How can you ever tell?” poses Luciel Brown in the opening line of ‘Under The Glass’. Placing opposing ideas and structures side by side, there’s an enticing juxtaposition that runs throughout the record. ‘Default Parody’ leans into the unfettered experimentalism of frenetic guitars and erratic sax lines, establishing an abstract take on grappling subject matter. Similarly, interspersed vocals emerge between bleary guitars on ‘Second Rhythm’. And while better executed at certain points than others, the band’s varied selection of instrumental textures remains a defining feature; from the riff-driven frenzy of ‘Talking Radiance’ to the minimalist, piano-led touch of ‘Venus’, there’s an inharmonious harmony that pervades. Clocking in at over five minutes, ‘Grief In Phantasia’ provides a decidedly extravagant finale; underpinned by writhing drumbeats and discordant guitars, visceral lyricism flickers between moments of adversity and liberation. An intentionally fervid record, ‘angeltape’ is one of controlled art-rock chaos, making for a turbulent, but equally enthralling, listen. Emily Savage

LISTEN: ‘Grief In Phantasia’

 PILLOW QUEENS

Name Your Sorrow

Royal Mountain

 FLYANA BOSS

This Ain’t The Album EP vnclm_ / Atlantic

With even Missy Elliott backing their TikTok-viral marketing shtick - which involved darting through Disneyland and other locations behind a fisheyeand a supporting slot on Janelle Monáe’s headline tour, Flyana Boss are undoubtedly positioned to be the next big thing. The US duo, comprising Bobbi Taylor and Folayan Kunerede, have stuck to their brand of quirks ever since hip-hop sensation ‘You Wish’ steamrolled through For You pages across the globe, lip-syncing through crowds like a virtual cross-country marathon, elf ears and manic pixie-flouting outfits to boot. Latest EP ‘This Ain’t The Album’ doesn’t pull the pedal from the metal, either: its five brief tracks are indebted to the bombast of Missy and Gwen Stefani and, as a result, never lose momentum. ‘yeaaa’ is a cinematic house party; ‘Stupendous’ bolsters ‘Hollaback Girl’ hip-hop grandiosity; and the bed-creaking ‘Skateboard’ contributes to the industrial legacy of their forebears. Such energetic tracks do feel stifled, mind, by that seemingly mandatory bite-sized TikTok formula, which cuts short any time to settle into the function. But, of course, it lives up to its title‘This Ain’t The Album’ - and is more an hors d’oeuvre while their debut’s still cooking. Otis Robinson

LISTEN: ‘Skateboard’

COMING UP!

A handy lil’ list of albums worth getting excited for.

WALT DISCO

The Warping

The Scottish outfit’s second full-length comes previewed by self-styled “cynical disco banger” ‘You Make Me Feel So Dumb’. Out 14th June.

DUA LIPA Radical Optimism

Arguably it’s easier to be an optimist when you provided this year’s GRAMMYs high point and have a roaring trade in pop bangers. Released 3rd May.

Dublin’s Pillow Queens have never shied away from big melodies. Their 2020 debut paired introspective tales of sexuality and religion with suitably rousing sounds, a feat they repeated with 2022’s ‘Leave The Light On’. Now, their third album in four years, ‘Name Your Sorrow’ makes a huge play for the big leagues, building on what has come before, while pushing the production quality all the way up. Sights have shifted from the dive bars of Ireland’s capital to huge stadiums and festival stages, shown in the emotive build of ‘Blew Up The World’ and ‘The Bar’s Closed’ – the latter arguably the most heart-breaking song of their career to date. Everything here sounds massive: from the rising grandeur of opener ‘February 8th’ to the rallying ‘Heavy Pour’ and the powerful closing track ‘Notes On Worth’. The sheer number of curtain-drop moments is remarkable, somehow never overused or superfluous. There’s a mastery in the songwriting, too: simultaneously gut-wrenching and incredibly cathartic, continuing a thread that has underpinned the band’s material this far. It’s with this beautifully complex blend of emotion that Pillow Queens soar, with ‘Name Your Sorrow’ once again proving the four-piece as some of the best songwriters going. Ben Tipple

LISTEN: ‘Heavy Pour’

Simultaneously gutwrenching and incredibly cathartic.

ALFIE TEMPLEMAN

Radiosoul

With collaborations from the likes of Nile Rodgers (yes, that one) and Dan Carey, the indie pop hero’s second effort may well contain bops. Out 7th June.

CAT BURNS early twenties

The South London singer-songwriter’s long-awaited debut follows recent singles ‘know that you’re not alone’ and ‘alone’ and will hit shelves on 12th July.

celebrating in 2024 with

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LIVE

No exaggeration, this is one of the finest shows we’ve ever witnessed.

RAYE The O2, London

Photos: Jean Yuzheng Zhang

It’s impossible to imagine - watching RAYE flit masterfully between endearing conversational intimacy and mind-blowing, dramatic vocal prowess - how any label execs could possibly have failed to acknowledge the potential of the singer standing front and centre of the O2 Arena tonight.

Not two weeks since the 26-year-old graced the same stage, making history with a record-breaking six BRIT Award wins in one night, the singer born Rachel Keen’s return is an equally momentous one. Backed by the Heritage Orchestra and a full gospel choir, tiered up the stage to reach her name glimmering in old-school Hollywood lights, tonight’s outing - entitled My 21st Century Symphony - is a show that raises the bar in terms of class, charm, and sheer skill. It’s a masterclass, not least during a second-half version of ‘Buss It Down’, when RAYE splits the crowd into sections to teach them a multipart harmony - the sort of slightly time-consuming, slightly nerdy exercise that could have sunk like a lead balloon were it not for the force of charisma leading from the stage.

An orchestral reworking of debut album ‘My 21st Century Blues’ that puts RAYE’s staggering range and vocal dexterity at the fore, it casts the singer as a closer successor to Amy Winehouse than any of her British R&B forebears; bringing a classic sensibility to these extremely raw, extremely personal tales of addiction, body dysmorphia and abuse, the way that RAYE fuses modern anxieties with timeless musicality is inspired. Trilling into octaves that Mariah Carey would struggle with, and adding rousing, choir-backed depth to the likes of ‘The Thrill Is Gone’ (which also receives its own instrumental ‘Requiem’), there are countless moments when the audience are left breaking into impromptu mid-song cheers at the sheer virtuoso performance of it all.

At others, such as a hugely emotional ‘Ice Cream Man’ - a song about her experiences of sexual abuse - you can hear a pin drop.

“This song reminds me to be strong and it reminds me to be loud,” she begins, sitting at the piano and becoming visibly, justifiably emotional. Indeed, throughout the evening, it’s RAYE’s wildly endearing, open personality that steers the show into truly one-off territory. From the night’s first moments, during which she takes off her jewellery to stop the rattling feeling awkward (“I know this isn’t what a professional does,” she laughs), to pre-song stories detailing the struggles behind them, via an attempt to learn people in the back row’s names by a frankly ridiculous game of audience Chinese whispers, she somehow makes the O2 Arena feel like an intimate gathering - albeit one with a 40 piece orchestra nuzzled behind her.

At this point, RAYE has already proved several times over that her previous label struggles were in no way indicative of her own talent. Following her BRITs triumph, her star is bound to continue to ascend even higher. But tonight goes one further, suggesting that RAYE might not just be a true star of the moment, but the kind of once-in-a-generation artist that could transcend even her current meteoric buzz.

Lisa Wright

GOSSIP

Victoria Warehouse, Manchester

It’s been four years since Gossip last played in the UK, and frontwoman Beth Ditto is desperately trying to hold back the tears. A moment’s glance to the side of the stage sets her off as she explains her connection to the UK in her friendly Southern American tone, shouting out her Stoke-on-Trent family in a remarkably successful Midlands accent. It’s one of many anecdotal breaks in a set - played as part of BBC 6 Music’s annual festivalthat sacrifices several songs in favour of Beth’s personality, one that both her long-time collaborators and newest band members have evidently come to understand.

Beth cuts new track ‘Give It Up For Love’ short, admitting she can’t remember the song’s lyrics. She throws an impromptu rendition of Dolly Parton’s ‘9 to 5’ into the energetic ‘Real Power’ as the track’s words fail to materialise, and a particularly punchy cover of Yazoo’s ‘Situation’ sees a live collaboration with Alison Moyet restarted as Beth attempts to regain her composure. It’s a mess by all accounts, but a beautiful one. There’s an effervescent mastery in Beth and band’s ability to carry on regardless, in a performance that sits somewhere between a vibrant jam session and an all-out party.

“It’s not about being subversive,” Beth declares with a certain defiant softness as she removes her pink flowing dress part way into recent single ‘Act of God’, “it’s about being comfortable.” Sometime later, standing in her underwear, she explains that “larger people sometimes get hot”. It’s this comfort

and self-security that underpins the exuberant delivery of the show’s thirteen tracks, and that ultimately swings the entire performance from a potential shambles to a thrilling celebration. In a moment of pure admiration, Beth quickly dons a black dress for Alison Moyet’s appearance, stripping it off immediately afterwards as fast as it came on.

The balance of respect and confidence plays out throughout the hour, Beth pinpointing the exact moments to dial up her enigmatic ‘fuck it’ attitude. She expresses how the UK has been both lovely and ugly to the band, and in among the unashamed punk attitude that flows throughout the band’s dancefloor ready bangers, she seems genuinely and unequivocally thankful.

It all comes to a head at the very end, as Beth turns to drummer Hannah Blilie to be told they only have one final track left. Surprised, and presumably scrapping a number of prepared songs, Beth faces the audience for a quick quip over what song it may be. The unmistakable opening riff of ‘Standing In The Way Of Control’ rings out, and the stage is invaded by a plethora of scantily clad, body-positive, placard wielding guests of all genders, mirroring the track’s early activism against a bill that threatened to end single-sex unions. It’s as beautifully chaotic and as brilliantly poignant as the rest of tonight’s performance, and a crowning moment on an evening that immediately places Gossip right back where they belong. Ben Tipple

THE SMILE Hammersmith Apollo, London

Photos: Burak Cingi

Across two albums, released in quick succession barely 18 months apart, The Smile’s MO has seemed to be as a place for its main protagonists - Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood - to do their thing free from the pressures that come with fronting one of the world’s most revered bands. Where some side projects operate as spaces for all the flights of fancy that could never align with the day job, The Smile is more like Radiohead’s instinctive, cheekier younger sibling; the two bands are very audibly related but, as tonight’s Hammersmith Apollo show underlines, there’s a sense of freedom and looseness here that proves fertile ground away from their most famous outlet.

Which is not to say that this tour, in support of January’s ‘Wall of Eyes’, is exactly free of expectation. From the moment the band, completed by drummer Tom Skinner and guest saxophonist Robert Stillman, step on stage 10 minutes late, there’s a tangible sense of gravitas in the room. There’s no chatter from the crowd, no mingling towards the bar; attempts to squeeze out to the toilet are greeted like a personal affront on those being asked to minutely move. But for all the pin-drop concentration of the crowd in front of him, Yorke looks like he’s having genuine fun, leading the group through a setlist that reaches far into cross-genre experimentation but also, often, just hits direct and hard.

With four CCTV-like screens lined up above a bombardment of intensity-amping LEDs, each is trained on an area of the stage as Yorke and Greenwood move between guitars, bass, pianos and synths. ‘Wall of Eyes’’ title track opens the set with bare-bones enveloping intimacy, the singer’s strange croon immediate and inimitable, while ‘A Hairdryer’ utilises Skinner’s skittish jazz percussion to amp up the lyrical paranoia.

Stillman’s sax begins unreleased new song ‘Instant Psalm’ with a brightness that unfolds into a fulsome, mid-tempo meditation. Early singles ‘The Smoke’ and ‘You Will Never Work In Television Again’ are delivered back-to-back, the former a creeping, insidious thing; the latter, a gnarly, sneering guitar assault. A highlight comes in the tender pianos of ‘Friend of a Friend’ - complete with Yorke-instigated crowd singalong, while the epic, eight-minute ‘Bending Hectic’ closes the main body of the set with a searing crescendo.

Though there’s no particular stage chat, the odd few words aside, he and Greenwood seem enlivened by the whole operation. In comparison to festival headlines and arenas, these relatively mid-sized rooms, you imagine, must feel like a chance to cut loose and have fun. By all metrics, they succeed on both counts. Lisa Wright

SET LIST

Wall Of Eyes

The Opposite A Hairdryer

Speech Bubbles Colours Fly

Skrting On The Surface

Instant Psalm

Waving A White Flag

Thin Thing

Zero Sum

Friend Of A Friend

Read The Room

The Smoke

You Will Never Work In Television Again

Under Our Pillows

Bending Hectic

Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses

Teleharmonic

Pana-Vision

You Know Me!

Captivating with a meaty, masterful arrival.

BLEACHERS

Kentish Town Forum, London

Photos: Emma Swann

IIn recent years, much has been said of Jack Antonoff’s success as a producer to pop’s elite, but it’s within the live shows of his primary project Bleachers that it really feels as though you get a more meaningful sense of the man behind the desk.

Tonight, at Kentish Town’s Forum, marks the opening night of his From The Studio To The Stage tour, and he certainly lives up to that promise; the floor is decked out in blackand-white checkerboard, while the set-up itself feels to mirror the creative corners of a retro recording studio, via something akin to the The Ed Sullivan Show. Above the band’s heads, a sign reading ‘Recording: Studio In Use’ glows at certain intervals, completing the cosplay and adding a cleverly intimate backdrop to the whole thing, all with a cheeky wink to his notable day job.

Doubling as one of the first headline shows in support of their newly-released self titled fourth album, it’s unsurprising that the set is dominated by newer songs, with the live setting amping up some of the more subtle details of the record’s opening trio: ‘I Am Right On Time’, ‘Modern Girl’ and ‘Jesus Is Dead’. It’s when their older material gets an airing, however, that the throng of dedicated

fans - and Jack himself - really burst into life, with the frontman throwing himself off surfaces, standing atop his piano stool, and rushing around the stage to jam with various band members while the atmosphere lights up around them.

There’s a zippy energy here that only really comes to the fore during Bleachers’ live shows, and proves Jack to be just as qualified a performer as producer. The swooning rush of ‘Everybody Loves Somebody’ into the ‘Hunky Dory’-ish ‘Goodmorning’ are a delight, while the unmistakably Springsteen warmth of ‘Chinatown’ - Bleachers’ only song to feature The Boss himself - comes dedicated to Jack’s home of New Jersey, after a particularly vocal group of New Jersey fans make themselves known in the crowd. Even a mid-set rendition of his ‘Strange Desire’ hit ‘Rollercoaster’ manages to whip up the kind of giddiness normally only reserved for encores and final hits, before the perfectly choreographed chaos of ‘You’re Still A Mystery’ (complete with band introductions) gets lifted straight from the E Street Band playbook to dazzling effect. A show that feels to embody the magic of both sides of his musical life, but with a good dose of irreverent fun to boot, tonight is a joyful thing to behold.

Sarah Jamieson

VENUE: VERA IN GRONINGEN

I was thinking about an outing that’s kind of brief because I don’t want to spend a whole day at a festival and Vera is the best venue we’ve ever played; it’s so cool. Everything is DIY, everything is made in-house - they do the posters and they have a little lodge for the bands to sleep in that’s cute and comfortable and clean.

HEADLINER: BEASTIE BOYS

I’ve never seen them but I kind of learned how to speak English through their ‘Anthology’. I used to memorise the lyrics so I could sing them on the school break and I thought people would see me singing and be impressed but nobody cared about me lip synching to ‘Intergalactic’.

SUPPORT ACTS: NINE INCH NAILS AND NAOMI EKPERIGIN

I’m kind of figuring out that Nine Inch Nails are a band for teenagers, because only teenagers would be super impressed by “I wanna fuck you like an animal”. Only teenagers would think that’s super badass. Then, Naomi is so funny so I’d want her to do one hour of stand-up. I’m always watching her - she’s not that big but I wish she was bigger so that’s why she’s on the line-up. Would she get on with Nine Inch Nails? Well Trent - he’s not screaming charisma is he, he never did… But maybe she would!

OPENER: A FASHION SHOW

I want a 30-40 minute fashion show featuring the first year class of a local fashion college. I want the first year to present it because the first year people are more daring

and they have less commercial implications in their creations so it’s more like club kids and it’s full of audacity. I love that.

WHO ARE YOU GOING WITH?

Maybe CSS could play something so then me and the girls could all be there. I want to take my boyfriend ‘cos he’s so cool and fun. I’d love it if Leonard Cohen was there - I once wrote a letter for him thanking him for all the hard work that I never mailed and I regret that. Also Betsy Johnson, the designer.

WHAT ARE YOU DRINKING?

I’m very sorry to say that it’s kombucha! I love kombucha! It’s a cliche that after a certain age, if you drink you feel like shit and I don’t like feeling like shit so I barely drink these days.

WHAT ARE YOUR PRE-GIG PLANS?

This show is starting early and ending at 6pm so we get in in time to have dinner and sleep early, so before the gig maybe we’d have a brunch. If I have to come back too late, I don’t even go out.

IS THERE AN AFTER PARTY?

There’s no afterparty. Done by 6pm, home by 6.15pm, it’s a wrap!

ANY ADDITIONAL EXTRAS?

OK wait, there’s not enough female presence at this festival so Elastica will be playing the album with the mouth [2000’s ‘The Menace’] and

Garbage will be playing the pink album with the feathers [1995’s self-titled]. I don’t want the other bands, but keep the kombucha.

CSS tour the UK in June. Tickets are on sale now.