DIY, September 2023

Question!

SARAH JAMIESON

Managing Editor

Considering I’ve never actually lived in Leeds, the fact I managed to spend so much time at The Cockpit for Slam Dunk on a Tuesday, or Garage on a Saturday is really quite amazing. What an emo-licious time to be alive it was!

EMMA SWANN

Founding E ditor

Milton Keynes’ long-lost Bar

Central was formative for me in ways I wouldn’t comprehend at the time, with its £1.50 snakebite and black and thoroughly unpretentious music policy that spanned all the way from Marilyn Manson (it was a long time ago!) to Menswear.

LISA WRIGHT

Features Editor

Huge shout out to Candybox with its £1 spirit and mixers, leopard print foor and

Editor's Letter

genuinely excellent indie policy but obviously, having run a clubnight (Antidotes RIP) for seven years, my heart belongs spinning bangers at the Old Blue Last.

LOUISE MASON

Art Director

Some deeply rural highlights include a divine spot called the Chicken Shed, in the rugby club car park, and a gruesome biker pub in the middle of the Yorkshire Moors with a rave garage and little regard for underage licensing laws.

DAISY CARTER

Digital Editor

Indie Wednesdays at Nottingham’s beloved Bodega was the night of choice for all the city's nosepierced, tote bag-wielding students - either that or Pop Confessional, where you got a free shot if you ‘confessed’ something to the resident priest / bartender.

Listening Post

HAIM - THE WIRE

For well over a decade now, James Blake has been an instrumental force in electronic music but it’s in 2023 that the GRAMMY and Mercury Prize-winning artist is making a return to his roots. In this issue, we’re thrilled to have James on the cover for the frst time, to dive into his forthcoming sixth album ‘Playing Robots into Heaven’ and what it means to be returning to his love of club culture.

He’s not the only one fnding solace on the dancefoor. We also catch up with The xx’s Romy, as she preps the release of her frst solo LP, while elsewhere, we celebrate the return of Speedy Ortiz, dig into the new emo world of yeule, and things get a bit larger-thanlife with new supergroup FIZZ. Plus we get frst word from both Declan McKenna and Marika Hackman on what’s coming next for them. Turn the page and get stuck in…

Sarah Jamieson, Managing Editor

As HAIM take to the stage at O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their iconic debut 'Days Are Gone', we’re reliving the halcyon days of 2013 in all their glory.

THE KILLS - GOD GAMES

Fresh off the back of their dual singles last month, The Kills’ will once again be offering up their gnarly wares with new album ‘God Games’ next month. Primarily writing on the piano for the frst time ever, the follow-up to 2016’s ‘Ash & Ice’ is sure to push the boundaries of their propulsive sound into a whole new space.

VIJI - SO VANILLA

Cherry picking infuences from 90s shoegaze to contemporary alt-pop, Viji's debut full length 'So Vanilla' is anything but. The product of two years worth of writing, she worked with storied producer Dan Carey to craft a project packed full of favour.

Scan the Spotify code to listen.

James Blake has been returning to his roots with his club night CMYK - but which dancefoors were staples of Team DIY's youths?

Coach Party by Ed Miles (page 38)

This is your Scarlett

The new Scarlett 4th Gen is the DIY audio interface for music makers.

Featuring Pixey

Your future in music starts now.

Contributors: Angelika May, Bella Martin, Ben Tipple, Brad Sked, Ed Miles, Emma Wilkes, Emily Savage, Gemma Samways, Ims Taylor, Jack Terry, James Hickey, James Smurthwaite, Joe Goggins, Katie Macbeth, Luke Morgan Britton, Max Pilley, Neive McCarthy, Otis Robinson, Sean Kerwick.

‘Zeros’ to Hero

“Music isn’t something you can just regiment yourself into doing the ‘right way’.”

From a young indie troubadour unafraid to get political to a ‘70s maximalist maverick, Declan McKenna has always existed slightly to the left of his contemporaries. With his forthcoming third album, he’s shrugging off expectations and stripping things back.

Words: Daisy Carter. Photos: Riley Donahue.

ouring, as it turns out, is not conducive to a healthy sleeping pattern. That’s certainly not something you need to tell Declan McKenna, who’s chatting to DIY via Zoom ahead of a latenight afterparty performance at Chicago’s Lollapalooza. “When you’re playing shows like that, I can barely get to bed - that’s my problem,” he explains. “It’s why people end up just drinking so much, because it’s so hard to actually wind down.”

Although still only 24, Declan speaks with pragmatism and a sort of worldly wisdom; slightly incongruous with his Hawaiian print shirt and messy mullet, but perhaps unsurprising, given he released breakout hit ‘Brazil’ in 2015 and has been working ever since. “I’ve been on tour since I was a teenager, so I’ve learned a few lessons,” he smiles. “It’s like, ‘Oh, you’re 17? We’re going to pay you in Stella’. It seems like most new bands - at least those coming out of the UK - have a similar issue, and they don’t realise that it’s just completely unsustainable to drink every night.” These days, Declan might try and unwind offstage with a book or a flm (Pete Doherty, eat your heart out), but more often than not, he’ll end up “working on a song or playing some music” - neither of which, he explains, are exactly slumber-inducing.

From these stolen moments, however, come ideas - to tweak a chord here, or add a beat there. Years on the road touring debut album ‘What Do You Think About the Car?’ and 2020’s ‘Zeros’ have given him ample opportunity to re-evaluate some of his earlier material. “We’ve worked on a few of the older moments that I know people want to hear, but which aren’t necessarily ftting into the current world,” he elaborates. “[There are] songs like ‘Paracetamol’ from the frst album, which had fallen out of favour because it felt aesthetically a little static compared to what was going on with the ‘Zeros’ tour.” But the indie kids can rest easy - he’s no Thom Yorke, declining to play fan favourites precisely because of their popularity. There’s now “a new version of [‘Paracetamol’] which feels right”, while ‘Brazil’ remains “one of the least revamped songs”.

As for the aforementioned “current world,” at the moment it exists as a hybrid between the eclectic indie pop of his debut and the glam-rock space cadet he became with ‘Zeros’. But with recent single ‘Sympathy’ pointing to yet another sonic shift, how will Album Three broaden these horizons? Put simply, it won’t. Or rather, it’s set to see Declan narrow his focus as opposed to aiming for “the hugest point that I can imagine a song

Tgoing”, as with second album track ‘Be An Astronaut’.

“Just for a little bit there, towards the end of doing the frst album, I started to feel a bit like, ‘Oh I have to take this really seriously now’,” he explains. “But music doesn’t work like that - it’s not something you can just regiment yourself into doing the ‘right way’. Creativity doesn’t present itself by beating your head against it; it’s more about fnding ways that you enjoy it and trusting that something good will come of it.” With LP3, then, he’s not forcing himself to reinvent the wheel for the sake of it, but just rolling with wherever it takes him.

Having worked on the record with producer Gianluca Buccellati (Arlo Parks, Lana Del Rey) in LA, Declan explains that “the core of each [new] song is somewhat simpler, but I’ve almost put the energy that I was putting into the classic songwriting side into the production. I think we were a nice pairing in that way: that was kind of where I was going with the album, but I maybe didn’t have the complete assuredness and confdence to just do it.” For someone that’s always had a particular Britishness to his sound - foregrounding his Enfeld accent, or latterly channelling the likes of Bowie and Marc Bolan - LA might seem like a world removed. Why record there? “I fnd just being in a new environment inspires you,” he shrugs. “There are people [in LA] who are so open to collaborating and it’s so great, but it really felt like the furthest thing from actually home to me.”

Though conceived in London and brought to life in California, the new album’s visual world isn’t grounded in either but instead injected with a certain liminality.

Take the video for ‘Sympathy’, which was shot on location at East Sussex’s Camber Sands beach and features, among other things, some suspiciously friendly seagulls. “I felt like it had to be beachy and summery, but also with this idea of an infnite, placeless plane,” he says, explaining the various references he and friends Henry Pearce and Jake Passmore drew on when devising the video’s concept. He continues: “The stuff we’ve been inspired by has made us want to make something that lacks a really specifc place identity.” It’s a mission that also found them shooting the lead single’s artwork in the most unlikely of places.

“Henry has had dreams about the disused penguin pool at London Zoo since he was a child,” Declan says casually. “Back in the day, they had amazing Art Deco buildings which were beautiful, but just absolutely not where a penguin should live.” Rightand this is somewhere that you can now hire out for music-related shenanigans? He puts a fnger to his lips before grinning. “Well…

’Gram on the

These days, even yer gran is posting selfes on Instagram. Instagran, more like. Everyone has it now, including all our fave bands. Here’s a brief catch-up on music’s fnest photo-taking action as of late.

Harry Styles did for his ‘As It Was’ music video, but Henry’s been dreaming about this place for years, so that’s why we shot there.”

Throughout Declan’s soon-to-be tripartite discography, this is the core throughline - that he drives the creative concepts, whether they be inspired by a quintessential English coastline or, er, former Antarctic animal enclosures. “I have to be very involved in decisions, otherwise things get away from you,” he says, explaining that rare days off are often spent catching up on email admin. “This is one of my big music industry lessons - if you don’t have control over things going out under your name, you’re a stone’s throw away from them becoming absolutely fucking nothing like you wanted it to be.”

Devoid of ego but quietly confdent in his vision, third time around Declan is letting go of any preconceived notions about the type of music he ‘should’ be making, and is instead just enjoying himself. “There are songs [on it] that almost feel like a bit of a joke,” he laughs, “stuff that I think is really good, that I think really slaps, but that I would have never put on another one of my albums because I would’ve thought it wasn’t a serious song.” Older and wiser (well, relatively speaking), Declan McKenna is happy to trust his instincts; after all, they’ve got him this far. The only thing he might need tips on now? How to get some much-needed shut-eye. DIY

We’ve heard of building a shrine to your favourite band but this feels a bit excessive… (@phoebebridgers)

FIZZ proving that the secret to life really is just good underwear. (@yourfavebandfzz)

Paramore guitarist Taylor York has undergone quite the transformation during their recent tour. (@yelyahwilliams)

Spotted

Jules from The Big Moon dressed as a Green Man postie, Happy Valley villain James Norton bopping away to Haim at All Points East, Sports Team’s Alex Rice watching The Strokes in London and then appearing at Reading Fest the next day, Kyle from Bastille rushing down Tooting High Street.

“There are songs [on it] that almost feel like a bit of a joke.”

Four years on from the raunchy throb of ‘Any Human Friend’, the Londoner is preparing a fourth LP that pulls together the threads of all that’s come before and fnds power in the smaller moments.

Words: Lisa Wright.

There’s nothing like a prolonged period of anxious self-

refection to really kill your lyrical boner. When Marika Hackman released third LP ‘Any Human Friend’ back in 2019, she ushered in an era of overt and proudly vocal sexuality; one that found her “kissing and fucking” her way through a record full of thirsty missives and equally direct, guitar-centric hooks, held together by an aesthetic of power suits and dominant energy. “I wasn’t running around with my hand down my pants for two years,” she laughs now, sat in a London Fields cafe, a stone’s throw from the studio where she’s spent much of the last year. “But I was obviously just feeling super bold, and in touch with myself and free.”

She was somewhat lucky with the timing of the release; by March 2020, Hackman had already fnished the bulk of her planned touring schedule, including a headline at Kentish Town Forum - her biggest hometown show to date. But though

“

This time round, it still has to be better but I don’t think bigger necessarily means better.”

In The Studio with... MARIKA HACKMAN

logistically she was in the clear, the following years affected her in their own way. Taking her frst real break since she frst began nearly a decade ago, she jokes that she “didn’t lose much from that campaign, but then I did lose my ability to write music”. “So that set me back a bit,” she adds, in a deadpan.

During lockdown, she spent a lot of time at her parents’ house in the Hampshire countryside. She paused and sat with “the private side of [herself]”. As a stopgap to maintain a sense of creativity, she set about recording 2020’s ‘Covers’ release - ten reimaginings of tracks from artists as wildly diverse as Grimes, Elliott Smith and Beyoncé. She credits the process - of getting to “the guts” of the songs and allowing herself to experiment with production without the need to purge herself of her own thoughts immediately - as slowly easing her back into the game. “Moving on from that,” she nods, “I managed to sit down and be a bit more disciplined and make a start.”

Naturally by this point, however, it was not the horny, hyper-bold narrator of ‘Any Human Friend’ that was returning to the table. She speaks of the childhood nostalgia that came from spending an extended period of time at home, and how she began to see it as directly at odds with much of her adult experience. “I have chronic anxiety and, because I didn’t have it as a kid, I very much see my childhood as this quiet, pastoral scene and then my late teens into adulthood as this gnawing, industrial, monstrous thing,” she begins.

And so, beginning work on LP4, the idea of these two extremes began to translate their way in sonically. “I knew when I was some way through the process that I wanted it to feel really raw but cinematic at the same time. I wanted to get this rub of industrial sound as well as something really organic,” she continues. “That rub, it’s also maybe a symbol for the rub between childhood and adulthood and the way you can get quite heavily launched into adulthood. It’s a lot, whereas there’s something so sun-dappled about being a kid…”

Where the constant cycle of release, tour, release, tour since she was barely out of her teens had inadvertently triggered a snowball effect - “Or like, Pacman: more, more, more. [Where every album] has to be bigger and better,” she suggests - the time away had also given her perspective on her own trajectory a shake up. “This time round, it still has to be better but I don’t think bigger necessarily means better.”

Written and recorded over a two and a half year period, the album instead is an exploration of dynamics - both musical and personal. Aside from the ‘Covers’ release, LP4 marks the frst time that Hackman has been credited as primary producer, with additional input from Sam Petts-Davies (Warpaint, Thom Yorke) and Charlie Andrews, who recorded her 2015 debut ‘We Slept At Last’. And just as this move points to a new confdence in her own abilities, there’s a quiet yet robust assertiveness to the way the musician speaks about her new material that’s just as bold as her previous work, but in a very different way.

Where her debut introduced a singer-songwriter who would often wrongly fnd herself labelled as ‘introverted’ (“I think sometimes people misconstrue me being quieter, but I’ve always been a confdent person,” she notes), 2017’s ‘I’m Not Your Man’ arrived almost as a direct middle fnger, complete with burgeoning bravado and indie-rock hooks, before ‘Any Human Friend’ squashed any accusations of shyness once and for all. Her newest, she says, fnds a space where she can tie all these facets of herself into a whole. “To me, this record has the quietness of

my frst album and that close to the surface feeling, but it has the abrasiveness and the sass of my second and third - it’s all there, instead of picking one direction.

“There’s still one lusty track, but it’s kind of dark; it’s like body horror in the way it’s presented,” she continues. “The start of mine and my partner’s relationship was quite diffcult and pissed a lot of people off, and there’s a fall out from that - the idea of falling in love with someone, but also it’s causing chaos. Then the bulk of the record is quite refective: there’s stuff about the breakdown of former relationships, and the way I’ve been viewed by other people and the way I've viewed myself. There are instrumentals that are really very musical moments of refection to let your brain pause and settle, and stuff about panic attacks, and sonically there are big grungy bangers, and tiny little acoustic songs…”

Hackman stops herself with a laugh, aware that she’s just listed enough qualities to fll about fve albums in one. But having revelled in the persona that she’d leaned into on her last release, on her newest the MO is clearly in breaking that all down and exploring the multitudes and intricacies of simply being herself. “Maybe it was harder because there was less of a part to be played; there were no scripts to follow that I'd created for myself,” she muses on the last few years. “But I feel like this record took me on a journey; I was trying to grapple with it and take the reins, and I fnally managed to contain it by the end.” DIY

“I see my childhood as this quiet, pastoral scene and then my late teens into adulthood as this gnawing, industrial, monstrous thing.”

86TVs DIYin deep BROTHERS IN ARMS

DIYin deep

“I was so devastated [when The Maccabees ended]. I thought I wasn’t going to fnd anything ever to replace that.” - Felix White

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

Four musicians. Three brothers. Two ex-Maccabees. One long in the making debut single. Put the maths together, and you get the birth of 86TVs.

Words: Lisa Wright. Photos: Louise Mason.

If you’ve found yourself wandering the streets of Wandsworth over the last six years, you might have spotted a couple of familiar faces also strolling through the area. No big deal; two brothers hanging out is hardly a reason to stop the presses unless they’ve got a Gallagher-shaped silhouette. But, as it turns out, these particular brothers - former Maccabees guitarists Felix and Hugo White - aren’t just fans of the South West London postcode. Alongside youngest sibling (and touring Maccabees member) Will, and ex-Noisettes drummer Jamie Morrison, they’ve been squirrelling away on their next musical move, and now they’re fnally powering up and switching on 86TVs.

Today, the quartet are gathered across the river in Shoreditch for their frst proper chat about the new band. They’ve been slowly gearing up over the past twelve months, taking their wares on the road via a series of baptism-of-fre debut shows opening up for longterm pal Jamie T and, more recently, a batch of summer festival slots. This week, however, marks the release of their frst single ‘Worn Out Buildings’ - a rousing, heart-on-sleeve purge of communal catharsis - via new label Parlophone, and the point when the brothers step back fully into the musical ring once more.

It’s not that they’ve really been away; Felix has spent the years starting YALA! Records and carving out a career as a cricket podcaster and author that’s likely made him more well-known than ever, whilst Hugo has produced music for the aforementioned Mr. T, Matt Maltese and more. But there’s a tangible sense speaking to all four of the band that, whilst their other activities have served them well, this is the moment they’ve spent the last half-decade waiting for.

“For a long time, we didn’t know how it was gonna feel because we didn’t play any shows while we made the music; we kept ourselves to ourselves,” begins Hugo. “But I feel closer to how we felt starting bands when we were young. It’s like going back to the roots, carrying our amps and plugging in just before we go on, and playing shows with all that energy that you do lose over time as a band gets bigger.”

“We’re brothers so we’re always going to be linked in some way,” gestures Felix. “But the fact that we were doing this secret thing, pouring time out of our own free will into it; the fact that Jamie saw there was something in it that was worth doing it for; it was a big deal. I’m not sure many other people would have gone for nearly seven years, three times a week, just to see where it lands. But now it’s coming true in the shows.”

The Maccabees, as the history books will remember, ended at the peak of their powers. Announcing the split following their frst Number One album and a graduation to festival headlining status, the news came out of the blue and predicted by no one. Even with so much

distance, there’s an emotional weight to the way Felix remembers the time. “I was so devastated,” he admits. “I thought I wasn’t going to fnd anything ever to replace that, and I used to worry about it before - what would I do if The Maccabees ended? - so it felt really apocalyptic.

“The cool thing about it was, having grown up with the mythology of bands, now we were inside the ‘band that’s breaking up’ story,” he notes with a chuckle. “It felt like a flm, and leaving it at that mark was a very good end to that flm, doing it at the height and harnessing all that feeling from a bunch of people who were the same age that were saying goodbye to a certain part of their lives as we were saying goodbye to ours. That was a powerful thing to experience. But I defnitely felt like, how are you meant to turn up six months later and be like, ‘Come and check out my new thing’? It was too big. So there had to be a lot of living frst.”

And so, 86TVs began in the smallest way possible. Initially, the three brothers would simply turn up to the same room and play together for the fun of it. Then, having previously met Jamie when The Maccabees and The Noisettes were both supporting Bloc Party on a US tour, they crossed paths again and invited him round to see what would happen. “The frst minute he started playing, he literally stopped, put his drum sticks down and said, ‘Can I just say, this is really enjoyable, and I love the way you’re communicating with each other and I feel really good here.’ He’d been playing for under a minute,” laughs Felix. “It just felt right

DIYin deep

and pure,” shrugs the drummer - a naturally zen presence sat between the siblings. “I’ve noticed, when you don’t have those intentions, it goes wrong. So with this [project], I knew it always had to be pure and real because I want it to go right.”

Settled as a quartet, they spent the following year making instrumental tracks, and then more time writing songs that developed with lyrics; they recorded tracks, and then scrapped them and then wrote some more. With a wealth of prior experience behind them, they decided not to use their preexisting connections and fanbase as a shortcut but to really, properly do the work - fnding out through trial and error what sort of band they wanted to be; discovering how this particular confguration would knit together as musicians; fnding their voice as a unit. Crucially, it was the latter notion that would prove the key.

“We didn’t know who the singer was going to be and we didn’t know how to focus this fucking thing,” begins Will. “That was the worry: how the hell does this become a band instead of just three random singers?” “The penny literally hadn’t dropped until we were several years into this process that, if we sing together, it sounds like one voice and a group at the same time,” continues Felix. “It had never occurred to us that, as siblings, that was a kind of superpower.”

‘Worn Out Buildings’ is out now via Parlophone. Read the full feature at diymag.com/86TVs. DIY

SOFT PLAY Punk’s Dead

Laurie Vincent and Isaac Holman are back under a brand new moniker, and boy, how we’ve missed them. ‘Punk’s Dead’ - this month’s returning comeback - is a scorching number that swiftly eviscerates any and all of the so-called musos that criticised the duo for their recent name change. Taking direct lyrical inspiration from such online comments (“I thought you were it / Turns out you’re just another couple of overly-emotional pricks”), the track is the pair as we’ve come to know and love them: dynamic, punchy, and full of self-aware humour. Accompanied by a similarly tongue-in-cheek video which sees the SOFT PLAY boys get beaten up on a bouncy castle - as well as a bizarre, brilliant cameo from Robbie Williamsthis is punk for the internet age.

(Daisy Carter)

HAVE YOU HEARD?

FRED AGAIN.. FT. OBONGJAYAR adore u

SIGRID The Hype

Doubling as her frst new material since the release of last year’s ‘How To Let Go’, Sigrid has returned with another glistening and buoyant slice of pop, this time grappling with feelings of doubt and imposter syndrome. “Tell me, did you ever love me? Honestly, did I live up to the hype?” goes the sparkling, euphoriadoused chorus, in what quickly becomes an empowering reminder to trust in yourself frst and foremost.

(Sarah Jamieson)

A release that will already be familiar to the throngs of people worshipping at the altar of Fred again.. this summer, ‘adore u’ is a favourite from the producer's live sets and his frst release since being named a shortlisted artist for this year’s Mercury Prize. Dedicated to Fred’s sister, the track ebbs and fows from bubbling electronics that build into a beat-heavy crescendo. Meanwhile, Obongjayar’s sampled vocals bring a warmth to the track that fully realises the sentiment behind its titular refrain - one which you can guarantee will be shouted between intoxicated friends in festival felds and crowded clubs for months to come. (Daisy Carter)

MYKKI BLANCO Holidays In The Sun

Less ‘bougie beach trip to Santorini’ and more ‘sweaty summer sesh’, the frst track from Mykki Blanco’s upcoming ‘Postcards From Italia’ EP wants you to pack your bags and hop aboard a train marked ‘90s Eurodance. All pounding beats and warped, repetitive vocals, there’s something so unashamedly clichéd about Mykki's requests to “love you so crazy” and “make love under the sun” that it’s almost like a spoofy, saucy rerun of Eurotrash come to life. Cheeky, campy and altogether not that deep, ‘Holidays in the Sun’ actually fts the remit rather well. (Lisa Wright)

ANOTHER SKY Burn The Way

Following on from their recent double-headed return in the form of ‘Psychopath’ and ‘A Feeling’, Another Sky have shared another grungy but epic track in the form of ‘Burn The Way’. Inspired by the complicated and frustrating conversations currently unfurling around the climate crisis, the quartet manage to channel the anger and fear that swirls around these ever-pressing issues, and transform those emotions into something sonically cathartic. (Sarah Jamieson)

“If you’ve not got ID, you’re not coming in.”

WINTER TOUR 2023

FESTIVALS

Having packed away our tents and put away our wellies after another brilliant summer, it’s now time for something a little different. As we begin to cast our sights towards the new year, it’s time for a hefty dose of new talent, courtesy of Reeperbahn Festival…

THE CITY KIDS

Reeperbahn

20th - 23rd September Various venues, Hamburg

When it comes to discovering music’s newest, most exciting prospects, there’s few better places to do it than on Hamburg’s Reeperbahn. This September, the city will again be taken over by performances from the buzziest of new acts - The Last Dinner Party, Gretel Hänlyn, Fat Dog, and HotWax, to name but a fewalong some familiar faces too, like Arlo Parks, Bob Vylan, Black Honey and more.

Plus, DIY are, once again, going to be taking over the legendary venue of Molotow Club on the festival’s opening night for a stacked bill featuring Geese, Michigander, The Mary Wallopers and DIY favourites English Teacher. We caught up with the Leeds-based band to fnd out more about their summer so far...

Q&A ENGLISH TEACHER

Hey English Teacher! The past few weeks have seen you release your latest single ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’, which is a rerecorded version of an older English Teacher song. Why did you want to re-vamp it?

Doug: It’s actually going to be on the soundtrack for FIFA 2024!

Lewis: Isn’t that mad! It’s one that’s been foating about as part of our live set for ages, and we’d spoken about re-doing it before, so everything kind of came together with the FIFA thing - it made sense to pick ‘Paving Slab’.

‘Paving Slab’ comes accompanied by a great music video shot in Lily’s home town, Colne. Can you tell us a bit more about the concept behind it?

Lily: With the man with the papier mâché head, it was an aesthetic that I really liked, but it’s also a reference to Frank Sidebottom. And that’s then a bit of an Easter egg: Frank was the name of the band before we became English Teacher.

In terms of the video as a whole - the song is about the local celebrities of the area, and lots of our music is inspired by the area and its social issues. There are some shots of us in a sculpture called the Panopticonknown locally as The Atom - and it’s got the best view in the area of the famous Pendle Hill. The idea of the video came from a scene in Monty Python’s ‘The Meaning Of Life’ where the French waiter leads you from where he works to his house, and part of that flm was shot in Colne. So it all just came together, partially intentionally, partially unintentionally.

You’ve also been playing festivals all over the country - how were Green Man and Reading and Leeds?

Lily: They were great! I was knackered for the entire week after Green Man. Doug: For Reading and Leeds, we were expecting barely anyone to turn up because it was so early, but it was a surprisingly good turn out for both, which was really nice.

We’ve seen videos of the crowd making up impromptu dance routines at Reading…

Lily: I don’t know where that came

from! We were just doing our thing and then the coordinated dancing just started, so happy days.

You’re also on the lineup for Germany’s Reeperbahn festival in September. What can people expect from your set there?

Lewis: Lots of new songs, and jet lag? Maybe not jet lag actually, it’s only about an hour away…

Doug: New songs and big vibes.

Have you played Reeperbahn before?

Lewis: Never! We’re really excited.

Lily: We’ve played Hamburg before, supporting Parquet Courts.

Lewis: Yeah, it’d be nice to stick around the day after we play and see Hamburg, because last time it was really in and out - we were quite sleep deprived too.

Do you guys know any German?

All: Nein…

Nick: Ich wohne in England?

Lily: Oh wait, ‘Ich liebe dich’ means I love you!

Photos: Emma Swann

NOVEMBER 2023

TUE 21 BRISTOL THEKLA

WED 22 LONDON SCALA

THU 23 BIRMINGHAM O2 INSTITUTE2

FRI 24 MANCHESTER GORILLA

MYTICKET.CO.UK • DUBFX

OCTOBER 2023

TUE 03 SOUTHAMPTON THE JOINERS

WED 04 EXETER THE CAVERN

THU 05 LONDON LAFAYETTE

SAT 07 NORWICH THE WATERFRONT STUDIO

SUN 08 BIRMINGHAM HARE & HOUNDS

MON 09 LEEDS BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB

WED 11 MANCHESTER THE DEAF INSTITUTE

THU 12 NEWCASTLE ZEROX

FRI 13 ABERDEEN THE LEMON TREE

SAT 14 GLASGOW ST LUKE’S

THEXCERTSBAND.COM

MYTICKET.CO.UK

A KILIMANJARO & FRIENDS PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH ITB

FI

BENÉT

AFFIRMING TALES OF PERSONAL GROWTH FROM VIRGINIA'S LATEST EXPORT. As the title of his forthcoming debut album ‘Can I Go Again?’ might suggest, Benét’s looking to turn a new page. Early singles indicate a shift from 2021’s electro-led EP ‘Game Over!’ to a more analogue sound, and with it comes a certain self-assurance: straddling the blurred boundaries between indie, pop, rock, and soul, Benét’s navigation of his tumultuous early twenties sounds anything but confused.

LISTEN: ‘Insensitive’ is perfect for scratching that guitar-riff itch without going too Guns N’ Roses about it.

SIMILAR TO: Getting a new haircut to mark a new phase of your life (breakup / new job / going to uni - delete as appropriate).

BIG SPECIAL

THE CATHARTIC BLACK COUNTRY DUO WHO’LL TAKE YOU BY SURPRISE. While there’s certainly no shortage of astute but aggravated post-punk bands out there right now, Black Country duo Big Special are offering up a fresh new take on the genre. Yes, there are still gloriously shouty moments (especially in the cackling chorus of ‘SHITHOUSE’) but singer Joe Hicklin also possesses quite the pair of pipes. Melding together coarse but poetic commentary with a bluesy sentiment, latest track ‘THIS HERE AIN’T WATER’ really is intoxicating.

LISTEN: Like we said, there’s more to ‘THIS HERE AIN’T WATER’ than frst appears.

SIMILAR TO: If Alex Turner offered up his crooning services to The Fall.

CIRCE

THE NOIR-POP PURVEYOR WHO’LL PUT A SPELL ON YOU.

Citing cultural infuences as diverse as Shakespeare, Jezz Butterworth’s ‘Jerusalem’, and teen sci-f smash Stranger Things, Circe is something of an alt-pop alchemist. Her recently released EP ‘Drawing Wings From The Light’ encompasses ethereal vocals (‘My Boy Aphrodite’), hints of hyperpop (‘Going Down’) and expansive production (‘I’m Still Not Sorry For What I Said’) in a seven-track package that’ll leave you hypnotised.

LISTEN: The EP’s heady lead single ‘Riot Of Sunlight’ is instantly recognisable and uneasily forgettable.

SIMILAR TO: Let’s Eat Grandma meets Bjork meets Charli XCX.

TROUT

CHESS CLUB’S LATEST SIGNING, WITH AN EAR FOR COMPELLING INDIE-ROCK.

Take a glance at the concise tracklisting for Trout’s debut EP ‘Colourpicker’ and it’d be easy to assume that the Liverpool-based artist takes a more simplistic approach to songwriting. But in fact, the likes of recent singles ‘garden’, ‘gutter’ and ‘in my room’ are anything but; their approach is a multi-layered one, that melds together magnetic vocals with intriguing guitars to produce something that feels complex but classic.

LISTEN: ‘Colourpicker’ will be fresh out as this issue goes to print.

SIMILAR TO: A heady mix of Claud, Sorry and Phoebe Bridgers.

NEU Recommended

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PETER XAN

THE NIGERIAN-BRITISH ACT WHO’S TURNING INDIE-ROCK ON ITS HEAD.

While many of us spent the lockdown of 2020 wondering which TV series to binge watch next, Nigerian-British artist Peter Xan was in the midst of overhauling his musical career to date. Inspired to celebrate both the indie-rock he listened to as a youth and his West African heritage, he’s managed to combine the two to create a truly fresh and invigorated new sound that’s seen him collaborate with Dan Carey and Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten.

LISTEN: ‘Hostage’ is the latest taste of his forthcoming EP, ‘GOD SAVE THE KING’.

SIMILAR TO: The more explosive end of Bloc Party’s discography.

Jalen Ngonda

The last thing Jalen Ngonda’s father thought he was doing when he bought his 10-year-old son a DVD copy of the landmark TV series Roots was starting him on a path towards a life in music. However, it just so happened that the disc included adverts for other titles in the production company’s catalogue - one of which was a documentary about The Temptations.

“I was glued to the screen,” he recalls. “For the next couple of months, I would put on Roots just for that preview. It changed my world. My dad then bought a CD of theirs and I haven’t been the same since.”

The young video game nerd from Maryland soon became transfxed by the soul, R&B and psychedelic rock of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, voraciously consuming and learning the cultural history of the art form. Performing, beyond the occasional solo in front of a church congregation, was limited to his bedroom, however, and he claims not to have seen any potential in himself as a vocalist.

Anyone listening to ‘Come Around and Love Me’ - Jalen's debut album, released this month - will fnd this hard to believe. The record is a pristine iteration of the styles with which his teenage self became obsessed; his mellifuous, limitlessly rich vocals soaring above a Funk Brothers-favoured backing, courtesy of the legendary Daptone Records. If the label had claimed to have unearthed an unreleased 1972 demo, you’d have believed them.

“It’s jarring to call it old music,” he notes, however, about his sound. “It’s just the music that I like. People have often wanted to make me sound more

contemporary, but I am contemporary. I’m alive and I’m making music that hasn’t existed before.”

By the age of 19, Jalen had developed an interest in songwriting, citing Burt Bacharach as a career model that he admired. A chance application to the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts resulted in a surprise offer, and he made the huge decision to accept. “I’d never left the country, I didn’t have a passport,” he says. “Most of life before that was just unflled promises, so it was like, this isn’t going to happen. Even when I was accepted, I thought there was going to be something to prevent it. No one leaves where I’m from; I was convinced I was just one of those people that would always stay in the area.” He soon settled in Liverpool and, after releasing some of his own songs on SoundCloud, began to play local shows. Within a couple of years, he had multiple label offers, was playing London’s Royal Festival Hall, and supporting bona fde legends Martha Reeves and Lauryn Hill.

Left to his own devices, Jalen's instincts are to push his music into the margins, embracing his love of ‘Sgt. Pepper’-like tremolo and wah pedal effects. But for this debut, he was conscious not to scare listeners away. “I try not to be too stubborn,” he explains. “But if I did go down that route, I’m pretty sure the album would’ve been very psychy. I don’t want to make it too avant-garde, especially for the frst thing that people hear. We’ll see what happens in the future.”

And with that, he darts off into a passionate elaboration about Norman Whitfeld’s desire to push The Temptations into ever more experimental territory in the late ‘60s, barely able to contain his enthusiasm on the topic. Just his imagination, running away with him. DIY

“People have often wanted to make me sound more contemporary, but I am contemporary.”

The Maryland-born, honey-voiced old soul, bringing the ‘60s into the present day. Words: Max Pilley.

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BuzzFeed Feed

All the buzziest new music happenings in one place.

PULLING ON HEARTSTRINGS

Following the release of his acclaimed mixtape ‘Unlimited’ in 2021, Jelani Blackman has returned with news of his debut album proper, ‘The Heart of It’, which is due on 10th November. Spanning 15 tracks, it’ll delve into both political and personal themes, while the title itself refers to “fnding love and truth in a world flled with greed and hypocrisy.”

He’s joined by an illustrious cast of features - Biig Piig, Bob Vylan, Mavica and Kojey Radical all lend their voices to the record - and has also shared the record’s lead single ‘When You Feel It’. Hear it now over at diymag.com

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

Swiss-Tamil artist Priya Ragu has announced details of her debut album ‘Santhosam’.

Named after the Tamil word for happiness, her frst full-length will be released on 20th October, following up 2021 mixtape ‘damnshestamil’. It’ll be ffteen tracks in length, and is set to feature previous singles ‘Easy’ and ‘Adalam Va!’. “The album is my story of fnding happiness,” Priya has said, of the record. “It helped me fnd my purpose in life. Maybe it will help others, too.”

Alongside the news of the record, Priya’s also shared a new preview in the form of ‘Vacation’: “That song came about while we were touring and writing at the same time. We just reached a limit. We were exhausted from all of the travelling, creating and never really being home, so we booked a fight to India. But it’s not just about being a pop star or being creative. Even when I had my offce job, I was lost in that. That song is a reminder of how important it is to give yourself a break, to step back, let loose and allow yourself to recharge your batteries.” Listen to the track over at diymag.com now.

The PLAYLIST

Every week on Spotify, we update the Neu Playlist with the buzziest, freshest faces. Here’s our pick of the best new tracks:

FOLLY GROUP - STRANGE NEIGHBOUR

Bizarre yet incredibly catchy, this feels not too far away from the sound Folly Group introduced on their debut. ‘Strange Neighbour’ invites listeners to recognise their strangeness, and that of their peers, because there’s no real way of knowing who’s really ‘normal’. The single arrives ahead of Folly Group’s stint supporting New York’s Geese across the UK this September.

KINGS FOR A DAY

Having spent the better part of the last year whipping up a frenzy at their live shows, South London band Fat Dog have fnally shared their debut single, ‘King of the Slugs’.

Doubling as their frst release via their label home of Domino, the band’s frst track which comes co-produced by Joe Love and James Ford is as ambitious and unhinged as we’d have hoped, with its shape-shifting take on psychy rock and roll clocking in at just over seven minutes. What’s more, there’s an appropriately trippy clip to accompany it, as directed by Dylan Coates. Check it out over on diymag. com now.

To celebrate the release of the single, the band will release a special 12” on 20th October, and they’ve announced plans for a full UK headline tour later this year, alongside a series of festival appearances at Reeperbahn, Live at Leeds in the City and Sŵn.

LATHE OF HEAVENAT MOMENT’S EDGE

Where the slightly lighter components of Joy Division’s back catalogue and the beginnings of New Order meet lies ‘At Moment’s Edge’ - the latest from New Yorkers, Lathe of Heaven. Swaddled in sky high, reverby guitar lines that offset vocalist Gage Allison’s doomy baritone, much like The Horrors achieved on second LP ‘Primary Colours’, ‘At Moment’s Edge’ balances the darkness and light with something like joy.

HEMLOCKE SPRINGS - ENKNEE1

Juxtaposing a bouncing beat with heartfelt, yearning vocals, on 'enknee1' hemlocke springs marries seemingly incongruous elements to create a track which is infectious and emotional in equal measure. The young artist blurs the boundaries between ‘80s pop and dance, channeling the turbulence of adolescence into a sound that couldn't be further from your typical 'teen angst' music. With four out of seven tracks on her debut EP 'going... going... GONE!' already out in the world, hemlocke springs certainly isn't holding back.

CUTTY - OVERDRIVE

There’s something pleasingly incongruous about ‘overdrive’ - the fourth single from Hull duo, Cutty. On one hand you have the sort of pleasingly ‘throw everything at the wall’ approach that’ll take your ears several listens to pick out the pieces, of which include string samples, driving indie bass, possibly a cowbell, woozy synths and some subtle bleep bloops in the back. On the other, vocalist Amy Precious has the sort of early ‘00s nonchalance that sounds like she’s probably got a mic in one hand, cig in the other while recording. Neither would likely work on its own, but together ‘overdrive’ makes for an intriguing whole.

Want to stream our Neu playlist while you’re reading? Scan the code now and get listening.

NEU

Sophie May

When you’re told that an artist has found fans in the likes of Billie Eilish, Celeste, and Sabrina Carpenter to name but a few, there’s obviously something going on. For 24-year-old Sophie May, however, it’s just part of her rapid ascent through the UK singersongwriter ranks. “It’s always surreal,” Sophie laughs. “When I frst realised that my music was connecting with people, I thought, ‘Oh, thank God people actually like it!’. It feels encouraging to know that I must be doing something right.”

Having frst picked up a guitar aged 19, Sophie credits going into lockdown for giving her the freedom to write as many songs as she could without feeling guilty for not being more productive. “Deciding that music is what I want to do full time is something that happened gradually and naturally,” she explains. “I didn’t decide when I was 10 that I wanted to be a musician. Covid changed my life. I wrote as many songs as possible and social media encouraged that; I’m lucky to have come into this industry in such a modern way.”

The frst batch of these songs came via last year’s debut EP ‘You Do Not Have To Be Good’ - a release that showcased Sophie’s refreshingly honest lyricism through a cynical collection of love songs that were both defant and apologetic. Last month, meanwhile, follow-up ‘Worst Thoughts In The World’ arrived as a spotlight for Sophie’s vulnerability, featuring co-writing credits from the likes of Matt Maltese, who she hails as “one of the most talented songwriters” in the game.

“His effciency when it comes to songwriting is something I look up to,” she notes. “We write really well together and have the same sense of humour, and that’s really important to me.” The EP’s title track acts as the perfect example of this writing relationship, as nightmarish lyrics focus on obsessive thoughts and the places your mind travels when you begin to spiral (“Awful dreams and I can't make 'em stop / My future husband caught me with his boss”). The ‘00s poptinted ‘Killing You In My Sleep’ was written with Spector’s Fred Macpherson, while the soft-spoken lyrics of ‘Doppelgänger’ tell the painful story of realising a lover’s increasingly obvious dating patterns (“We look so alike / Sisters in another life / We look so related / You’re just too ashamed to say it”).

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the intimacy that comes with such diary-like lyrics, Sophie has already begun to build a tight-knit fan community. Take a glance at her TikTok comments and you’re met with fans asking for relationship tips and sharing their own personal stories - it’s just another thing that Sophie May is taking in her stride. “I fnd it really heartwarming when people come to me for advice,” she smiles. “It’s cool to know that something that had once happened, that felt personal to me, is a universal experience that lots of people can relate to. If people can fnd some comfort in what I do, then that’s a great thing.” DIY

Confessional tales with a splash of dry humour from the 24-yearold Londoner. Words: Katie Macbeth.

Photo: Nicole Ngai.

“I didn’t decide when I was 10 that I wanted to be a musician. Covid changed my life.”

Bedroom pop, but make it Tudor.

From playing hitmaker to pop’s big names to throwing jungle-inspired club nights with Lil Yachty, JAMES BLAKE’s new dancefoor-focused sixth album ‘Playing Robots Into Heaven’ is all about doing precisely what he wants. Words: Luke Morgan Britton. Photos: BLACKWALL. Creative direction: Crowns & Owls.

of Party

the party

First gigs are always a learning experience and, speaking from his home in LA, James Blake is reminiscing about some of his earliest DJ memories. “I’ve got loads of bad ones,” he laughs, recounting a nightmarish tale from one of his frst ever sets at an East London club in the late ‘00s. “They had a weird mixer and wobbling turntables that were vibrating so much that the needles kept skipping,” he recalls, with a slight grimace that suggests some leftover embarrassment might still linger deep. “I had to keep starting the tunes again - people just thought I was shit and that it was my fault…”

To make the situation even more agonising, the venue in question was so dark he couldn’t see which records he was taking out of his bag and putting on next.

“So I can’t see the vinyl, the lights on the turntable are broken - it’s like everything that could have gone wrong, did,” he continues. “It was the worst set of my life. I think they were just like, ‘OK, cool. He’s had his go. Let’s just get the next guy on now, because this is insane’.”

The reason for this trip down memory lane is owed to the new era that Blake has ushered in with his upcoming sixth album, ‘Playing Robots Into Heaven’. After years of perfecting his brand of immersive electronica and emotive lyricism, it’s an LP that instead sees the musician hark back to his days releasing dance records via labels like Hessle Audio and R&S, and shows the singer-songwriter-polymath fully leaning into the club culture that he fell in love with during his late teenage years.

Fast-forward a decade or so from that farcical frst set and Blake has recently found himself back behind the decks again in something of a full-circle moment, hosting his CMYK series of club shows around the world - named, of course, after his seminal 2010 dancefoor hit. “There were more people than I expected,” he says of the event’s recent hometown edition, held at London’s new HERE at Outernet venue in the West End back in July. “About 1,800 people, which is more than I’m used to in London clubs. The night was amazing.”

Along with special guests including longtime collaborator Airhead, Flatbush Zombies rapper-producer Erick the Architect, and Hackney rave legends Ragga Twins, the night also saw one of James’ other famous pals rock up. “Somehow, Lil Yachty just turned up and was stood with me as I was mixing with the Ragga Twins!” he laughs. “[He and I] had been working on something, and it just happened that he was in London. I asked him if he fancied going out to a club; I don’t think he probably knew what it would be like. He happened to turn up at exactly the moment that the Ragga Twins came on stage. Suddenly he was just stood there like, ‘Oh fucking hell, this is a bit different…’”

“I felt like my dance music stuf wasn't going to feed the beast, to shift the kind of records that were required.”

‘Playing Robots…’ comes two years on from previous album ‘Friends That Break Your Heart’: a record that saw Blake “trying to perfect the essence of classic songwriting”, stripping back his production to a more patient, ethereal sound. For that album, he also saidtongue, perhaps, somewhat in cheek - that he wanted to “make music for sitting by the swimming pool”. Today, he sums up the new record as “music for people stuck in the queue outside the club”. “Basically half of it’s when you’re stuck outside,” he notes, “and half of it’s when you fnally get in.”

The LP does, indeed, feel like a sharp 90-degree turn. Lead single ‘Big Hammer’ - which samples the aforementioned Ragga Twins - is an exhilarating blast of squelchy synths and glitching hi-hats that wouldn’t have felt out of place if he had thrown it down during a Boiler Room set back in the height of dubstep. The pulsating ‘Loading’, meanwhile, feels primed to be a soundtrack for losing yourself under strobe lighting. Elsewhere, ‘Fall Back’ is a mesmerising slice of hypnotic house and the erratic ‘He’s Been Wonderful’ feels like Oneohtrix Point Never chopping up gospel samples.

“This album has more club-friendly moments than before,” he says. “But at the same time it has more abstract electronic moments too, and even more introspective moments.” ‘Playing Robots Into Heaven’, then, provides a “broader range” of Blake as an artist. “There’s a breadth of different stuff,” he nods, just in case anyone is expecting a full-on retread of his early post-dubstep sound. He explains that inspiration has come directly from the types of dance music that he’s been playing during his DJing gigs: sets that have varied from house and Afrobeats to “Japanese electronic stuff” and “some Brazilian stuff I’ve been playing that has a sort of proto-grime vibe”.

It’s not diffcult to see why playing club shows might translate to a burst of creativity. “When you’re DJing, it’s not possible to NOT then make music if you’re somebody who makes dance music,” he shrugs. “It completes the circuit.” These sets also gave him somewhere to demo the music. “This album didn’t have an A&R; the A&R was the crowd at CMYK,” he explains. “Ultimately, when you play music, you’re trying to get a reaction. So then the logic goes, ‘Well, why am I not doing this with my album?’”

The enthusiasm in James Blake’s voice amplifes when he talks about club music, in that way that we all brighten up when talking about a topic we’re passionate about. The scene is “less chin-strokey” these days, he says. “You know, it’s less kind of trainspotters and chin-stroking.”

The new album follows a recent trend in pop of big-name artists turning to club culture for inspiration. 2022 alone saw Beyoncé look to the escapism and hedonism of disco and house for ‘Renaissance’, while Drake’s ‘Honestly, Nevermind’ also made nods to dance music’s various forms. Elsewhere, artists such as Frank Ocean - like Blake - have put on club events that replicate the sense of community that the scene often offers.

“People are looking for new inspiration and things to bounce off,” he chimes in on the subject. “The energy of club music, from ballroom to Jersey club to Berlin techno - it’s all been a furtive, creative inspiration for all types of artists. Any time you have people congregating together, and loving a style of music, it’s always inspiring. Any artist that goes into that kind of setting is just probably inundated with ideas and ways to make music for that setting.”

He thinks back to one of those moments of his own. “Seeing [ChileanGerman DJ] Ricardo Villalobos at Berghain in Panorama Bar, you know, just as they’re starting to open the blinds. You’re in some euphoric state. I didn’t know that was possible until I went there. I didn’t know what that meant. I didn’t know I didn’t really fully grasp the music; I didn’t understand what it was designed to do.”

He explains that he left this particular gig feeling inspired to channel what he had witnessed into his own work. “I just felt like I really wanted to make music that DJs like, that they would play. Of course, I never actually achieved that,” he laughs with more than a touch of self-deprecation. “But I was able to make some house music that I liked. It wouldn’t really

Back to the Start

A potted primer of JB’s early, club-ready bangers.

‘Air & Lack Thereof’ (2009)

Blake’s debut single had all the hallmarks of early dubstep: earth-moving bass, seesaw headphonepanning and a general sense of dread. But with its intricate layering and warped vocal sample, it also hinted at his broader talents to come.

‘The Bells Sketch’ (2010)

This one is a lot more patient and brooding, incorporating some of the building, bassy stabs that would feature on his debut. But it’s Blake’s harmonies that steal the show here - the frst indicator we got of his stunning vocal chops.

‘CMYK’ (2010)

A proper classic from his early years, ‘CMYK’ still holds up to this very day. Built on chopped-up Aaliyah and Kelis vocal samples, it’s an exuberant and euphoric ride that always keeps you guessing where it’ll go next.

‘Bills,

Bills, Bills (Destiny’s Child remix)’ (2011)

A skittering, erratic and pretty bonkers remix of Bey and co’s 1999 R&B hit - honestly, what’s not to love?

‘Love What Happened Here’ (2011)

Perhaps the most vibrant of his early singles, ‘Love What Happened Here’ surfaced after his debut album release and showed that his knack for bangers hadn’t left him. This track dazzles with a warped electro-funk groove and triumphant-sounding organ swipes.

“I've learned how to collaborate with people that you might not expect just by fnding a place of my own.”

“The energy of club music, from ballroom to Jersey club to Berlin techno - it's been a furtive, creative inspiration for all types of artists.”

be described as house in a lot of ways. It wasn’t, like, authentic, obviously because it’s coming from me. But it was something else. And it was something that, you know, I could stand behind.”

It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that Blake might want to return to his frst love of club music. Perhaps the bigger question might be why it’s taken so long for him to properly lean into the dancier side of his sound. Having frst hinted at a return to big-room dance bangers with his ‘Before’ EP in 2020, the musician described himself at the time as “fnally having confdence to put [his] own voice on dancefoor rhythms.”

His hesitance was understandable, really. Rightly or wrongly, his evocative and introspective style of electronic music has long lumbered him with a public persona that’s been diffcult to shake off, and he’s previously spoken out about the “unhealthy and problematic” ‘sad boy’ tag that he’s often been labelled with. So was this a case of self-doubt? “I guess I always think of the person who sings on dance music tracks as, like, the most fun person in the room,” he explains. “It’s like you’ve got to be so bombastic, energetic and, very often, with big personalities… I don’t know, it’s just…” His voice trails off for a second. “It’s self consciousness… It’s like, am I that guy? Can I do that? Can I be the life of the party?”

He later goes on to explain a similar apprehension in the early days of his career, when he was transitioning from the dubstep sound of his frst releases to the more melodic focus of his self-titled debut. “I’ve loved singing my whole life, but singing was an actual headache for a long time [because of] how people made me feel. They really made me feel silly for singing,” he reveals, suggesting that there may have been an element of toxic masculinity at play. “And you know, a lot of the writers that criticised me did happen to be men…”

Despite ‘Playing Robots Into Heaven’ widely being billed as a return to these dancier, pre-debut album days of Blake’s work, he points out that it’s not like he ever stopped making dance music. “I’ve been making dance music since I was 20 years old. Now I’m just putting more of it out again,” he says. “It’s funny, because [this album] has been called a return. But in a way, I don’t know if that’s coming from [me]. I don’t know if that’s like a press release thing. But I’d say it’s more of an evolution.”

Previously, however, he has tended to keep his more club-orientated offerings separate from his main album releases, dropping tracks and remixes under his Harmonimix moniker alongside running his dancefocused 1-800 Dinosaur label. “I guess in a way, I sort of felt like my dance music stuff wasn’t going to feed the beast, it wasn’t going to shift the kind of records that were required [for my label] to sign something for a certain amount of money,” he admits. “That’s just what the industry side ends up being. That’s the kind of message that’s sent to the artist. It’s like, ‘This is what you release here and that will be what we can work with, and then this is what we can’t work with’.”

Blake makes a point to stress that it’s not like he’s ever released music that he’s been unhappy with - just that he now feels the freedom to explore even more. “This time I was just like, I can’t suppress this expression just because this is not what [my label is] used to for me. It was just what I wanted to put out, so it’s like, well, OK, let’s just do it,” he says. “Now I have a closer relationship with my label, so the future looks a lot more diverse for me than it was for the last fve, six years.”

Such talk of the future brings up the topic of artifcial intelligence in music. Just last year Blake worked with the German company Endel for a project, ‘Wind Down’, that incorporated AI to create music to help people sleep. But, along

with the recent SAG-AFTRA strikes in Hollywood, many in other creative industries have highlighted the possible consequences of AI.

“There are people saying [AI] could be like the electric guitar of its time. But there’s legitimate fears, though,” he says now. “I think [certain parts of] AI tools will probably end up being very useful for a composer or a writer, [but the problem is] tracks being uploaded to streaming services purely with AI. Ultimately, no artist profts from that. Those pieces of music will not be owned by artists who have worked their whole lives to be artists and sacrifced a whole bunch of shit to be artists.”

So, what does the future in fact look like for Blake? Aside from Lil Yachty, who he was pictured in the studio with back in March, he won’t confrm any other forthcoming team-ups. But having recently worked on Travis Scott’s ‘Utopia’ record - providing the dizzying production for the Queen Bey-featuring ‘Delresto (Echoes)’ - it doesn’t exactly look like he’s done with chart collabs.

He’s recently been in Pompeii (“It was completely beautiful, but very hot”) for a video shoot with Scott. “They kind of blocked everything off for the shoot, so I couldn’t go and do the sightseeing I would have liked to,” he jokes. So he didn’t get the chance to nip off for a guided tour of the ancient ruins in between takes? James laughs: “From where I was sat with my keyboard, it looked gorgeous.”

Having worked with everyone from SZA and Rosalía to A$AP Rocky and 21 Savage over the past few years, Blake has long felt like a must-have collaborator for rap and pop’s biggest stars. But the process of such collaborations hasn’t always come easy. “I didn’t always know how to [collaborate]. When Travis frst asked me to be on a song, I didn’t really know how I would ft into a Travis Scott song. He frst offered me the feature for ‘Goosebumps’ and I just didn’t know what to sing about it,” he reveals, referring to the 2016 Kendrick Lamarfeaturing smash hit. “Then that turns into his biggest song. I’m like, ‘Well… fuck’.

“It was like a teachable moment for me,” he continues. “I’ve sort of learned how to collaborate with people that you might not expect just by fnding a place of my own. Whether it’s with Dave, or all these people I’ve collaborated with that make very different music. When you’re collaborating, you’re fnding this common ground and fnding the thing that you can do without losing your identity and without trying to do something they’re doing by just still being fully yourself.”

Being fully yourself feels key to this latest era of James Blake - not feeling bound to one type of genre, or others’ ideas of you, or even your own self-restraint. A stylistic shift like that shown on ‘Playing Robots Into Heaven’ will always come with risks, whether that’s commercially or critically, but he gives off the impression these days that his own satisfaction with his work is of the most paramount importance.

Six albums in and a decade and a half into his career, Blake muses on what success looks like to him now. When you’ve been co-signed by Beyoncé and won the Mercury Prize, what are the barometers that you now set? He takes his biggest pause of the entire interview before giving his answer. “Innovating and feeling refected in what I make,” he fnally says. “And then everything else is gravy really.”

’Playing Robots Into Heaven’ is out 8th September via Republic / Polydor. DIY

Rooted in long-buried childhood trauma, but buoyed by a band more confdent and together than ever, Speedy Ortiz’s newest - ‘Rabbit Rabbit’ - is laying all of Sadie Dupuis’ cards on the table.

D o w n The Rabbit

Words: Max Pilley. Photo: Chris Carreon.

h my god, I just fnished my weird, out-of-order Sex and the City re-watch,” gasps Sadie Dupuis down the Zoom line from her home studio in Philadelphia. She’s been speaking with quiet passion about her band Speedy Ortiz’s new album ‘Rabbit Rabbit’ for over half an hour, but as the subject switches, a new kind of excitement animates her.

“I started with Season Four, because I love Aidan – I love any TV boyfriend that knows how to build stuff,” she explains. “Then I watched Season Three, because there’s more Aidan. Then Season Five, the next logical choice. Season Two after that, then Six, and I just fnished Season One yesterday. And then I watched the movie, which is horrendous.”

This sudden conversational left turn is just the kind of non-sequitur, dream-logic-based sidestep you might expect from someone with Sadie’s highly expressionistic lyrical style, but in this instance, there is a reason that we’ve stumbled onto the topic. The opening track of ‘Rabbit Rabbit’ - an album that straddles scrappy indie rock abandon and sophisticated technical profciency - is titled ‘Kim Cattrall’. Take an aural magnifer to the song, though, and you might be stumped at exactly how the actress’

name became attached to it. Sadie is more than happy to elaborate.

“Oh, it’s not actually about Kim Cattrall,” she quips. “In part, it’s about the stupid, idiotic, trauma-informed decision-making that plagued me until I was 27, and about starting to make healthier choices as I get older. At the time I was writing the song, there were a million headlines about why Kim Cattrall was refusing to come back to [Sex and the City spinoff] And Just Like That..., regardless of the paycheck offered to her. I was like, ‘Good for her!’”

In an idiosyncratic way, the kernel of what sets ‘Rabbit Rabbit’ apart can be found in this explanation. Sadie, the group’s lead songwriter, vocalist and guitarist, has steered her band from its early days as a DIY solo project to its status now as a cult name in US indie rock. This fourth studio album, though undoubtedly their most expansive and ambitious project to date, retains their defning independent spirit. Speedy Ortiz do what they want to do, regardless of the allure of the mainstream dollar.

“Girls are against god, but I’m not one / I spend 10,000 hours avoiding this problem,”

“My emotional responses are very tied to my lyrics, so it’s this meta-psychological investigation for me. - Sadie Dupuis

she sings at the opening of ‘Kim Cattrall’, leaving the listener to fnd a way to put together the pieces. At times, Dupuis’ delivery feels conversational, blazed through with a wry, cutting wit, but it is certainly never prosaic. There’s a nebulous, unreachable quality to her writing, a style she herself describes as “sphinx chat”.

“I’m just trying to make it interesting for myself,” she says. “I’m not really drawn toward saying things in a straightforward way, because it doesn’t feel like I’ve unlocked understanding that way. Language has a lot of transformative and psychedelic and beautiful properties that I don’t feel like I get to when I’m speaking.”

The “trauma-informed decision-making” that she refers to regarding that opener is what goes on to form the emotional core of the album as a whole. Sadie recently disclosed publicly for the frst time that she experienced abuse as a child; a subject that she had never previously been inclined to write about. “It wasn’t something that I wanted to put in music, or disclose to friends, or dwell on at all,” she says. “I’m estranged from that person, and it hasn’t felt like an urgent thing to tackle through art. My therapist has been like, ‘Why don’t you write songs about that?’ I said, ‘Why don’t you do therapy about your past trauma? This is my job. I’m paying quite a lot, buddy, to sit with a medical professional so that I don’t have to put this into the lyrics.’”

It was during a lockdown-era writing session for The New Pornographers’ Carl Newman, however, that Sadie noticed that she was starting to subconsciously reference elements of her history that had never previously emerged in her work. It speaks to her strength of character and her artistic credentials that she decided to delve deeper as she began to write the new Speedy Ortiz album.

“My emotional responses are very tied to my lyrics, so it’s this meta-psychological investigation for me,” she says. “Why do I process things in these ways and how does that connect to being drawn to playing music in the frst place? It gives me perspective on who I am and how I am. I don’t think you write an album and then it’s like, ‘Cool, done with that, everything bad is cleansed’. But it does make it less anxiety-provoking to return to those thoughts.”

The album’s penultimate track ‘Brace Thee’ plays like a fve-minute healing exercise - a gently paced, tender salve where she sings lines such as “What you did, we both remember” and “Trust, something I’m sorry I once gave you” as the band build to a rousing, defant and ultimately dignifed crescendo.

For much of the runtime of ‘Rabbit Rabbit’, though, Speedy Ortiz are ablaze with the scuzzy, frantic, serrated energy that has become their calling card. ‘You S02’ features writhing guitar lines that seem to simultaneously burrow through

the ground and soar through the air, while on ‘Ghostwriter’, the band embrace a muscular, earthy menace. And crucially, they continue to show off their knack for ecstatic melodies, as on ‘Plus One’ or ‘Scabs’.

R‘abbit Rabbit’ is Speedy’s frst album in fve years, during which time bassist Audrey Zee Whitesides and Downtown Boys drummer Joey Doubek have graduated from occasional touring musicians to fully-fedged members alongside Sadie and guitarist Andy Molholt. Both Audrey and Joey bring a rhythmic complexity and a desire to push at the limits of the band’s compositional potential, and the album’s at times dizzying instrumentation is a testament to a band that have never felt more sure of themselves.

It is with some pride that Joey boasts that David Catching - owner of the legendary Joshua Tree recording studio Rancho De La Luna (birthplace of the Desert Sessions, as well as albums by PJ Harvey and Kurt Vile) - told him that Speedy set the record for the most guitars and pedals ever used there. And those soaring guitar riffs? Well, Sadie admits that “looking out of that screen door into the desert, with those panoramas, it’s hard not to get into some guitar hero stuff”.

Beyond their studio lives, meanwhile, Speedy Ortiz are identifed too by their social activism - acting, among other initiatives, as organisers within the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) which fghts for better conditions and compensation for working musicians. Their proactive outlook means that, at a time when it might be easy to feel downhearted about the state of the industry, they remain optimistic, citing the rise of DIY bookers and venues in their hometown of Philadelphia as a source of encouragement.

“Seeing a lot of different touring musicians who hadn’t worked together before coming together on projects like those [UMAW campaigns], it brings me back to the table of enjoying playing music and being part of groups of musicians,” says Sadie. “While there are plenty of people in organisations that I can point to that infuriate me, there are plenty that inspire me too and make me want to keep doing this year after year.”

The future, then, remains bright. But for now, Speedy Ortiz can take a moment to step back and admire their work before a mammoth nationwide US tour consumes the remainder of their 2023. For Sadie, it leaves just about enough time to fnish the other important project she’s been working on. “I still have the second movie left to watch again, but I might have to just…” She stops and reconsiders. “I remember that one being particularly egregious. I might have to skip it altogether...”

‘Rabbit Rabbit’ is out now via Wax Nine. DIY

“I don’t think you write an album and then it’s like, ‘Cool, done with that, everything bad is cleansed’.”

- Sadie Dupuis

“To be an Isle of Wight resident, you have to have spent at least a night in the ferry terminal, shivering.”

Jess Eastwood

Having spent countless hours honing their wares on stage and their friendship in the van, with debut ‘KILLJOY’ Coach Party have arrived. Words: Daisy Carter. Photos: Ed Miles.

nce, me and Guy held our breath for so long going through a tunnel. I think I won,” says Jess Eastwood, vocalist and bassist of the latest hot Isle of Wight export, Coach Party. She’s talking about how the band while away the hours when they’re on the road, between sleeping and playing “comically complicated” games of Exploding Kittens. For his part, drummer and production head honcho Guy Page is less sure who came out on top: “All I know is that, afterwards, I had a two-day headache.”

The quartet - completed by guitarists Joe Perry and Steph Norris - are used to travelling by this point, having toured relentlessly over the past few years including a recent run of Queens of The Stone Age support slots and a summer of festivals across the continent. And one route Coach Party know better than most is the Cowes to Southampton ferry crossing: a 12-mile jaunt across the Solent that provided their younger selves with a tangible link to life beyond what they term “the Island”.

“Isle of Wight is this very complex place,” explains Guy. “We don’t have an Old Blue Last or a [Southampton] Joiners.” We’re sitting in a pub a stone’s throw from the aforementioned East London boozer, as the band discuss the intricacies of their regional identity. “At certain times of year, touring bands can’t afford to get the ferry over because prices ramp up,” Guy continues. “And that’s not to say it’s not a brilliant place for live music - it is, it just has its quirks. [Living there] is less of a barrier, more just something you accept.” “I love living there, I really do,” continues Steph. “I wouldn’t live anywhere else. But when you miss the midnight ferry and the next one’s not until fve in the morning...”

We’re briefy interrupted by a wasp making its presence felt and Jess - who’s allergic - making a swift exit. Returning to the table, she smiles: “To be an Isle of Wight resident, I feel like you have to have spent at least a night in the ferry terminal, shivering.”

“Do you remember when we got back from Germany, and it wasn’t until we got to the ferry terminal that I realised I left my car keys there?” Guy chips in. They all laugh, before Steph says matter-of-factly: “Me and Jess genuinely cried; there were tears.”

“OThroughout today’s conversation, anecdotes like this come easily, bouncing around the table with the air of stories which have been absorbed into Coach Party’s lore. “Like all great things, it stemmed from women,” Jess begins of the band’s origins, shooting a grin at Steph before explaining that they started playing together after watching Guy and Joe’s previous band, Polar Maps. Having recruited the boys on the strength of their early demos, the four set about writing, sharing debut single ‘Oh Lola’ in 2019.

Now, with three EPs under their belts, they’re gearing up for the release of ‘KILLJOY’ - their debut album proper, and the product of the quartet’s collective mindset over recent years. “We’ve always described the record as [exploring] very human emotions that you go through,” affrms Steph. “Everything about it is a human experience.”

Viscerality is something that’s evident in all parts of ‘KILLJOY’, from its skeletal cover art by longtime collaborator Cameron West (“The sleeve of Coach Party,” Joe smiles), to the raw frustration of tracks like ‘Micro Aggression’ and ‘Parasite’, which respectively rail against sexism and social leeches. For a band who frmly cut their teeth playing live and thus developed a particular affnity with the adrenaline-fuelled, sink-or-swim atmosphere of an in-person gig, committing that same energy to wax was integral.

“Because we did so much touring last year, it just naturally all seeped into the new songs and how they’re constructed,” says Joe. Guy agrees, commenting that “we want[ed] the excitement of a gig, but on a record. You can’t use the same tricks; you don’t have lighting on your side, or a big PA, so instead you fnd other ways of creating moments you can mosh

or shout to.” ‘KILLJOY’ is undeniably a record that’s scored with discontent, but there are lighter moments, too: the ‘fuck it, have fun’ mentality of previous single ‘What’s The Point In Life’, or the softer touch of album track ‘July’.

The band seem pleased at the mention of the latter. “What metaphor would you use for that? For songs that don’t get their spotlight moment?” Guy muses. “Stagehands?” suggests Steph. “Yeah, the roadies! They’re just as important as anyone else,” he resumes. As Jess chips in with similarly underrated staples - “Ready salted crisps, they’re my favourite! And vanilla ice cream!” - she unconsciously proves just how cohesive Coach Party are as a unit.

From literally applauding Guy’s production skills to the affectionate nickname ‘Geography Joe’, there’s a real camaraderie between the four - the sort that only comes from years of shared experiences in “unbelievable” (but sadly now defunct) IOW venues and “elusive” European launderettes. “There are no boundaries,” Steph confrms. “We tend to all write together and just trust each other’s instincts - if someone has a strong feeling, they’re probably right.”

And really, it’s just as well that they’re so at ease in each other’s company; with an 18date tour of the UK and Europe on the cards to support the release of ‘KILLJOY’, the band are set to be playing many more travel games in the foreseeable future. Do they have any particular requests for their rider, anything that helps hype them up after hours in the car or ferry? “Yeah, just a bit of cocaine,” Jess deadpans - obviously joking - before everyone bursts into laughter. The notion that Coach Party might need synthetic stimulation is an amusing one; after only a couple of hours in their company, it’s obvious that onstage energy is an intrinsic part of their shared DNA. “Yeah, we’re a live band frst and foremost”, Steph grins: “That’s the best part, isn’t it?”

‘KILLJOY’ is out 8th September via Chess Club. DIY

“Everything about the record is a human experience.”

- Steph Norris

just when you think you’ve got yeule all fgured out, they throw out a curveball. The very epitome of indefnable, the artist - also known as Singaporean-born Nat Ćmiel - has spent the better part of a decade carving out their own distinct, multi-faceted sonic world, continually shifting the boundaries of what’s expected within experimental music.

Named after the constantly-reborn character Yeul of Final Fantasy III-2, it should perhaps come as little surprise to learn that the musician themselves is one for shape-shifting. But it’s with new album ‘softscars’ - their debut for their new label home of Ninja Tune - that yeule pulls off their boldest transformation to date.

Following on from the release of last year’s ‘Glitch Princess’, their third album marks a signifcant sonic departure from what came before. An album defned by glacial electronics and distorted soundscapes, ‘Glitch Princess’ was inspired by an eclectic range of infuences spanning from the likes of Japanese noise titans Boris, through to flm score composer Tôru Takemitsu. Ask yeule today if they had a clear vision in mind for ‘softscars’, however, and their answer couldn’t be more different: “It was very, very meant to be a ‘90s emo throwback.”

Words: Sarah Jamieson. Photos: Neii Krug.

Zooming in from their current home in Los Angeles, yeule is a continually surprising delight. “Wait, are you Northern?” they quip, just a few minutes in, before opening up about the friendship circles they formed during their time studying at Central Saint Martins, and the subtle slips of accent they’ve picked up along the way. “Some people think I have an Australian twang…” they laugh.

While they might be in LA right now (“Loads of my friends were moving out from London, so it was getting really lonely and I just wanted to be surrounded by IRL people again,” they note), it was their time spent in the UK that arguably shaped their latest album most signifcantly. Born in the darkest days of the pandemic, the foundations of ‘softscars’ were frst laid because they were “spending unholy amounts of time with people. People who I love, but there was nothing we could do, so we were just at home and wrote music.” Working alongside friend and collaborator Kin Leonn - who, also from Singapore, couldn’t head home either - the pair would “have music-making benders” that began to shape the more guitar-driven nature of the record. “For four days straight we would just write over this stuff I’d give him,” they recall.

It was also the unpredictable nature of the pandemic - and the desire for comfort in the face of it - that saw yeule, like many, turn towards the more nostalgic musical infuences of their past. “I think when you feel very desperate and in need of something safe, you

An artist continuously evolving and shapeshifting, the next move from multihyphenate y eul e marks another bold chapter in the story so far.

go back to what’s familiar. We have so many references from the ‘90s and ‘00s, like Radiohead, My Chemical Romance… Honestly, Gerard Way changed my fucking life,” they enthuse giddily. “I was nine years old when I found ‘Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge’ and did not understand what that was all about until later on, but the emotional lyricism and the musical aspect of it punched me when I was a kid.

“Then we were listening to a lot of Avril Lavigne, the stuff that we grew up on with our iPods. Like, ‘Oh we should totally do some Pixies shit, or Smashing Pumpkins!’ We were listening to all this music that’s very sentimental to us, because we’re ‘90s kids.”

building on from ‘Glitch Princess’’ ‘Don’t Be So Hard On Your Own Beauty’ - the album’s most organicsounding centrepiece - ‘softscars’ sees yeule revel in a new sonic territory, stretching the expectations of their electronica to feel more grungy and lo-f. Elsewhere, meanwhile, it also sees their focus turn to a decidedly more human experience than ones they’ve explored before.

“I’m so focussed on pockets of the internet, and pockets of niche culture, that ‘softscars’ was more confessional; I was looking into me,” they explain. Despite previously referencing the human form in their art, their reputation as a “digital native”and a self-proclaimed “non-binary cyborg entity” - has unsurprisingly had them pinned as a more otherworldly creature, not entirely of this earth. ‘softscars’, and its refection on such a physical and human act as scarring, in a way sees them beginning to consolidate those two halves.

“It was like, ‘What is something that I’m afraid to talk about?’ Music does this thing where you can talk about these things and you can be fearless with it. When you’re releasing music, some people look at the lyrics, some people look at the visuals; everyone takes it differently. But with most of my fans, I’ve noticed a lot of them pay attention to the lyrics and the poetry,” they explain. “I really wanted to take from that imagery of scars, because every time I wrote in my journal, it felt like it was transferring or imprinting that metaphorical scar in me onto paper. The songs are those scars. I feel like scars are a beautiful thing; it shows that you’ve lived and that you’ve experienced, and survived. It’s a beautiful thing to observe; it’s not a faw, it’s part of my identity.”

That is, we suggest, going to be incredibly reassuring to those out there who struggle with their own scars. “In 2020, one of my friends had surgery on her back,” they explain, “and she had this long scar down the back of her spine and she was crying about how ugly she felt and how she couldn’t wear the clothes she wanted to wear anymore, and I was like, ‘Dude, you should embrace it’,” they say. “Another of my friends has had top surgery, and they look so beautiful; they take topless pictures, embracing it and it’s just part of them. Same with me; I’ve got surgery scars and old self-harm scars, but I think it’s really important to not be shamed. Shame is something that clouds a lot of people’s self-worth, and there’s a lot of beautiful imagery that comes with scars. That’s why I was so obsessed with them, making that the whole album.”

it’s moments like this that showcase just how astute and empathetic yeule really is; even at 25 years old, they speak with a wisdom far beyond their years and it’s little wonder as to why their vision of the world is so magnetic. But, you sense, it’s perhaps the product of a life spent on the fringes of societal norms that’s allowed them to have such clarity.

“I get discriminated [against] all the time, in Singapore, or especially in Asian countries,” they nod, “because of my tattoos or the way I look. I get stopped at the border because they think I’m some sort of delinquent. Then they talk to people like us - who look different - and they’re like, ‘Oh you’re normal and friendly, and you have a personality’. It’s all about slowly encouraging that. There are some bad days I have too, but because of this path that I’ve chosen, being in the music industry and being an artist, I’m so free, I’m nonconforming.

“I’m always trying to challenge things, which makes it quite problematic going back home and being in that conservative environment, things like that. But it speaks to a lot of people when you speak up for marginalised groups, or anything to do with people who’ve survived injury or suicide attempts,” they add, harking back to the core of the record. “I think it’s a very beautiful thing to embrace physical form in such a digital world, and to be very aware of that.”

‘softscars’ is out 22nd September via Ninja Tune. DIY

R

s w e e e s e a l

e t

“I think grief is freedom. You find something so unbearable that it completely breaks you down. You become a newborn."

In the wake of an intense period of loss and grieving, Lætitia Tamko experienced an unexpected sense of freedom on the other side. The result is third album, ‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’. Words: Otis Robinson.

Photo: Ace Amir.

“something special about doing the tour with one of my best friends.”

The pair, who met through mutual pal Lindsey Jordan (better known to us as Snail Mail), turned “letters into calls, into FaceTime, into [the rest]”. Although ‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’ will drop while she’s on the road, Lætitia says being with Arlo is the best place she could be when it happens. “It’s not often that you meet someone you feel so connected with,” she smiles. “The thought that I will be with one of my best friends to hold me in that sensitive time of releasing this body of work - that I’ve been working on for three years, on and off - is really comforting.”

Amid rehearsals and “practising which songs we’re [joining for] in each other’s sets”, the prelude to dropping ‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’ has been surprisingly smooth-sailing - aside from a niggling anxiety that fans might have forgotten her during the interim. Her debut, 2017’s ‘Infnite Worlds’, was a quiet hit, while touring for its self-titled, critically acclaimed 2019 follow-up was cut short for obvious reasons. In a 2022 podcast, Seek Treatment with Catherine Cohen and Pat Regan, she confessed this too caused a sense of mourning. All this grief, yet ‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’ is completely liberating, and her smile starts to peer through in all she says.

Partly inspired by Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time - specifcally, a quote which reads, “If there is one thing as noisy as suffering, it is pleasure”Lætitia decided to switch gears for LP3. It wasn’t easy, but in that very sleepy, very isolated German village, as time washed over her, loss welcomed an odd change. Through sonic catharsis, she began to careen towards a life of self satisfaction. “I expected to have really sad songs pouring out of me and the opposite happened,” she explains. “The [Proust] line about pain, pleasure, noise - it resonated. I documented my grief in a way that is not what I expected.”

out the window; on ‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’, Lætitia re-engineers it from scratch. She leans into upbeat pop and bedroom house sensibilities not present on her heady, indie debut, written from deep within the New York punk scene, nor on the airy electronica of ‘Vagabon’, when the artist began playing in experimental landscapes. “For the frst time, I feel like I’ve found my sound,” she says proudly.

Lyrically, the narrative of ‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’ differs from the cavernous introspection that patterned previous records too, instead reading like smoking a joint in a friend’s attic room, hanging out a window, catching up on not only grief but resentments, insecurities and jealousies amid dusky, summery shittalking. It’s light, casual, and communal. “Can I talk my shit?” she asks on the opening track of the same name - a daydreamy, vivacious soft-pop banger, inviting listeners to “feel lightness” about dark conversations.

“I’ve been enjoying fnding humour in my writing lately. A lot of the lyrics come from real [conversations]. I found that, when I let go - whatever letting go was - I started to talk the way I talk to my best friend,” she says. “I grew up reserved culturally, and there was a euphoric feeling when I wrote exactly what I had just said to my friend. I want the listener to know that it’s not that deep. It’s deep, yes, but it’s not that deep.”

Lætitia’s resistance to life’s malaise is felt on lead single ‘Carpenter’, a confessional on avoidance and fear that, on the contrary, is led by joyously soft tropical pop and gentle afrobeats. On the aforementioned ‘Can I Talk My Shit?’, she narrates a high stream-of-consciousness, and on the smoky pop noir of ‘Autobahn’, she shares she will now only follow roads that serve her best interests. There’s a warmth vibrating through ‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’, a promise to honour the joy her late friend brought to her life.

For Lætitia Tamko, aka Vagabon, escaping the US to Germany was the sensical thing to do following the death of her best friend. In a small lakeside village, with no phone service, restaurants, shops or entertainment to divert her pain, Lætitia reckoned with the loss. She’d experienced a tragedy; an integral fgure in her life and relationship to music was now gone. But her grief fast-transformed into a strange, unexpected freedom - one that invited an unravelling, both personally and musically.

It’s only 9am in New York when the CameroonianAmerican self-taught multi-instrumentalist joins our call today. She’s not entirely sure what timezone her body is in, having returned home from the buzz of LA, and doesn’t have too long to settle. There’s a sense of adrenaline-fuelled glee as she anticipates the release of her third studio album, the Rostam co-produced ‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’: a swirling reinvention tied up in grief and personal revelation. This month, she’ll begin touring the record throughout Europe, supporting close friend Arlo Parks, which, following a four-year live hiatus for the musician, is daunting. But she says there’s

Throughout the record there’s a fearlessness towards life; a bravery to seek pleasure even if it contradicts pain. It’s not a rarity that such juxtapositions exist - many artists turn to escapism in turmoil - but Tamko hadn’t avoided anything at all. In the aftermath of loss, when a deep-dive into sorrow is expected, she instead asked: What if we dive back into life instead?

“I think grief is freedom. You fnd something so unbearable that it completely breaks you down. You become a newborn,” she nods. “None of the old stuff works. None of the things that used to make you happy, make you happy; the things I used to care about, I no longer care about. That’s freedom. It’s forced upon you. When you have to restart like that, you get to make new rules for yourself.”

These new rules - letting go of insecurity, taking life a little less seriously, unapologetically seeking catharsis - have thrown much of the established Vagabon sound

It’s poetic that, during her youth, Tamko’s mother would mostly listen to music for ceremonial reasons - primarily Western and Central African music - and today ‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’ will too serve its own sacramental purpose, one of ushering in a sonic reinvention while cementing the legacy of a friend. On tour with Parks, she hopes the stage will offer catharsis through the formation of a communal atmosphere, together with the “smart listeners” she’s garnered over the years. Although ‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’ is complete, Lætitia’s healing is only getting started.

“I’m only two years in [to this loss]. I remain curious about where this journey will go over the years,” she says. “But there is freedom that comes with dealing with such unbearable grief.”

‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’ is out 15th September via Nonesuch. DIY

EXXPOSURE EXXPOSURE

“It’s me getting older and a bit more comfortable in my own skin.”

MAXXIMUM MAXXIMUM EXXPOSURE EXXPOSURE

Having spent almost two decades at the helm of understated titans The xx, Romy is stepping out of her comfort zone and onto the dancefoor for her solo debut. Words: Gemma Samways.

On paper, Romy Madley-Croft doesn’t seem a natural candidate for pop stardom.

As frontwoman of The xx, her name has always been synonymous with brooding intimacy, evidenced through minimalistic arrangements, abstract lyricism and a quietly understated stage presence. It’s an impression consistently compounded by journalistic profles prefxing her name with “quiet”, “shy” and an array of other descriptors underscoring her introversion. But just when you thought you had Romy’s rep as a perennially private artist sussed, the 34-year-old’s long-awaited solo debut is set to challenge everyone’s preconceptions.

Created in collaboration with close friends Fred again.. and Jamie xx, plus Madonna / Kylie / Dua Lipa-producer Stuart Price, ‘Mid Air’ foregrounds euphoric foor-fllers, infusing hearton-sleeve pop songwriting with infuences from ‘00s trance and Euro dance. It’s both refreshingly unselfconscious and by far the most personal record Romy has ever released. And yet ‘Mid Air’ is not the volte face you might think. In fact, it’s not too much of a leap to suggest that Romy has been working up to this moment since her mid-teens, albeit unknowingly.

“I started going out to gay clubs in Soho when I was about 16 and instantly felt at home,” she recalls, perched on a sofa in the East London offces of her record label. “I remember feeling a sense of community; that this was a place where I could explore my sexuality and meet like-minded people. And the music in a lot of these clubs was big, bold pop music, listened to without irony.”

Approached to DJ by the manager of the now-defunct club Ghetto, she quickly learned to follow suit, leaning on “songs everyone recognised from the opening notes.” So around the same time as The xx were crafting their arrestingly introspective debut, Romy was regularly out spinning crying-inthe-club classics like ‘Dancing On My Own’, ‘Hung Up’ and the Tiësto remix of Delerium’s ‘Silence’. These formative experiences helped foster her appreciation

for “uplifting, emotional dance music,” in turn providing the sonic blueprint for ‘Mid Air’.

Romy frst dipped her toes into the pop world writing for the likes of Kelela, Dua Lipa and King Princess. After a decade creating collaboratively within The xx, she found it felt liberating to suddenly switch things up, and to work free from external expectations. “There was no pressure so it became this outlet for my creativity where I could just create ideas that someone else could run with.”

It was through these co-writing sessions that she was introduced to Fred again.., with whom she forged “an instant connection.” Romy recalls opening up surprisingly quickly: “We talked a lot about our emotions, and I ended up writing quite a lot of personal lyrics. Eventually, we wrote the song ‘Loveher’, and Fred said to me, ‘Well, who is this for?’ And when I said, ‘Maybe me?’, that provided the spark for this process.”

A tenderly melancholic house track, ‘Loveher’ makes for a dizzyingly romantic album opener, gradually unfurling in waves of staccato piano chords. Written for her wife of two years – the photographer and director Vic Lentaigne – it fnds Romy laying her feelings bare in lines like, “Hold my hand under the table / It's not that I'm not proud in the company of strangers / It's just some things are for us.”

“It’s about these little nuanced moments that you have in a relationship,” Romy explains, considering the lyric’s inspiration. “I've never felt ashamed of my sexuality – and I feel very proud of my relationship [with Vic] – but I am also very aware of the feeling you get as a queer person having to assess whether you feel safe and comfortable enough to be visible. The reality is, sometimes you just have to read the room. And that can take up quite a lot of energy.”

'Mid Air’ delves into their relationship, from the heady uncertainty of the early days (‘Weightless’) to the intimate connection they now share (‘Twice’). It’s the frst time Romy has put her sexuality front and centre in her songwriting, using female pronouns and eschewing metaphor for lyrical candour. Today she credits this newfound style of communication to a couple of different factors.

“It's me getting older and a bit more comfortable in my own skin. Shedding a little bit of that self consciousness, I just felt ready to just remove that barrier between onstage and offstage, and let down my guard a bit. At the same time, I found it very inspiring working with people like King Princess: younger, queer artists that are able to write unapologetically about how they feel and who they love.

this

of grief while The xx was doing incredible things.”

“It's exciting to be more open about my sexuality,” she enthuses. “When I was growing up, I was always seeking out lesbian love stories and other bits of representation in the media. It was hard to fnd that, especially within the dance world. So I was excited to put my storyline into electronic music, even if it took me a little bit of time to believe I could embody this music in a live setting.”

Though still far from an exhibitionist, it’s startling to square this quietly self-assured artist with the timid 20 year-old that won the Mercury Prize back in 2010. Always a “pretty quiet person”, Romy admits that back then she found the intense public scrutiny tough to navigate. “Having a light shone on you suddenly, I froze up a bit. I didn't really know how to be, so I defnitely held back.”

And those feelings of disorientation were wildly exacerbated by the fact that she was simultaneously enduring the very toughest of personal circumstances. Having lost her mother at the age of 11, her father passed away unexpectedly while The xx were playing in Paris.

“It was just this huge contradiction of the shock of my dad dying, with the adrenaline of the tour,” she recalls. “And my cousin, who I was really close with, also passed away that year. So I was experiencing this rollercoaster of grief while the band was doing incredible things and connecting with people in a way that we never expected. It wasn't until we fnished touring the frst album that I was able to process anything.”

Over a decade later, these experiences helped inform ‘Strong’, an unabashedly emotive trance track that feels like a nod to ATB’s ‘9pm (Till I Come)’ and that is inspired by her own emotional

journey, as well as that of her late cousin’s son Luis. In the opening verse she coos, “You've been so strong for so long / You learned to carry this on your own / Let me be someone you can lean on.”

The accompanying music video was directed by her wife, and depicts Romy embracing Luis on the dancefoor.

'Md Air’ started life back in 2019, with Romy continuing work remotely through lockdowns, from the home she and Vic share near Brighton with their rescue dogs Mouse and Pacha (named after the iconic Ibiza superclub). With songs from Madonna’s ‘Confessions on a Dance Floor’ dominating her reference playlists, Romy’s record label suggested she get in touch with that album’s producer, Stuart Price, for a potential collaboration.

Reaching out with her’s and Fred’s demos, she was struck by Stuart’s passion for the project. “He was so inspiring to work with,” she says. “As a fan, it was very cool to hear about those behind the scenes moments [making ‘Confessions’] and to use the same microphone that Madonna used on that album.” In a neat bit of synchronicity, one of Romy’s fondest memories of her late father is him going through a Madonna phase, and playing ‘Hung Up’ in the kitchen.

Robyn was another musical hero who helped shape the sound of ‘Mid Air’. “We had a conversation midway through this album process that was really helpful. And without her the song 'Enjoy Your Life' wouldn't exist, because she took me to see BeverlyGlenn Copeland in Stockholm.”

The song is crafted around a vocal sample from ‘La Vita’, in which the cult ambient pioneer croons,

“My mother says to me, ‘Enjoy your life’.” It was the exact same lyric that moved Romy to tears the frst time she heard it live in Stockholm, and its inclusion provides a full-circle moment, acknowledging just how far she’s come. Created with help from Jamie xx, ‘Enjoy Your Life’ forms the frst part of a euphoric one-two that closes out the album, concluded by ‘She’s On My Mind’.

With its buoyant beats and syncopated, ABBAesque piano chords, the latter successfully conjures a sense of joyful abandon. She explains: “I wanted it to feel like the song that comes on at the end of the night. You know, where the lights are on and the pressure’s off? I think I was willing myself into this state of release. Like, the song literally ends with me saying, ‘I don't care anymore.’”

The lyric forms a striking contrast with the very frst words uttered on the album, which is a recording of Romy meekly asking Fred, “Can you turn it up a bit more? Thank you.” And this spiritual journey is embodied by both the album’s title - which seeks to evoke the feeling of emotional weightlessness that pop music can offer - and its artwork. Depicting Romy looking directly at the camera, it represents a giant leap forward for an artist who once told the Guardian she wouldn’t appear on her own album sleeves.

What would the Romy of 2010 make of the woman she is now? “I think I would be shocked,” she laughs. “People have asked me, ‘How do you feel about this diary-like album going out in the world?’ Obviously I wanted to remove that barrier, but now it’s fnally coming out it does make me feel quite vulnerable.” She pauses and smiles, “But at the same time, I think I'm OK with that.”

‘Mid Air’ is out 8th September via Young. DIY

“I was experiencing

rollercoaster

There’s no pretension to its greatnessjust our Kylie.

 Kylie Minogue

Few artists straddle both commercial success and cult fandom like Kylie Minogue. She’s not only her adopted nation’s sweetheart (and every dad’s biggest crush) but her devoted queer fanbase reveres her legacy career as highly as Madonna’s. Previous albums ‘Golden’ and ‘Disco’ - country and disco records respectively - scored high on both the mainstream and hardcore scales, sustaining solid positions on traditional charts before only really living on in memory through dedicated stans. Perhaps the issue was a younger generation of streamers unfamiliar with her cultural peaks, an assumption that her work solely belongs to mums and aged gays. But this time around on sixteenth studio record ‘Tension’ she’s here for her fowers, and has global listeners - old and new - gripped.

Yes, trending tracks can be feeting, but ‘Padam Padam’ continues to be a gargantuan moment still, four months following its release - marbleised in memes, parodied by drag queens and danced along to by Hobbycraft staff on TikTok. It charted globally, too, and cemented the ffth consecutive decade that Kylie has achieved a Top Ten single in the UK. Perhaps its success is owed to its reference to a time of pop music immemorial when Top Tens were blissfully free from the shackles of seriousness.

‘Tension’ pushes the carefree energy of ‘Padam Padam’ to a thousand. Using 2003 hit ‘Slow’ as a reference point, Kylie’s intention was to stray from genre-locked records towards a collection that “celebrate[s] each song’s individuality”. That it does - there’s a commitment to make each the best on the album. Ironically, there’s an ease in ‘Tension’ then, a welcome fourish of authority over pop that’s pulsating and vibrant, a gift for a preoccupied culture. It’s got the sort of effortlessly glamorous swish that will have gays screaming “mother!”, while noughties Scandipop, synthpop and Eurodance infuse the album with sweaty dancefoor catharsis. It’s quintessential Kylie - throughout she touches on classic monolithic Kylie soundswhile imagining what a future Minogue Club Utopia might look like, where perpetual dance and ecstasy push an agenda of, well, just having a load of fucking fun and not thinking about too much else.

Its highlights include the title track, the dancefoor euphoric ‘Tension’, featuring experimental robotic vocals; the preppy Scandipop and whispering sax of ‘You Still Get Me High’, and ‘Vegas High’. Then there’s ‘Hands’, a cut that throws back to the '90s with ‘Vogue’-ish vocals that will surely have her fanbase grinning with glee: “Big trap on the baseline / Tick tock on the waistline / Don’t rush, baby, take time,” she instructs rhythmically.

It’s been suggested ‘Tension’ is more a promo album for More Than Just a Residency - Kylie’s Las Vegas run later this year - than a fully fedged creative project, but that’s not the case. There’s no sign of cash-grab radio pop; it has more perspective than that. But even if so, there’s enough originality pumped throughout each track that ‘Tension’ will undoubtedly stand as one of the most favoured contemporary Kylie eras. There’s no pretension to its greatness, just our Kylie, once again, humbly proving how easily she can forge gold and transform into pop culture phenomenon. Padam? Padam. (Otis Robinson) LISTEN: ‘Padam Padam’

 Jorja Smith Falling or flying (FAMM)

Jorja Smith’s debut album, ‘Lost & Found’, was so disarmingly accomplished that perhaps it’s no surprise that it’s taken this long for her to follow it up; she was probably left wondering where she could go next. That record showed, on the one hand, a deep understanding of her forebears, with Aaliyah and Erykah Badu both hanging heavy over it, and on the other, a keen sense of present-day R&B’s direction of travel. Since, she’s taken her time in crafting her comeback, but the sprawling, 17-track ‘Falling or fying’ provides compelling evidence that she made the right decision. This is thoughtful, nuanced R&B that demonstrates Jorja’s kaleidoscopic feel for her genre, incorporating everything from neo-soul on the brooding title track, to firting with dancehall on ‘Feelings’, which features a stirring guest turn by J Hus - one of only two outside contributors on the record, along with Lila Iké, the reggae singer bringing a subtlety to the softly gospel-infected ‘Greatest Gift’. For the most part, though, this is Jorja’s stage alone, whether she’s teasing the idea of reinventing herself as a troubadour when she coos over a lo-f guitar line on ‘Too Many Times’ or revisiting her trip hop infuences on the quietly massive ‘Backwards’. ‘Falling or fying’ is a record unafraid to run off in different directions - ‘GO GO GO’ is far and away the poppiest thing she’s ever put her name to, while closer ‘What if my heart beats faster?’ is a striking reminder of her vocal ability. But when she’s this adept at whatever she turns her hand to, why not showcase it? (Joe Goggins) LISTEN: ‘Backwards’

A record unafraid to run off in different directions.

ALBUMS

The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We (Dead Oceans)

Many musicians would give anything to have a sound at once so distinctive and multifaceted as Mitski’s, which explores a unique, fragile heartache just as capably through piano ballads as in glitchy synth stomps. ‘The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We’, her seventh record, is an achievement in that in such a diverse catalogue it manages to hatch its own identity without straying from her singular voice. ‘Bug

Like An Angel’ clues in to a more subdued record populated by acoustic guitars and big vocal arrangements, but this is an illusion. Through songs that often seem to have bare-bones arrangements, the album becomes increasingly intense. For its entirety, guitars, pianos and whole orchestras are lost in vibrating soundscapes, and drums are rare. On ‘The Deal’, a lilting ballad morphs into an apocalyptic whirlwind, while ‘Star’ is at once discordant and glowing, as complex and delicate as anything off ‘Pet Sounds’. Taken individually these songs are all gorgeous, but as a whole they create an effect of being hemmed in by absence, that inhospitable land overwhelming in its minimalism. No other record today sounds so beautiful and full while being quite so sparse.

(James

Hickey)

LISTEN: ‘Star’

 Empire State Bastard Rivers Of Heresy (Roadrunner)

A tectonic fault lies in the fanbase of Biffy Clyro. While they’ve been forming Mountains on their post-‘Puzzle’ formula of heartfelt, irresistible rock anthems, their foothills lie on a bedrock of dizzying mathcore. This foundation has largely been eroded out of their sound but a section of their fanbase still hold the earlier epoch as Biffy’s fnest and, for them, Empire State Bastard promises its glorious return.

Two decades in the making, the project sees Biffy frontman Simon Neil team up with UK prog hero Mike Vennart and Slayer’s Dave Lombardo for debut album ‘Rivers of Heresy’. The album erupts at breakneck speed with a furry of aggressive hardcore that culminates in ‘Tired, Aye’. The track sees Mike step aside while Simon simply screams over a

battering drum solo from Dave. The band call it a duet akin to ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ but it comes through the speakers more like ‘We Will Rock You’ as performed by Napalm Death.

From there, the album branches outwards into the crevices of modern heavy. ‘Sons and Daughters’ is sludgy enough to make The Melvins blush while ‘Harvest’ can go toe-to-toe with Converge for unbridled aggression. There are nods to metal’s foundations too. ‘Sold!’ and especially ‘Palms of Hands’ wield meaty thrash sections that have Dave on home turf behind the kit.

Biffy fans will fnd the frmest footing on ‘Moi, Stutter’ or ‘The Looming’, where Simon shows his uncanny knack for a scream-along vocal melody was only ever lying dormant. Their choruses soar with glassy synths but as quickly as these moments of respite come, they are undercut by more frantic riffng and, in the latter case, even death growls.

‘Rivers of Heresy’ allows the trio to trade the summit of festival bills for the subterranea of metal’s sonic extremity. Punctuated by Simon’s misanthropic frustrations at a post-pandemic world, it’s a bold and brilliant but bileful record that may alienate even the most diehard of those ‘early-albums-are-the-best’ fans. (James Smurthwaite) LISTEN: ‘Tired, Aye’

 Courtney Barnett End Of The Day (Mom + Pop)

Listeners who’ve seen ‘Anonymous Club’, the revealing documentary about Courtney Barnett that reached UK screens late last year, will have an idea of what to expect from ‘End Of The Day’, collecting as it does the instrumentals she used to soundtrack the flm. Yet, to imagine an instrumental album from Courtney is to imagine Superman without his cape, so central to her appeal has her wry, knowing lyricism always been. And ‘End Of The Day’ certainly doesn’t sound, instrumentally, like anything we’ve heard from her before; it is spare, slow, sad, refective. Even without the context of this being the fnal release on her Milk Records label, something the title hints at, this still has the sense of an ending about it; droning guitars lap against each other softly, as Courtney channels Brian Eno to create ambient soundscapes. Her next record will be fascinating because she is clearly navigating a crossroads in her life - leaving her label and homeland behind for Los Angeles, and reckoning with the changes in her life that success has bestowed upon her. But ‘End of the Day’ feels like a long, slow goodbye to her old life; elegant and, given the context, elegaic. (Joe Goggins) LISTEN: ‘River’



James Blake Playing Robots Into Heaven

(Polydor / Republic)

James Blake’s headfrst return to club music could have been predicted. The now LA-based Brit has spent much of the time since 2021’s insular ‘Friends That Break Your Heart’ toying with the electronic sounds that underpinned his early EPs, dropping a mid-set rave into the album’s headline tour and inviting a host of turntable-toting pals to his ‘CMYK’ club nights taking over old and established strobe-flled spaces. That self-led nod to his 2010 breakthrough precedes the newfound frenetic energy of his sixth studio album, easing into an atypically rousing one-two before ‘Tell Me’ unleashes a seemingly cataclysmic barrage of sound. From here, James bonds together the two threads of his career, writhing through the gritty blips of ‘He’s Been Wonderful’ and the glitchy experimentation of ‘Big Hammer’, pairing them with vocal delicacy on ‘Fire The Editor’ and the title track’s eventual Brian Eno-esque minimalism.

It’s a stark contrast to many of James’ contemporaries busy pulling the mainstream into electronic circles, stepping away from the commerciality of ‘Friends…’ in favour of a reinvigorated sweat-inducing dancefoor. It’s a step easily afforded to the forefather of emotion-laden club music, having travelled through a vibrant hedonistic combo of underground pits, festival headline slots and stripped back performances. His unparalleled mastery of each of these settings drips throughout ‘Playing Robots Into Heaven’, as the album ultimately settles on Ibiza-ready shared euphoria masking an ever-bubbling dark undercurrent. Despite – and seemingly deliberatelynot carrying the widespread immediacy of more recent releases, it presents James as he currently stands; at once nostalgic and forward-thinking, and frmly back behind the decks. (Ben Tipple) LISTEN ‘Tell Me’

Bold, brilliant, bileful.

 Romy

Mid Air (Young)

For her frst full-length project outside of minimalist-maestros The xx, Romy is fully embracing the club culture that helped to cement her identity. Produced in-part by Stuart Price - best known for Madonna’s 2005 dance-heavy ‘Confessions On A Dance Floor’ – it embodies the turn of the century’s careless hedonism. Friend and creative partner Fred again.. mirrors the sound, credited by name on the euphoric ‘Strong’ and pulling the timeless steady build out of the late ‘90s to crash headfrst into 2023. It’s a feat repeated throughout ‘Mid Air’, from the stunning trance-balladry of ‘Weightless’ to the synth-laden ‘Did I’; all the while Romy delivers a powerhouse vocal in keeping with her full-band project. The collaborative spirit of producer Fred and long-time friend Haai fows throughout ‘Mid Air’’s eleven-strong homage to an unforgettable era, but it’s Romy’s autobiographical candour that adds a depth beyond the record’s inarguable ecstasy. Although relentlessly upbeat in sound, Romy balances the emotional completeness of ‘Loveher’ with the lofty insecurity of ‘Weightless’ and the distance of ‘She’s On My Mind’. The heartfelt openness beautifully captures the fragile joy of self-discovery, projecting Romy’s settled life as it now stands onto the comparable blank canvas of youth. In embracing the sounds of the past, she effortlessly bridges a time long gone to the present, and with it captures the sheer joy of life. (Ben Tipple) LISTEN: ‘Weightless’

Vagabon Sorry I Haven’t Called (Nonesuch)

‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’ is an album that conversationally chronicles the pursuit of happiness. There are no mysterious metaphors or lofty linguistics as Vagabon instead opts for straight-talking lyricism that refects how she speaks in real life with her family and friends. ‘Do Your Worst’ holds an insuffcient partner to account, while ‘You Know How’ is a thumping dance number that admits “I think we’re more than friends / but maybe just when we’re alone.” There’s a stark and assertive air to ‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’ that makes the record instantly likeable. The fnal pair of tracks fall on vastly different ends of the spectrum to each other: while ‘Made Out WIth Your Best Friend’ is an unapologetic and self-indulgent bassheavy track that ought to be turned up, ‘Anti-Fuck’ is a tender and emotionally raw number that soundtracks the hazy morning after the fevered night before. ‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’ is yet another accomplished chapter. Vagabon’s versatility and elasticity has fast become her strong suit and to be able to keep everything so cohesive is her crowning glory. Her latest reinvention is one that should take her to a new level. (Jack Terry) LISTEN: ‘Made Out With Your Best Friend’

 Royal Blood Back To The Water Below (Warner)

It may not be all that long since the release of Royal Blood’s previous album ‘Typhoons’, but a fair bit has happened to the duo in the interim. Park the fact that, earlier this year, they managed to become the internet’s latest meme fodder - after a rather daft, arrogance-packed turn “defending” rock music at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend - and their last two years has mostly been defned by scaling bigger and bigger live stages. It’s upon this foundation that new LP ‘Back To The Water Below’ is built; moving away from the more shallowsounding confnes of its predecessor - which saw the duo amp up the synths while sacrifcing some of their boldness - here they manage to make a return to the towering riffs that populated their early releases, while adding some much-needed dynamism. The fuzzy swagger of ‘Shinier In the Dark’ feels reminiscent of Queens of the Stone Age’s latter career funk, while the piano at the heart of ‘The Firing Line’ evokes a sense of ‘70s rock and roll nostalgia. It may not be entirely reinventing the rock wheel, but it’s certainly a more successful attempt at broadening their horizons.

(Sarah Jamieson) LISTEN: ‘Shinier In The Dark’

 Samantha Urbani

Showing Up (Lucky Number)

For anyone familiar with Samantha Urbani as frontwoman of 2010s NYC outft Friends, ‘Showing Up’ arrives as the next logical step on from those youthful forays. An updated, slicker take on the bass-led, R&B-infuenced sound that not only they, but contemporaries Chairlift and Dev Hynes made their name on, a decade later, the singer's output is far less concerned with outward appearances. “I’m immune to guitars / I’m immune to cool,” she sings during ‘One Day At A Time’, a line that sums up the shift from Friends to now succinctly. At times its infuences may be a little too obvious – see the bassline of ‘Time Keeps Slipping’ for a Metronomy nod, for example – but between the euphoric segue from the subtle dancefoor vibe of ‘Guiding Star’ into the full on disco stomp that is ‘Isolation’ and the throwaway “Fuck it” that cherry-tops the opening title track, eschewing six-strings and the zeitgeist sounds like it’s been fun. (Bella Martin) LISTEN: ‘Isolation’

Q&A

On the cusp of releasing her debut solo album, Samantha Urbani speaks about the decade since the breakup of Friends, the loss that drove her away from music, and the community that brought her back. Interview: James Hickey.

It’s been ten years since Friends split up. Why have you decided to release a solo album now?

In 2013 when Friends was coming to an end I had other opportunities that just felt like they were centring my community more. It’s not like I waited to make a solo album – I just decided things really aligned in a way that felt true to myself. And then when that happened I made an EP with a very dear friend of mine called Sam Mehran, and he and I were super close and that creative connection was really deep and sincere, so it was heartbreaking when he died the next year. It defnitely took me a full year to recover from that on any level – emotionally, creatively, mental health wise, everything. The really beautiful thing about this album starting was it ended up being this intense unexpected healing process.

How did you decide to work with [producer] Nick Weiss?

We initially got together to go through Sam’s hard drives. We didn’t meet to say “let’s make an album”, we met because we shared this mutual friend and we were just trying to work through the grief and think about how to reconvene and rebuild our community. Out of that we released a posthumous album of Sam’s music, but it was Nick very gently and frmly saying “I know this isn’t the frst thing on your mind now but I wanna hear what you two were working on before this happened” that started it. I was in a weird place where I had so much baggage and pain intrinsically connected to music, so Nick was unintentionally this mediator to get me reconnected to my joy in writing and recording my songs. We worked for a year at all these demos I had started with Sam, and we wrote some new things too, and we both ended up relocating from New York to LA and fnishing the album together.

Have you considered what a live show will look like?

Even though I love going to shows where its super heart-on-your-sleeve and everyone’s crying, for me as an artist and a performer I know that I’m in my best element when I can be the ringleader of everyone getting high energy and a sense of catharsis and a sense of euphoric survival, rather than opening up the memories of the actual deeply painful stuff. Most of these songs I haven’t played live at all which is a new thing for me – when I started Friends it was a live thing before it was ever recorded, but now it’s quite the opposite. When I was recording it was so fun for me as a producer having such an amazing network of musicians and collaborators, so on this album I’ve been able to build a supergroup for each song, and there was a part of me that was like “Fuck! How am I going to be able to do it justice live?” But I just had my frst band practices a week ago and my live bandmates are a total supergroup, too.

XIQUE (LIVE), B.o.T

KEVIN KAARL CHERISE

MARGARET GLASPY DEAD PONY

LAURENCE JONES

FEEL IT

THE SOUTH LONDON SOUL TRAIN

KAMILLE

BARE JAMS

FEEL IT

IRAINA MANCINI

HAND HABITS

FEEL IT

ALICE AUER

TRAMA - BAILE FUNK HALLOWEEN

LIZZIE BERCHIE

BELLAH MAE

ELINA

FEEL IT

LEXIE CARROLL

SIPPRELL

KASSI VALAZZA

ALBUMS

 King Nun LAMB (Marshall)

It’s been four long years since London rockers King Nun released debut LP ‘MASS’. In that time we’ve faced a pandemic, global economies have crashed through the foor and the planet has continued to heat up to unfathomable levels. It’s that bleak state of the world that provides the wrought iron spine of this fervent follow-up, ‘LAMB’. It opens with ‘Golden Age’, a furious blast of punkish energy. “Kiss the toe and lick the heel / Of every mother fucker here,” offers a choice couplet decrying the need to work back-breaking jobs while still not earning enough to get by. ‘But We Live On The Beach’ is an ostensibly upbeat number that deals with people leaning on substances as a crutch to cope; what used to be a holiday or a break from the real world is now home for many. Across the runtime of ‘LAMB’, King Nun evokes everyone from Foo Fighters to Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes. The real accomplishment is in how they never lose their own identity despite it all. Whether vocalist Theo Polyzoides is doing his best Brian Molko impression on ‘Sinking Feeling’ or the band is lashing out in all directions on the combustible instrumental track ‘Escapism’, they are tethered to their own driving core of exploring the increasingly-complex human psyche. ‘LAMB’ sees King Nun pick up where they left off in fne fettle. Brimming with a confdence and maturity that few manage just two albums in, they show that no matter how bad everything may be getting, you’re never alone. (Jack Terry) LISTEN: ‘Golden Age’

Art Attack

Frontman Theo Polyzoides and new recruit Ethan Stockley-Young let us in on the story behind the ‘LAMB’ artwork.

Theo: Way before we recorded anything I knew the name of the album would be ‘LAMB’, which in that context would imply naivety, innocence, and because of those things, maybe even a sense of melancholy. This title would stand to highlight the themes that would string each song together and directly contrast the heavy sound of the album as a whole. It was very important to us then that we had an artwork that would function in the exact same way as this title. Eventually, thinking about this for months on end and hunting for reference points, I realised that we would need something that would look like a kids’ storybook cover, something in the same vein as the works of Eileen Soper (the artist most famous for creating the original Enid Blyton book covers ‘The Faraway Tree’, ‘The Famous Five’, etc) The problem was that this meant that the cover had to be a fairly elaborate painting and no one in the band at that time had the skills to pull something like that off. It was very fortunate then that Ethan offcially joined the band after working with us on recording the album. We’ve always been huge fans of his paintings and his ability to work with a strong defnite style as well as being able to give them a sense of realism. He and I worked on the basic arrangement of the painting for a few days before we handed the whole thing over to him to go at it.

Ethan: I spent four months in my underwear covered in paint on the foor of my bedroom manically calling Theo at 3am on the cusp of actually losing my mind over this painting. I’m such a perfectionist when it comes to art, I will get 90% of the way through a piece only to douse the canvas in black paint and start over. I don’t think I’ve cared so much about a piece of art ever. Getting to be a part of this record and the thought of people being able to see one of my paintings in a record shop is such a mind bogglingly cool concept. Also the painting is fucking massive. I did not need to make it that big.

 FIZZ

The Secret To Life (Decca)

FIZZ - the supergroup of Orla Gartland, dodie, Greta Isaac and Martin Luke Brown - are about as close to musical theatre as you’re likely to get this side of Matilda. They dress like they’ve just been turfed off the set of a children’s TV programme; they’re utterly, profoundly uncool - and that’s exactly what makes ‘The Secret to Life’ such a giddily enjoyable listen. An album that takes the central escapism of lead single ‘High In Brighton’ and spreads it thick over 12 songs that quite literally include a choral paean to eating jam, FIZZ’s debut is a wide-eyed hit of sugary fantasia. ‘Close One’ is the nervous soundtrack sung by the female romantic lead, while ‘You, Me, Lonely’ makes for an angelic three-way lullaby. ‘The Secret to Life’ closes, as all good shows must, with ‘The Grand Finale’ in which “the curtain falls, the credits roll” - a song that’s only an Anna Kendrick guest spot away from being a Broadway smash. For many, FIZZ will be far too much; but for those who still hum Bugsy Malone in the shower, ‘Secret to Life’ will uncork something that’s pure ridiculous fun. (Lisa Wright) LISTEN: ‘The Grand Finale’

 Icona Pop Club Romantech (Ultra / Iconic Sounds / TEN Music Group)

The window for a post-Covid hedonist house record has long passed, but here are Swedish duo Icona Pop to give it their best go. Yet, even now, Icona Pop seem fxated on beating their own high score on a ten-year-old game, a perpetual chasing of that one anthemic Scandipop win, a legacy now cemented in throwback karaoke forever. Yes, ‘Club Romantech’ is fun, albeit superfcially - supercharged by pulsating house that would perhaps be irresistible only under very specifc, very inebriated conditions in 2012. It’s evidently inspired, but only by well-trodden paths: the “Ooh, baby” hook of ‘Make Your Mind Up Babe’ brings back memories of French house trio Stardust’s ‘Music Sounds Better With You’, while ‘You’re Free’, which samples Ultra Naté’s late-‘90s classic, doesn’t help their case. It’s all fun, all good, but at what cost? Devoted fans may be hesitant to slam the duo, but familiarity and fandom can only allow coasting for so long. (Otis Robinson) LISTEN: ‘Make Your Mind Up Babe’

 Speedy Ortiz

Rabbit Rabbit (Wax Nine)

Considering the fact that 2018’s ‘Twerp Verse’ came to life after the 2016 US presidential election, it’s no real surprise that Speedy Ortiz’s newest bubbles with the very tangible balancing act between rage and acceptance. As a band who’ve never shied away from socio-political dissections, it’d be easy to assume that ‘Rabbit Rabbit’ would fully embrace the world’s crumbling state of current affairs, but their ffth offers so much more. An album that works to intertwine large scale issues with some deeply personal admissions from frontwoman Sadie Dupuis - all via her intoxicating and bewildering brand of lyricism - the record, instead, grapples with the anger at its core and transforms. it into something more worthwhile. “How to move on when the ocean is coming up strong? / I’m tired of anger. How do I let go?” she asks in the fnal moments of gnarly closer ‘Ghostwriter’, concluding their most cathartic move yet. (Sarah Jamieson) LISTEN: ‘Ranch vs. Ranch’

 Yeule Softscars (Ninja Tune)

On third record ‘softscars’, yeule sits at the intersection between bedroom pop and 2000s pop-rock. Where breakthrough ‘Glitch Princess’ depicted scattered synthpop within dystopian internet servers, ‘softscars’ leans into the early-‘00s alternative that soundtracked their youth. yeule’s willingness to play with sonic landscape and sci-f dystopia means their version of emo is more infectiously haunting than the blueprint: take the futuristic post-pop of ‘sulky baby’ and ‘ghosts’, or the interluding piano on ‘fsh in the pool’, which feels like Dracula lit an oil candle while updating his MySpace profle. Expectedly, metaphor is much darker this time around, with yeule’s grief for a friend manifesting through raw, scratchy guitar, later settling within soft, glitching melodies. Like wounds healing into scars, yeule’s nostalgia combines with their wish to heal in a strange version of the future: the carefully curated ‘softscars’ is a gothic computer - a touching third act. (Otis Robinson) LISTEN: ‘fsh in the pool’

UK/IE TOUR

ALBUMS

 Coach Party KILLJOY (Chess Club)

“We’re all gonna die / What’s the point in life?” ask Coach Party on the opening track of this debut album. At frst, it might seem a bit desolate. But it’s exactly the kind of throw-caution-to-thewind, fuck-it attitude that Coach Party express on ‘KILLJOY’. Angsty, enraged and indulgent of fery emotions, the 90-second blitzing ‘Parasite’ is an adrenaline-heavy wall of guitars and chest-pounding drums, a spirit that continues through the roaring ‘All I Wanna Do Is Hate’. Elsewhere, they descend into overthinking and the search for a sense of self on the dazed ‘Be That Girl’. As far as debut albums go, ‘KILLJOY’ is a formidable statement of intent. Coach Party ignite a complete blaze and allow it to spill into whatever directions it pleases. By the time the introspective, daydream-dwelling ‘Always Been You’ rolls around, that fame has risen higher – wherever they go next, it can only continue to ficker brighter. (Neive McCarthy) LISTEN: ‘Parasite’

 The Wytches

Our Guest Can’t Be Named (Alcopop!)

Halloween season is nearly upon us, and here come The Wytches, right in time for murky, rain-soaked, fog-flled autumn evenings. ‘Our Guest Can’t Be Named’ kicks off with ‘Zep Step’, a spellbinding racket that brings to mind the band’s earlier work. ‘Maria’ then delves towards The Cramps and early Nick Cave gothic-tinged garage-rock, yet is still laced with The Wytches’ refned, signature doom-surf stylings. On it, Kristian Bell’s gnarled vocals wail over the gloomy fuzzed-out frenzy like he’s demonically possessed. The aptly titled ‘Bats’ is a grunge-gothic-rock riot, while ‘Unsure’ sees the record swerve. As the frst half somewhat evokes the more reticent side of ’80s / ‘90s alternative-rock, it then plunges into a doom-pop, pintspilling head-banger. Overall, it’s hard not to be ensorcelled by The Wytches and their alchemy on ‘Our Guest Can’t Be Named’: a wave-ride of glorious surfsludge. (Brad Sked) LISTEN: ‘Zep Step’

ABSOLUTE (BEHIND THE) SCENES!

In the studio with The Wytches as they recorded ‘Our Guest Can’t Be Named’.

 Chappell Roan

The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess (Amusement / Island)

Pop’s newest drag superstar is unprepared to compromise. It’s palpable throughout ‘The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess’, which turns it all up to a thousand, infusing teen melodrama with queer euphoria (especially on ‘Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl’ and ‘HOT TO GO!’) to throw confetti in the face of heteronormativity. As all good coming-of-age records are, Chappell’s debut is thoughtful, a little unhinged and entirely contradictory, merging the alt-pop seriousness of Lana Del Rey with the untethered preppy charm of Lorde to go full throttle into messy, emotional fun. And after years of indie-pop and bedroom-pop dominating playlists, Chappell knows her followers crave something a little glitzier and rowdier to narrate their coming-out: “Dude, can you play this song with a fucking beat?” she screams across ‘Femininomenon’, “Did you hear me? Play the fucking beat!” (Otis Robinson) LISTEN: ‘Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl’

 Slowdive

everything is alive (Dead Oceans)

That Slowdive do things at their own pace should not come as a surprise to anybody; there is a clue in the name, after all. But more than ever, listening to ‘everything is alive’, you get the sense that the veteran shoegazers couldn’t rush something if they’d tried. Opener ‘Shanty’ sets the tone, awash in walls of guitarladen reverb, but it’s on track three, ‘Alife’, that it really takes off, a gorgeous pop song that has Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead trading vocals over a driving rhythm. The record is dedicated to Rachel’s mother and drummer Simon Scott’s father, both of whom died in 2020, and there is an elegiac feel in places, particularly on the gorgeous, woozy ‘Andalucia Plays’. If there’s evidence of musical progression, meanwhile, it comes via an apparently new-found fxation Neil has with modular synths; he deploys them tastefully here, perhaps to most striking effect on ‘Chained to a Cloud’. In general, though, ‘everything is alive’ very much gives off the sense that the slower gestations lead to the richest rewards. (Joe Goggins) LISTEN: ‘Andalucia Plays’

 Mae Muller

Sorry I’m Late (Capitol / EMI)

Navigating love, loss, and everything in between, Mae Muller uses this lengthy 17-track debut to explore a series of experiences through her own personal lens. Carefree opener ‘I Just Came To Dance’, the unapologetic ‘Bitch With A Broken Heart’ and celebration of self-love ‘Me, Myself & I’ provide the summery bops while the piano-led, stripped-back acoustic ballad ‘MTJL’ centres around learning to accept life’s imperfections. Then, as the record nears its end comes the fearlessly defant ‘Written By A Woman’. Capturing the highs and lows of womanhood via catchy pop, ‘Sorry I’m Late’ may have been a long time coming (see what she did there), but it’s worth the wait. (Emily Savage)

LISTEN: ‘Written By A Woman’



Honeymoan Sorry Like You Mean It (self-released)

A testament to HONEYMOAN’s commitment to the conceptual, ‘Sorry Like You Mean It’ continues the outft’s scattershot stylistic approach. From the indie melancholy of ‘Shortcuts’ to the glitchy, disordered textures of ‘Bad News’, each track’s journey is boldly unique, with kindred resonance found among a wide palette of artists: Saâda Bonaire in ‘Pick Up / Don’t Pick Up’; Joy Crookes in the emotive, elegant ‘Seriously Good Luck With That’; St Vincent in the intricate guitars of ‘Your House Last Sunday’. Yet, for all the record’s willingness to explore, the songs’ deeper sentiments - refections on childhood, relationship struggles, personal deep-dives - are often lost in its pilgrimage for heterogeneity.

(Angelika

LISTEN:

May)

‘Bad News’

“If I’d known this was going in a magazine I would have worn trousers.” - Dan

“All the pre-production for the album took place in our local village hall. 11-6 most days but Tuesdays were 11-4 as the seniors’ table tennis clashed with our schedule.” - Kristian

“Duck-Crutch became a pivotal source of inspiration for the album during pre-production. We will remember him forever.” - Dan

“Moments before we called on the ancients to give me the power of John Bonham. With my new power we smashed through the demos and I broke every skin” - Mark

“This is our bodyguard”Kristian

FAT WHITE

FAMILY

SAT 9 SEP

ELECTRIC BRIXTON

TIRZAH

THUR 14 SEP

COLOUR FACTORY

THE NATIONAL

TUE 26 SEP

WED 27 SEP

ALEXANDRA PALACE

DREAMER ISIOMA

THU 5 OCT

CORSICA STUDIOS

LSDXOXO

THU 5 OCT

ICA

RAPTURE DAY EVENT

SAT 7 OCT

HACKNEY EARTH

MITSKI

WED 11 OCT

UNION CHAPEL

SKINNY PELEMBE

WED 11 OCT

SCALA

WTRGRL

WED 11 OCT

THE WAITING ROOM

HAND HABITS

MON 16 OCT

OMEARA

DESIRE MAREA

TUE 17 OCT

HOXTON HALL

BONNY DOON

TUE 24 OCT

THE LEXINGTON

MANSUR BROWN

SAT 28 OCT

LAFAYETTE

COUCOU CHLOE

MON 30 OCT

VILLAGE UNDERGROUND

BLONDSHELL

WED 1 NOV

LAFAYETTE

ART SCHOOL GIRLFRIEND

THU 2 NOV

ICA

LUCRECIA DALT

TUE 7 NOV

STUDIO 9294

DOG RACE

THU 9 NOV

THE WAITING ROOM

EGYPTIAN BLUE

THU 9 NOV

100 CLUB

DEVENDRA BANHART

WED 15 NOV

TROXY

FRANCIS OF DELIRIUM

WED 15 NOV

THE LEXINGTON

SODA BLONDE

WED 22 NOV

THE LEXINGTON

BC CAMPLIGHT

THU 23 NOV

O2 SHEPHERD’S BUSH

EMPIRE

MOIN

WED 29 NOV

STUDIO 9294

YVES TUMOR

WED 29 NOV

O2 FORUM KENTISH TOWN

GEORGIA

THU 30 NOV

THE COLOUR FACTORY

GILLA BAND

MON 4 DEC

FABRIC

YEULE MON 11 DEC

OUTERNET

LAURA MISCH

TU 12 DEC

HACKNEY EARTH

LANKUM

WED 13 DEC

ROUNDHOUSE

JOCKSTRAP

WED 13 DEC

THU 14 DEC

BARBICAN

A. SAVAGE

SOLD OUT

WED 14 FEB

THE GARAGE

ALBUMS

 Bleach Lab Lost In A Rush Of Emptiness (Nettwerk)

There’s a glorious dynamism to Bleach Lab on their debut album

‘Lost In A Rush of Emptiness'. It's part ‘Luminous’-era Horrors - an expansive, celestial pilgrimage for the mind, body and soul - while ‘All Night’ is a shoegaze-space-pop odyssey that channels the spectral sounds of Slowdive and the melodies of Alvvays, wrapped in Jenna Kyle’s otherworldly ethereal vocals. It feels like the heavenly plains have opened up and welcomed one into an eternal embrace of warmth. Following this comes the goth-meets-dream-pop gem ‘Indigo’, a slice of shimmering, Cure-esque goodness. ‘Never Go Back’ combines a Warpaint-like pulsing bassline with Johnny Marresque guitars, while the melancholy ballad ‘Leave the Light On’ is one made for sorrow-flled late nights. A debut of dreamy loveliness. (Brad Sked) LISTEN: ‘All Night’



Puma Blue

Holy Waters (Blue Flowers)

If Puma Blue’s previous album was the milky twilight hours, ‘Holy Waters’ is the mist-laden break of dawn. With the laidback, pensive beats of opening track ‘Falling Down’, the album slowly eases into life – the track acts as a sonic rubbing of the eyes, a stretch of the arms before that brooding mounts to something larger. The loved-up, hazy ‘Pretty’ gives way to the tragedy-revelling ‘O, The Blood!’, both large in emotion but favouring a more ambient, languid soundscape. ‘Hounds’, then, growls into being in this spacious and stretching world. The shuffing beats and taunting guitar line introduce a punishing intensity, with vocals swirling in anguish towards a tornado-like brass section. Grappling with grief, life, death and love, there are no shortage of thought-provoking, darker moments. And yet, with his ability to create these gorgeously romantic, reclusive aural worlds, Puma Blue manages to fnd light in those heavier subjects – ‘Holy Waters’ clings to hope at every corner, lingering in the isolated, haunted vocals and the quiet instrumentals. Final track ‘Light Is Gone’ gently strums into being, the fnal stage of awakening. The fog has lifted, and there’s a newfound clarity and peace within the softly strummed track. ‘Holy Waters’ reels to a glorious, relief-flled end, just as the light breaks. (Neive McCarthy)

LISTEN: ‘Light Is Gone’

 Underscores

Wallsocket (Mom + Pop)

A loose concept album centred around the characters of the fctional town of Wallsocket, Michigan, you’d be forgiven for for not immediately clocking the theme entangled amid the approximately 10,000 separate sonic ideas contained within underscores’ second LP. Primarily, however, San Francisco-born April Harper Grey uses the residents of this unassuming neighbourhood as a framework to hang her wildly eclectic and at-odds forays upon; thus, the Speedy Ortiz-like guitar fzz of opener ‘Cops and robbers’ and the bratty, Sleigh-Bells-gone-hyperpop blitzkrieg of ‘Locals (girls like us)’ can sit side by side, in some strange postcode harmony. A huge step forward from the bedroom production of 2021’s ‘fshmonger’, ‘Wallsocket’ still wears its one-woman-band laptop beginnings with pride, yet there are continuous fashes of genius here, from the woozy Beck lollop of ‘Shoot to kill, kill your darlings’ to ‘Johnny johnny johnny’, which takes the playground chant and turns it into a blistering dance-punk kiss-off. Admittedly, sometimes the about turns are so stark, it’s to the detriment of the record’s softer moments (‘Horror movie soundtrack’) which come out of nowhere. But for the most part, ‘Wallsocket’ is the sound of an artist operating entirely, brilliantly on their own terms. (Lisa Wright) LISTEN: ‘Locals (girls like us)’

 Stephen Sanchez

Angel Face (Mercury / Republic)

It’s defnitely arguable that midway through one of the most anticipated live sets of all time isn’t the point to be introduced to the British public. Even the youngest and most chronically online of those gathered in front of the Pyramid Stage for Elton John’s home soil fnale (anecdotally, at least) recognised little more than the viral snippet of ‘Until I Found You’, Stephen Sanchez's only Top Twenty single. It’s unfortunate, then, that debut full-length ‘Angel Face’ ultimately, too, fumbles as an introduction. His voice is stunning, a far-reaching, emotive vibrato evoking Roy Orbison that keeps the often surface-level nature of his lyrics from reaching full saccharine. And when paired with the Phil Spector drums and Joe Meek ‘oohs’ of ‘Evangeline’ or the Brill Building sound of ‘I Need You Most Of All’ – it’s magic. 2020s recording technology giving a crystal-clear voice to 1950s melodies, channelling the era’s staged melodrama so effectively that his believability is irrelevant. Then, just as one might wonder if ‘Shake’ is too on-the-nose a rock’n’roll revival track title, comes ‘High’, which sees Stephen’s croon shift a gear… right towards Alex Turner’s. Similarly, ‘Doesn’t Do Me Any Good’ sounds as if AI has taken a handful of Harry Styles’ slowies (‘Sign Of The Times’, ‘She’, ‘Woman’) and spat out a track that could be a whole other person. One can never blame an artist for wishing to reject pigeonholing – maybe halfway through an album isn’t the place to do it. (Bella Martin) LISTEN: ‘Evangeline’

 Laufey Bewitched (AWAL)

Anyone familiar with Laufey’s releases to date will already know how this record sounds. The singer and cellist has a frm commitment to introducing jazz and classical music to her peers, and much like last year’s debut ‘Everything I Know About Love’, ‘Bewitched’ is stuffed full of immaculate jazz ballads, shot through with luscious strings and swooning stories of hopeless love. ‘Dreamer’ opens the album with Chordettes-style vocal harmonies leading into a bittersweet shuffe, while ‘Second Best’ follows with a stripped-back arrangement more akin to Mary Ford’s duets with Les Paul. But more unites these two tracks than divides them, and the rest of the album continues in their precedent. There are exceptions – ‘From The Start’, a peppy bossa nova track, shows Laufey in a more playful light, while ‘Promise’ bears likeness both to Debussy at his most striking and St Vincent at her most restrained. These are precious moments, and the album could stand to bear more of the inventiveness that was so rife on her debut, but Laufey’s crystalline voice and effortless charisma make this album into a gorgeous display of a unique talent. (James Hickey) LISTEN: ‘From The Start’

 No Rome Blueboy Must Die (Dirty Hit)

No Rome’s vision of pop music sounds like a warped industrial daydream chewing scuzzy bubblegum - or rather, a happy-go-lucky cousin of The 1975 (a collaborator whose infuence is consistently felt). Mixtape ‘Blueboy Must Die’ is no different – a follow-up of sorts to 2021 debut full-length ‘It’s All Smiles’ - it puts his pop machine into hyperdrive, chucking all kinds of material onto the conveyor belt. As ever, his acid-tab sound requires a few rotations to really settle into the trip, but its distorted ingredients are lush and exciting. There’s London grime on ‘Hackney Bounce’, infatuating, replayable pop on ‘180’, a massive, mournful ode to platonic love on ‘Brother’, while the lackadaisical ‘Elevator Music’ sounds perfect for a TikTok ft check video. On ‘Blueboy Must Die’, there’s a feeling that No Rome seeks to push his staple pop irreverence further, and although today his brand of ultra-modernism is a little less disruptive, his starry-eyed, newfangled shoegaze hits always feel determinedly fresh. (Otis Robinson) LISTEN: ‘Brother’



Kamille

K1 (self-released)

‘K1’ opens with two bars of beat-driven claps, and aptly so; an awardwinning songwriter for names as glittery as Dua Lipa, Little Mix and Kylie, Kamille is no stranger to applause - the difference is now, the spotlight is squarely on her. Having worked at the vanguard of pop for over a decade but faced pushback about her desire to release music herself, this debut project is her independently released, self-produced, two fngers up to the doubters. It won’t come as a shock that the Nile Rodgers-featuring ‘Muscle Memory’ is a disco-indebted gem; driven by funk rhythms and a prominent bassline, it’s a natural lead single, with a 1980s infuence that can be traced further into the project. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kamille excels at collaboration: ‘Options’, with Tamera and Bellah, is a cooly nonchalant groove from this power trio of emerging R&B artists; while ‘Manifesting’ injects a refreshing change of pace, Kamille’s braggadocio-laden fow bolstered by Kojey Radical’s guest bars. Elsewhere, some tracks feel a little familiar (no doubt because we’re subconsciously very well acquainted with Kamille’s writing) and the project’s momentum stalls slightly, but overall ‘K1’ is a noteworthy debut - a mini-album that sees its author frmly stake her claim as an artist in her own right. Fingers crossed for a second instalment. (Daisy Carter) LISTEN: ‘Manifesting’

LIVE

For all those cultural commentators who interact with music on a sporadic basis might claim Reading and Leeds has fundamentally changed, there’s ample evidence to suggest it’s exactly the same as it ever was. For all the lightning-quick shifts of 2020s pop culture that surely make scheduling months ahead little more than a lottery, three of this year’s headliners are The Killers, Foals and The 1975, hardly strangers to these felds.

James Smith is on top form as Yard Act open proceedings on Friday afternoon, at one point asking the audience to “scream for life” between blitzing numbers such as as ‘Witness (Can I Get A?)’ and ‘Dead Horse’. The set highlight is reserved for new song ‘The Trench Coat Museum’ which sees a full-on dance routine playing out featuring backup dancers.

Secret sets are part of Reading folklore. This year, Bombay Bicycle Club open up the BBC Radio 1 Dance Stage with a thrilling quickfre set. A raucous countdown splits the hubbub as the group emerge launching straight into the glitchy euphoria of ‘Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You)’ followed closely by the jangly classic ‘Shuffe’.

Wet Leg continue their victory lap of the festival circuit with their catalogue of jangly oddities on Main Stage East. “This is one of about eight shows we have left,” Rhian Teasdale says with a hint of sadness. The pair’s awkward nature in their between-song banter remains charming and endearing.

Foals literally burst out on Main Stage West with ‘Wake Me Up’ - the bright colourful stage design which is confettied with foral shapes and shades of pink and white is set starkly against the darkening skies. ‘Mountain At My Gates’ follows quickly with ‘Olympic Airways’ hot on its heels. “Reading, it feels so fucking good to be back,” shouts Yannis Philippakis. “You’ve been with us throughout every step of our career - thank you!”

Now elder statesmen and a cornerstone group of the festival, Yannis reaches out to the next generation. “The next headliner is out there somewhere - one of you guys watching, you can do this! This one goes out to our boy Sam Fender,” Yannis proclaims from Main Stage East to West before tearing into ‘Black Bull’, ‘What Went Down’ and ‘Two Steps, Twice’.

It’s very clear everybody wants Sam Fender to do well, being his frst

headlining slot at a major festival. At one point he pauses midway through his set to point out “I’ve got the biggest case of imposter syndrome right now”. While it doesn’t make sense to him just yet, it certainly makes sense to the feld roaring more-or-less every word back at him. “This has been a dream of mine since I was a little lad so this is fucked up!” he acknowledges. B-side ‘Howdon Aldi Death Queue’ makes for a set highlight - channeling The Sex Pistols and The Damned, its bold chugging riffs are animated with sparks and explosions. ‘Seventeen Going Under’ and ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ are reserved for the epic coup-de-grace fnale which play out beneath a soaring display of freworks and sparks. It has all the hallmarks of a set that will go down in festival legend.

Reading’s Saturday afternoon offering is bigger on moody vibes than it is on big-stage anthems, but for those who overdid it on the Dark Fruits last night, it is probably a balm. Arlo Parks’ mellow offerings glisten in the soft sun over on Main Stage West and she looks more at ease – and is visibly enjoying herself more - than ever before. Nowhere is that more evident than in ‘Devotion’, for which she attacks her guitar in a moment of indie rock star glory that she’s probably been dreaming of when she was “growing up listening to Deftones”.

“I’ve been so nervous all day,” Holly Humberstone titters midway through her mid-afternoon slot. She’s an endearingly modest, understated performer and she’s maybe not the most

READING

roadworn, but her mannerisms couple beautifully with her heart-on-sleeve music, which has the chance to properly blossom with live instrumentation. Elsewhere, Easy Life frontman Murray Matravers is in cantankerous spirits, having been dropped on his back while stage diving three nights ago.

Over in the Festival Republic tent, something criminal is happening. Californian hardcore bright lights Scowl are storming through an incendiary set that comes alive with crunching guitars and frontwoman Kat Moss’ boundless

Richfeld Avenue, Reading. Photos: Emma Swann.

Billie Eilish

energy, but there’s a yawning hole in the middle of the tent where more punters ought to be. Nonetheless, it doesn’t stop them performing as if the tent is heaving, rather than half full.

As golden hour approaches, Central Cee attracts one of the largest crowds of the day and spits bars surrounded by levels of pyro that might be more typical of a metal gig, his beats sounding seismic from the gargantuan speakers. Speaking of big crowds, the Festival Republic tent is rammed for SOFT PLAY’s return and they sound not just renewed, but suitably feral. They’re ravenously received, with ‘Cheer Up London’ getting a loud, boozy shout-along, and the crowd even start singing the riffs, while they also chorus along to a snotty chant of “FUCK THE HI-HAT!” The duo’s comeback gig has duly lit a fre under this festival’s skinny white arse.

Wander over to Main Stage West, and you’re walking back in time to 2013 – well, you would be if Matty Healy wasn’t complaining about his bad back. The 1975 are playing their debut self-titled album in full for its tenth anniversary, and they’ve even brought back their black-and-white aesthetic for the occasion. Despite his motormouth getting him in trouble in recent months, Matty seems, we daresay, well-behaved – well, until, he quips “I don’t have a racist joke ready,” before the introduction of ‘It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)’ cuts him off. If that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, the much less problematic KennyHoopla’s energetic showing in the Festival Republic tent is a hugely fun alternative, even if the sound isn’t exactly pristine.

There’s a megawatt grin plastered across Brandon Flowers’ face as The Killers hit the stage for the sort of Saturday night slot their music was made for, as self-described “purveyors of some of the fnest rock ‘n’ roll on planet Earth”. How well some of the newer cuts from ‘Imploding The Mirage’ ft that description is questionable, but in terms of performance alone, the band’s suave musicianship nails that description. But there’s heart to it too, especially when Ozzy from “just outside of Bath” lives out his rockstar dreams playing drums for ‘For Reasons Unknown’. And, in what should come as a surprise to absolutely no one, the spirited closer ‘Mr Brightside’ is the stuff that capital-M moments at Reading are made of.

Spirits remain unusually high throughout this Sunday ahead of Billie Eilish’s headline performance. The heavens have reopened by the time MUNA take to Main Stage East, leaving the crowd a little thin, but a couple of songs in and the outft’s shimmering, breezy pop soundtracks the sun’s return in poetic fashion.

Ethel Cain may have made use of many a religious reference herself in her music thus far but there’s no better word to describe the behaviour of those clamouring towards her inside the Festival Republic tent this afternoon than worship. Hands reach towards the stage as soon as the singersongwriter appears, her diminutive form and casual jeans-and-t-shirt look a perfect match for her heartland rock, but belieing the height of the pedestal on which those gathered in front have placed her on, a sea of hands stretching out in hope of brief physical contact.

Back to Main Stage East, and Rina Sawayama’s here to play – but not play around. A perfect pop show that takes in melodrama, pin-sharp choreography, crowd participation, multiple costume changes, and runs almost the entire gamut of Reading and Leeds’ musical focus: even without its segue into Limp Bizkit’s ‘Break Stuff’, this is so clearly the stage ‘STFU!’ was always meant to be performed on.

Declan McKenna’s early-evening set amasses not only a crowd that stretches right back to the opposite Main Stage West, but one that barely misses a lyric throughout, recent single ‘Sympathy’ every bit as much of a singalong as the more established opener ‘Why Do You Feel So Down’, or ‘Beautiful Faces’. It’s mega-hit ‘Brazil’ that’s the clear favourite, of course. And if his Elton John-style imagery (and choice of sunnies) at frst glance appear a little ambitious a reference, by the time he’s impishly leaping his way into the crowd to ringing screams, it makes complete sense.

It’s a tale of two TikTok stars next: Steve Lacy – whose ‘Bad Habit’ confrmed his shift from cult alternative R&B act to pop behemoth – on Main Stage East, while Mae Stephens – whose ‘If We Ever Broke Up’ went viral in the early days of this year leading to a major label signing battle –on the BBC Introducing stage. Steve’s crowd is huge; he’s barely audible above the din of the crowd as he emerges, and opener ‘Static’ has them in the palm of his immaculately-dressed hand, the masses barely missing a beat. Yet by the time he’s deep in guitar noodling territory – something even the weekend’s rock acts might opt against during a festival set – many have lost patience.

Billie Eilish’s previous appearance here was swiftly - and smartly - moved from the tented Radio 1 Stage to as high as organisers could muster on the Main Stage back in 2019. With circle pits stretching back far beyond the back screens, it was one of the biggest crowds the stage had ever hosted. Billie was a giddy newcomer, seemingly unaware of quite how huge the reaction would be, eclipsing even her Other Stage appearance at Glastonbury back in June, which had been upgraded in similar fashion.

This time, she’s the returning hero. Touting largely the same set that she’s been touring for a couple of years now, there is however the recent addition of Barbie soundtrack contribution ‘What Was I Made For?’, performed sat at the base of her ramp, the crowd following every syllable like a ready-made choir. Its intimate, emotional climax is then catapulted into a moshpitheavy ‘Oxytocin’, the star’s penchant for switching styles, tempo and mood on a whim serving well to keep energy - and spirits - up, as tear-strewn faces shout along.

She was only ever going to end on a bang, of course, and it’s the one-two of ‘Bad Guy’, with its throbbing industrial bass, and the decidedly emo ‘Happier Than Ever’ which crown both this headline set and the festival. For the latter, freworks are timed perfectly with the track’s dual crescendos. And as Finneas’ guitar duels with pummelling drums to reach full intensity as the sky lights up, in full rock fashion, it’s Reading as it ever was. (Sean Kerwick, Emma Wilkes, Emma Swann).

Rina Sawayama

KennyHoopla

Scowl

Y NOT

A weekend packed with indie anthems past, present and future.

While this year’s affair looks like it could be another wet one, Y Not’s indie-heavy lineup comes tailor-made to ensure Pikehall’s festival-goers remain keen. One early highlight is Phoebe Green, who captivates with her effortlessly cool stage presence. The day’s focus, though, is frmly on headliners Royal Blood. The duo’s songs reverberate around the campsite from early morning; by the time they arrive on stage, the crowd is at fever pitch. Frontman Mike Kerr looks every bit the rock star in his leather jacket with collar popped, and from the opening notes of ‘Come On Over’, he showcases the commanding stage presence and attitude to match. The choice to include less heavy material backfres somewhat, as the rockhungry audience’s energy visibly lulls, but extended versions of calling cards ‘Figure It Out’ and ‘Out Of The Black’ leave those who remain in no doubt of the band’s hefty credentials.

BOYGENIUS

Saturday arrives bringing bright sunshine and numerous pairs wandering around as Mario and Luigi thanks to this year’s fancy dress theme, video games. It also marks DIY’s takeover of the Giant Squid stage, where Lime Garden, despite the downbeat title of previous single ‘Sick and Tired’, deliver a set that leaves those in front spellbound. Chilli Jesson’s unhinged crooner persona, meanwhile, hits somewhere between Alex Turner and Jarvis Cocker. And as the former Palma Violet barks out his lyrics amid a cascade of cathartic guitar noise, he makes a case for eyes to remain frmly on him.

Unsurprisingly being 2023’s most-hyped band, The Last Dinner Party have, with just two songs out in the world, flled the Quarry Stage’s tent. Vocalist Abigail Morris evokes Kate Bush as she dances artfully around the stage – and despite some sound issues, the band prove themselves worthy of the fuss. At almost the opposite end of the spectrum, the same tent hosts sweaty mosh pits aplenty as The Murder Capital offer a blistering set of squealing guitars and sludgy vocals.

It’s then Kasabian’s turn to conclude the day with a fery set of indie favourites. Serge Pizzorno, wearing a leopard print robe, stands centre stage arms spread, bouncing around like a boxer sizing up his opponent. He punctuates opener ‘Club Foot’ with chants of “Mosh pit, mosh pit!” and the crowd remain a huge part of his band’s headline performance. “When this shit kicks in you know the score,” he says during ‘Underdog’, before asking for people to climb on shoulders for ‘You’re In Love With a Psycho’. On this showing, it’s clear Serge has assumed the role of part-frontman, part-hypeman with ease.

Deadletter energise a mid-afternoon crowd early at the Quarry Stage on the festival’s fnal day, before Sprints nearly take the roof off. Later sets there by Gengahr and Crawlers are affected by persistent sound issues, but the former’s proves stunning, and thanks in part to the weather, is performed to a full tent.

The rain continues in the lead up to Paul Weller’s headline set. Stage crew can be seen running across with towels to dry off effects pedals between songs – but spirits in front of the stage aren’t dampened. Even when the Modfather opts to include some lesser-known material. “A lot of you won’t know this one,” he says, introducing 2012 B-side ‘The Piper’, while he previews new material in the shape of ‘Take’. The set isn’t completely devoid of more familiar songs, though – ‘The Changingman’ and ‘You Do Something To Me’ get a look in as well as Jam classics ‘Start!’, ‘That’s Entertainment’ and ‘Town Called Malice’. There’s also time for a touching moment as he dedicates ‘Broken Stones’ to the late Sinead O’Connor, who he calls “our sister in song.” All in all, his mellow tones are the perfect way to end this year’s festival. (Adam Wright)

Even among ever-cool Phoebe Bridgers’ ascent to becoming A-list adjacent, boygenius have quickly corralled a subtle queer army. “Who here is gay?” openly-out Julien Baker asks triumphantly to the crowd during one of the trio’s characteristically candid moments, unsurprisingly met by a rapturous scream. It’s an energy beftting the threesome of LGBTQ powerhouses that precede the main event, with Gunnersbury Park hosting what can only be described as the UK’s biggest unoffcial alternative Pride. From Soak’s understated folk through Ethel Cain’s stunning gothic imagery and MUNA’s jubilant selfexpressive party, boygenius sit atop a rising spring of pure self-acceptance; powerful yet vulnerable and immeasurably relatable.

It’s embodied in the lyrics that underpin all of today’s maestros. “God loves you, but not enough to save you,” slurs Ethel Cain on her self-declared favourite, ‘Sun Bleached Flies’. MUNA inject their typical sad-party spirit into euphoric-yet-brittle gay affrmations on ‘What I Want’ and ‘I Know A Place’, and the crowd chant back in unison as Phoebe Bridgers declares “I’m 27 and don’t know who I am” on ‘Emily I’m Sorry’. A thunderous crescendo lights West London in freworks as Lucy Dacus snogs every member of both her band and MUNA. It’s an echo of supporting set closer ‘Silk Chiffon’, which sees Phoebe reversely join MUNA – quickly followed by Lucy and Julien - for what has rapidly grown into an empowering anthem.

Among all the excitement, the actual quality of the performance is almost irrelevant, but with such skill on display it’s no surprise that that each track lands noteperfectly. boygenius themselves share the limelight in much the same way as their only full-length to date, ‘the record’, and even with Phoebe inarguably the most prominent of the three, there’s no ego on show. Each take lead on their respective tracks, and the headline set opts for three of their solo numbers in quick succession. As represented in the faces of those staring back, it’s an unequivocal testament to the careful balance between collective power and the importance of the individual. If anything, that’s today’s biggest takeaway; that it’s possible to be fully yourself and to be part of something bigger, and that ultimately, we are all better for both.

(Ben Tipple)

A hedonistic whirlwind of empathetic tears and unrivalled joy.

Pikehall, Derbyshire.

Photo: Jake Haseldine.

Gunnersbury Park, London. Photos: Emma Swann.

THE STROKES

When The Strokes played All Points East back in 2019, the sound levels were so quiet it sparked a full on post-event furore. Returning to the exact same stage in the exact same location four years later, SURELY, the revellers of Victoria Park collectively hope, the legendary quintet wouldn’t willingly sign themselves up for a second round had they not been assured of better. And yet, as the saying goes, the defnition of madness is doing the same thing and expecting a different result - a logic that manifests itself as the perfectly-curated day unfurls.

Early in the afternoon, rising Hastings trio HotWax kick things off with a blistering set of youthful, attitude-laden indie-punk. More brutal than their hooky recorded output, the band look like they’ve just been dropped into mid-‘00s Camden Market and sound like a group of mates barely out of school and plonked onto a bill of their heroes should sound: like they’re having the time of their lives. California shoegazers Julie follow them, joined by a massive teddy bear that guards singer Keyan Zand’s mic and touting grungy yet forward-facing walls of noise.

For anyone who treats Meet Me in the Bathroom like a bible, there’s a solid quota of its main characters present today, beginning with The Walkmen who serve up megahit ‘The Rat’ early much to the delights of the sun-soaked West Stage. Staking their frst claim to NYC legend in the late ‘00s, and returning to the fold a full 15 years after that, however, it’s Be Your Own Pet who bring the frst truly giddy moment to the day. Sporting a shirt emblazoned with recent single / current manifesto ‘Worship The Whip’, Jemina Pearl is clearly relishing every moment of being back on stage following an extended group hiatus, stomping and headbanging like no time has passed. The songs from this summer’s comeback album ‘Mommy’, too, are brilliant; a fzzing, highenergy example of a band whose second coming might even be better than their frst.

There’s time for a quick pop into the Cupra North tent to catch the fnal embers of Picture Parlour ’s atmospheric Viccy Park debut, the soaring strains of debut single ‘Norwegian Wood’ sounding as epic as they threatened upon release. Meanwhile, over on the East Stage, Angel Olsen’s stormy storytelling might cut a softer shape than much of today’s bill, but there’s an intensity to the singer that proves there’s no less drama just because she’s not shouting the loudest.

Come Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ start time headlining the West Stage, the heavens have thankfully calmed down and it’s an altogether more joyful type of storm that the iconic trio bring to the feld. Undeniably one of the greatest front people to ever walk the stage, even 25 years after their frst moves, Karen O is still utterly, magnetically effervescent from start to fnish. Kicking off with the grand slow burn of ‘Spitting Off the Edge of the World’, she transforms from jagged punk queen on ‘Rich’, to epic choral leader on a standout ‘Sacrilege’ to soft romantic on ‘Maps’. After any good bit of wild weather comes a rainbow, and the band oblige - beaming out their own rainbow rays over the crowd, before ending with ‘Heads Will Roll’ and a fnal, explosive ‘Date With The Night’.

Loud, bold and brilliant, Yeah Yeah Yeahs feel like the true victors of the day, their technicolour bomb of a set only highlighting the difference in volume as The Strokes step onto the main East Stage. For those placed in the exact speaker/ wind sweet spot, Julian Casablancas and co have still got the effortless, jagged cool that brought them to prominence in spades, but elsewhere the chants of “Turn it up” are louder than the band themselves.

Ignore the triangle glowing ominously from behind them; iffy fourth LP ‘Angles’ is eschewed entirely in favour of a hit-packed set that traverses all the bands corners, from razor-sharp howls (‘Juicebox’, ‘Reptilia’) to indie darlings (‘Alone, Together’, ‘Someday’) to more esoteric experimentalists (‘Welcome to Japan’, an impromptu jam they name ‘Fallacy’). Casablancas wears one leather glove and randomly throws a drink on himself - it’s not classic stage banter but it’s what you want from the notoriously wildcard frontman.

In all ways except the one that matters the most, tonight’s set is glorious. But if a Strokes set plays in a feld and no one can hear it, did it really triumph? It’s hard to say. (Lisa Wright)

Victoria Park, London. Photos: Emma Swann.

HEADLINER: GLENN DANZIG

It would be Glenn Danzig. I just thought he’s getting to that point where he’s making some very unique things; he made an Elvis record recently. That’s interesting because it’s one of the records where Glenn Danzig plays all the instruments on the record himself, including the drums… I saw him not that long ago - about a year ago - and he was fantastic. He can still do it, so if I was booking my ideal gig at this point in my life, it would be him.

MAIN SUPPORT: DERREN BROWN

I’ve gone a different route… I didn’t book a band at all! I’ve got Derren Brown. I just thought it would complement the show quite nicely, and also, I imagine the conversations backstage between Derren Brown and Glenn Danzig would be very interesting to watch: two very polar opposite characters. It’s funny, when I was thinking about this, I turned to my girlfriend and said, “What’s a good in-between for Derren Brown and Glenn Danzig?” while I was thinking of another support, and she just said, “Isn’t that what Creeper is?!” But yeah, I’ve seen Derren Brown a few times, I saw him early on, because I love magic. I saw him play in a very small hall in Portsmouth, and I just thought the combination of the two acts, I think it would draw a crowd. The one thing I will say is that it was diffcult to work out who would headline…

VENUE: THE JOINERS ARMS

I thought, where better to see two icons of my childhood than the iconic venue of Southampton where I grew up and met all my best friends and went to my frst shows? And I don’t think that - I think this is true… - either of them have ever played there before, so maybe this will be a unique experience!

WHO ARE YOU GOING WITH?

See, it’s gone down a path here… I’ve gone with Uri Geller. I just think the dynamic of it all, I think he would really appreciate it. And I just think it would make for an interesting moment as Derren seems very suspicious of his spoonbending technique, and doesn’t really believe in mediums. So yeah, I think it’d be fun to take Uri to the Derren Brown show. Can you imagine Uri Geller watching Glenn Danzig!? I think he’d buy a t-shirt.

WHAT ARE YOUR PRE-GIG PLANS?

Because we’re in Southampton, I’ve suggested visiting the Titanic museum. It’s a unique experience that Southampton has to offer, and I think he’d be quite into it as he’s very spiritual and there’s a lot of history in Southampton, so I fgure he’d want to check that out. There’s also lots of great recreations of the rooms inside the ship, and there’s some penny games downstairs.

WOULD THERE BE AN AFTERPARTY?

Yeah, it would be in the basement of the Joiners Arms. It used to be the green room but then it became so derelict in there that they now won’t let bands in there. There’s loads of rubble down there and it’s very spooky so I’ve gone for a basement seance. Truthfully, I think that offers something for everybody: Danzig would love a seance, Derren would want to be debunking the seance, and I think Uri would probably be leading the seance. So I think that’s something great for all of us after the gig.

ANY ADDITIONAL EXTRAS?

Have you ever seen The Pasta Queen on YouTube? I love her videos, so I thought it would be really nice if she was catering the event. She doesn’t really ft in with anything else but I thought it’d be good to have some nice Italian food after they’ve all worked so hard at the show.

Creeper’s new album ‘Sanguivore’ is out 13th October via Spinefarm Records.

A once-in-a-lifetime dream gig, designed and curated this month by... Will from Creeper!