DIY September 2025

Biffy Clyro
Joy Crookes
King Princess
Sprints
and more
ISSUE 153 • SEPTEMBER 2025
DIYMAG.COM
Inside the allencompassing
world
of BIG THIEF’s new
opus ‘Double Infinity’.

THE NEW ALBUM
OUT 19TH SEPTEMBER

CONTENTS
NEWS
4 King Princess
8 Laufey
12 Festivals
NEU
14 Die Spitz
16 Recommended
18 Night Tapes
21 Silver Gore
FEATURES
22 Big Thief
30 Sprints
34 VLURE
36 Joy Crookes
40 Jehnny Beth
42 Biffy Clyro
REVIEWS
46 Albums
56 Live
D
FOUNDING EDITOR
Emma Swann
MANAGING EDITOR
Sarah Jamieson
DIGITAL EDITOR
Daisy Carter
DESIGN
Emma Swann
COVER PHOTO AND THIS PAGE
Jenn Five
CONTRIBUTORS
A. L. Noonan, Alex Cabré, Alex
Rigotti, Attila Peter, Bella Martin, Ben
Tipple, Caitlin Chatterton, Ciaran
Picker, Ed Lawson, Emma Way,
Finay Holden, Gemma Cockrell, Ife
Lawrence, Jenn Five, Joe Goggins,
Johnny Rogerson, Louisa Dixon,
Nick Levine, Otis Robinson, Peter
Martin, Phil Taylor, Rhys Buchanan,
Rishi Shah, Sean Kerwick, Sophie
McVinnie.
EDITOR’S LETTER
There are some moments in musical lore that’ll
stay with you for a lifetime, and we reckon that Big
Thief’s headlining turn at last year’s Green Man
Festival will likely be one of them. Even for those
of Team DIY who weren’t there on the night, there
was something mightily special about hearing of
the band’s evocative power, as capped off by a
heart-wrenching rendition of their newest album’s
lead single, ‘Incomprehensible’. As soon as we heard
the spellbinding track at DIY HQ a few months ago,
we knew they had to be our next cover stars, and
that’s why we’re thrilled to welcome them for our
September 2025 issue.
Returning after a hectic summer of festivals, we are
back and firing on all cylinders for what’s sure to be
a massive month for music. This issue, we’ve got
chats with King Princess, Biffy Clyro, Joy Crookes,
Sprints, and Laufey, as well as our thoughts on huge
releases from Hayley Williams, Blood Orange, Olivia
Dean and loads more. Hop to it and get stuck in now!
Sarah Jamieson
Managing Editor
All material copyright (c). All rights reserved.
This publication may not be reproduced or
transmitted in any form, in whole or in part,
without the express written permission of DIY.
Disclaimer: While every effort is made to ensure
the information in this magazine is correct,
changes can occur which affect the accuracy of
copy, for which DIY holds no responsibility. The
opinions of the contributors do not necessarily
bear a relation to those of DIY or its staff and
we disclaim liability for those impressions.
Distributed nationally.
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beScan the code to listen along to the Septem

NEWS
New
York
State
Of
Mind
Before making her thrilling third
album, KING PRINCESS - aka
Mikaela Straus - left her record label
and moved back to Brooklyn. Now,
she truly appreciates the value in
trusting her gut and her brain.
Words: Nick Levine
King Princess is great with names.
The singer, songwriter and actor
born Mikaela Straus originally
chose her musician’s moniker
because it “encompasses the
complexity of gender”, and
she recently described herself
as “literally fifty-fifty”, though
she’s comfortable with any pronouns. And now,
Mikaela has opted to name her third album ‘Girl
Violence’ because she’s experienced both sides
of the coin as “perpetrator and victim”. Many times
over. “I’ve always loved women and been gay,
and I think there’s something really unique and
special about the way we commit emotional war
crimes against each other,” says the 26 year old
New Yorker. “There’s just something about the
lesbian experience - and I mean that in the most
encompassing way possible - that is so incredibly
feisty and dramatic and chaotic. I wanted to put a
name to that, and then dig into the different sectors
of girl violence in each song.”
Can Mikaela still be surprised by “girl violence”: is
it always taking new forms? “Yes! That’s what’s so
cray-cray about it: there’s a constant evolution,”
she replies with a knowing smile. “Like, shit goes
down with my friends, and I’m like, ‘Wow, that’s a
new one.’ I think in a world full of this aggressive,
masculine violence that is so consuming - and
[which] we think about constantly - what’s really
going on underneath that surface-level violence is
girl violence. And it’s been happening for centuries.”
The album’s thrilling second single, a rambunctious
banger called ‘Cry Cry Cry’, casts Mikaela as a girl
violence survivor who’s now wielding the sword.
“You got rich, got higher demand,” she snarls over
chugging guitars. “But everybody wants me - just
ask your man, babe.” The huge chorus hook is
almost taunting: “You’re gonna cry, cry, cry when
you hear this.” When the song dropped in July,
she said it was “about a friendship with a lady that
did not work out”, then added wryly: “Sometimes
two divas create an explosion.” Does she know
if the other diva has heard it yet? “I don’t know, I
hope she has!”
Mikaela is chatting today from her
home in Brooklyn, where it’s a “grey,
rainy, poopy day” that she’s ready to
embrace. “The great thing about New
York is you get such different weather,” she says.
“I just feel it’s good for your brain - or it’s good for
my brain. It’s a little bit schizophrenic, and I feel
like I thrive in that chaos.” Two years ago, Mikaela
moved back to Brooklyn, where she was born
and raised, after seven years in Los Angeles. She
also left her label of seven years, Columbia, where
she was signed by Mark Ronson under his Zelig
Records imprint. “Mark was like a parent to me.
He was gracious enough to let me go,” she said
recently, showing no little grace of her own.
Back on home turf with no one to answer to,
Mikaela knew exactly what kind of album she
“didn’t want to make” - namely, one that would
require daily Uber rides across LA to assemble.
“What I didn’t want was to make an album that
felt like I took a bunch of [songwriting] sessions,”
she says. “I wanted to make an album that was
stationary - [me] at the same studio with the same
people [where] we’re playing all the instruments.”
She chose Mission Sound in Brooklyn for a simple
reason: “It’s the one I know best.” Run by her
recording engineer father, Oliver Straus, Mikaela
has been hanging out there since she was a kid.
“I trust the way that room sounds,” she says. “I’ve
been listening to music in that room for my entire
life, so it’s really easy for me to build through lines
in the music, sonically, in a place where I’m really
familiar with the sound quality.” Perhaps wary of
getting too technical, she lightens the mood with a
joke: “Also, my dad gives me, like, friends and family
discount.”
No freebies? Mikaela shakes her head. “I can’t fault
him because, you know, he’s got to make a buck,”
she says. “Being a recording engineer is like being a
mechanic - it’s not the same as being a producer or
an executive. It’s less glamorous than people think,
so yeah, I’m always down to pay. But it is kind of
gaggy that he charges!” Though Mikaela also built
a studio in her basement, the bulk of ‘Girl Violence’
was made at Mission Sound with a core group of
collaborators including Jacob Portrait of psychrock
band Unknown Mortal Orchestra and SZA
collaborator Aire Atlantica. “I really just wanted to
feel like I was going into work every day,” she says.
Mikaela made ‘Girl Violence’ entirely on her
own terms, allowing the album to prowl from the
psychedelic vibes of ‘Say What You Will’ to the
low-slung groove of ‘RIP KP’ and onto the elegant
lament ‘Alone Again’. She then shopped it to
section1, an imprint
of indie label
“I’m not one thing:
I’m not a girl, I’m not
a boy. I’m not a pop
star, I’m kind of a
rock star, so I’m in
this grey area.”
4 D

NEWS
Partisan. “I wanted to prove to myself that there was
something different out there,” she says. “As a major
label artist, you’re sold this myth that indie labels are
broke and, like, podunk and the reason that artists
aren’t successful anymore.”
She launched her career as a major label artist,
releasing dazzling debut single ‘1950’ a year
after putting pen to paper with Zelig. A loping
guitar bop charged with queer pride (“I hate it
when dudes try to chase me”), it became “a textbook
hit” - Mikaela’s words - that has now amassed nearly
600 million streams on Spotify alone. She followed
it with two compelling albums, 2019’s indie-R&B
hybrid ‘Cheap Queen’, and 2022’s ‘Hold On Baby’,
before she hit a brick wall with LA and the major label
system.
“There’s no gatekeeping that can be done by them
now,” she says. “They can’t make a phone call and
[hope] it becomes the number one radio song. It’s
about fan engagement and artists self-promoting.”
When Mikaela met with the section1 team, she saw
they were “hungry” and on the same page as
her. “They care about commerce, but they
also care about art,” she says. “And honestly,
I have more people working on my team now
at an indie than I’ve ever had [before]. I have
beautiful budgets. I’m kind of gagged!”
As Mikaela was recalibrating her music
career, she was also branching out into
acting. This year, fans have already seen her
in streaming drama Nine Perfect Strangers,
a rich-people-in-paradise mystery starring
Nicole Kidman. Next up is the musical movie
Song Song Blue, scheduled for December, in which
Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson play an ordinary
Milwaukee couple who form a hugely popular Neil
Diamond tribute band. Mikaela plays their “buttonedup”
daughter. “She’s this really calm presence in the
film, which I think is interesting, because that’s not at
all who I am,” she says.
She intends to continue playing against type.
“I haven’t done anything yet where I’m a literal
gargoyle, but I want to,” she says. “I would love
to play something cray-cray or be the bad guy.
I’m interested in the dress-up element of acting
because I am a dress-up diva.” Mikaela isn’t
exaggerating: she named her debut LP ‘Cheap
Queen’ after a colloquial term for a drag performer
who’s thrifty and resourceful, and duly rocked
dramatic, drag-style make-up on the album cover.
Mikaela fizzes with energy today
and really seems in a great place,
but the press release for this
new album describes her as
“perennially underestimated”. Does she
really feel that way? “I mean, I do think
I’m underestimated,” she replies. “Like,
I’m not one thing. I’m not a girl, I’m not
a boy. I’m not a pop star, I’m kind
of a rock star, so I’m in this grey
area.” Because King Princess is
impossible to pigeonhole, the
project is often ahead of the
curve. “Sometimes I feel like I’ve
done stuff where, like, five years later,
I’ll see, ‘Oh, now that’s popular,’” Mikaela says. “And
I think that’s OK. It means I should trust my gut and
my brain.”
One descriptor she doesn’t like is “sapphic pop” -
because “lesbian is not a genre, it’s an activity”. She
says things have improved since she started doing
“There’s just something
about the lesbian experience
that is so incredibly feisty
and dramatic and chaotic.”
interviews seven years ago, and invariably got asked:
‘What’s it like to make art as a gay person?’ Today,
she dismisses the question bullishly - “you’d have to
ask every single artist ever, because they’re all fucking
gay!” - but also speaks thoughtfully about how she
handled it at the time.
“I feel a little tinge of sadness for my 19-year-old
self being asked questions about the entirety of the
queer community, as though I’m supposed to know
everyone’s experience - like, that is diabolical,” she
says. “But that being said, if I played a small part
in expanding that conversation and making it less
polarising for artists to talk about their work and not
be asked stupid fucking questions, then great! That
makes me happy.”
‘Girl Violence’ is out on 12th September via
section1 / Partisan. D
NEWS
IN
BRIEF
Live In Transmission
This is not a drill: Radiohead have
announced their first live shows
in seven years. The band have
confirmed that they’ll be playing a
series of gigs in five cities around
the UK and Europe this November
and December, having got together
to rehearse last year “just for the
hell of it”. Of the reunion, they’ve
said: “it felt really good to play the
songs again and reconnect with a
musical identity that has become
lodged deep inside all five of us.
For now, it will just be these ones
but who knows where this will all
lead.” Watch this space…
Doll Face
Not content with releasing one of
the year’s biggest albums - seventh
LP ‘MAYHEM’, obvs - Lady Gaga
has now treated us to an early
Halloween banger in the form of
new track ‘The Dead Dance’ - and
it’s landed accompanied by a
wonderfully creepy, choreo-heavy
video too. Shot at Mexico’s Isla
de las Muñecas (that’s ‘Island of
the Dolls’, to you and me), the clip
sees Gaga team up with legendary
filmmaker Tim Burton to bring the
location’s infamous residents truly
to life. ‘Monster Mash’, eat your
heart out.
Beat It
Kevin Parker has confirmed that
the next Tame Impala album
- entitled ‘Deadbeat’ - will land
on 17th October, following a five
year wait since last LP ‘The Slow
Rush’. Latest single ‘Loser’ is
an expectedly hypnotic affair, all
understated grooves and warm,
woozy textures. What’s more,
familiar face - and former DIY cover
star - Joe Keery (aka Djo) also
makes a starring appearance in the
‘Loser’ video. The collaboration we
never knew we needed.
In Orbit
The shortlist for the 2025 Mercury
Prize has been revealed, with
Fontaines DC, CMAT, Wolf Alice
and Sam Fender all featuring on
this year’s Album of the Year list.
Other acts shortlisted this year
include FKA twigs,
Jacob
Alon,
and indie
legends
Pulp, with the
winning act set
to be announced
on 16th
October when
the Awards Show
will take place in
Newcastle.
Conor Cunningham, Emma Swann
6 D

in deep
“I think the artist
in me always
wants to work
against people’s
expectations a
little bit.”

ABOUT
TIME
DIY In Deep is our
monthly, online-centric
chance to dig into a
longer profile on some
of the most exciting
artists in the world right
now.
After charming millions
with her first two albums, on new record
‘A Matter of Time’ Laufey is unlocking new
feelings, accepting the things she cannot
change, and politely inviting those who’ve
made assumptions about her to think
again.
Words: Caitlin Chatterton
sheer number of people who ‘From The Start’ - but mostly they’re held in rapt
listen to my music is always silence.
shocking,” Laufey admits. “I grew
up in a country of about 300,000
people - that’s the amount of tickets
“The
Putting out new music became a lot less
scary once Laufey surrendered to the fact
I’m selling on this next tour.”
she has no control over public opinion. “If
I put out something I love, and the public
doesn’t like it, at least I love it,” she shrugs. “I only
have control over how much I love it.” Happily, her
formula for combining jazz and classical influences
with the lexicon of “the most brain-rotted teenager
ever” has proved a hit. Lower, crooning vocals
reminiscent of Ella Fitzgerald and beautiful, sweeping
string arrangements may not be the most obvious
bedfellows for resoundingly Gen Z lyrics about
deleted Instagrams and shouting at the telly, but it’s a
niche that’s helped set Laufey apart from the pack.
The Icelandic-Chinese singer-songwriter has
indeed caught a fair few people’s attention. Known
for swooning lullabies bringing mid-century jazz
into the light of the modern day, she got her break
via a Presidential Scholarship to study at Berklee
College of Music. Since then, she’s released two
albums (2022’s ‘Everything I Know About Love’ and
2023’s ‘Bewitched’), becoming the youngest person
to pick up the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop
Vocal Album for the latter and building a devout 8.4
million-strong TikTok following in the process. She’s
also established The Laufey Foundation - her “faint
attempt at making the world a happier place” by
funding youth orchestra programmes - collaborated
with the likes of Norah Jones, Barbra Streisand
and beabadoobee and, ahead of releasing her third
record, sold out Madison Square Garden twice.
“I crash out, for sure,” she says of her meteoric rise,
settled in the corner of a top floor restaurant in a
swanky West London hotel. She explains that she’s
managed to stay grounded by finding time to be
alone, with a book or a coffee, as well as going back
to Iceland when she can. “Those things really remind
me of who I am,” she says. “It’s so important for me,
mentally, to hold on to that.”
Playing with the ends of her sequinned scarf
whenever she talks, the 26 year old has none of the
pretension you might expect from a burgeoning star.
Our chat comes half an hour after the global release
of her recent single ‘Lover Girl’ (“speaking of crashing
out!”), an airy, bossa nova tale of falling head-overheels
lifted from her new album, ‘A Matter Of Time’.
“It’s definitely the most anticipation I’ve ever seen for
a song before it’s out,” she grins. “People are already
making a lot of TikToks with it, which is crazy.”
A week later, she kicks off a run of intimate UK church
shows at London’s Union Chapel. The audience
cram into the pews, wearing bows in their hair and
desperately wafting hand fans (Laufey’s trip across
the pond coincides with the gloopiest of London
heatwaves). Her humility in the hotel restaurant
has followed her on stage: when the goosebumpinducing
‘Goddess’ brings half the room to their feet
(the other half are presumably wary of passing out in
the heat), she responds with a nervous giggle, holding
her hands up in the shape of a heart.
“I would say putting tickets on sale is more nerveracking
[than releasing singles], because you’re
asking so much of people,” she says. “You’re
asking for their money. You’re asking for their time
and attention, their care. Their willingness to get a
computer out and ask their parents or friends if they
want to come with them - it’s a whole affair. So much
more than just clicking a song that, if you don’t like,
you don’t have to listen to, you know?” The people
inside Union Chapel are certainly listening. They join
in at times - particularly for her bouncing 2023 single
But having a niche can encourage audiences to try
and put you in a box. To a lot of people, Laufey is
a soft girl making only soft songs; to others, she’s
strictly a jazz artist, while others debate whether she
can even be classed a ‘real’ jazz musician given her
pop sensibilities. In reality, though, she’s unfazed by
others’ verdicts. “I think everybody in the world gets
perceived and pigeonholed - it’s how humans keep
track of things,” she muses. “There’s so much to my
discography that you can perceive me as whatever
you lean towards.”
At the same time, there’s a clear sense of trying to
challenge those perceptions on ‘A Matter of Time’,
where Laufey found she felt empowered to take up
space and be bold for the first time in her career. “I
think the artist in me always wants to work against
people’s expectations a little bit,” she grins. “It’s
like Bob Dylan changing his music because he
didn’t want to be perceived in the way that people
perceived him. He’s like, ‘yeah, I’m a folk musician,
but fuck you, I want to make rock and roll’. I feel that
so much on this album.”
To be clear, ‘A Matter Of Time’ is not a rock and roll
album. Nor is it a rap album, as Laufey joked on
TikTok earlier this year. But, after opening with “the
most buttoned up version of myself that everybody
knows and everyone expects”, it’s an album that
unfurls to reveal newer sounds that put emotion in the
driving seat - suffering insecurity, angst, lust and rage
in equal measure. Time - a muse that shaped earlier
releases ‘Slow Down’, ‘Letter To My 13 Year Old
Self’ and ‘Falling Behind’ - is the central focus. Her
fascination is down to it being another thing humans
cannot control, no matter how hard they try.
‘A Matter Of Time’ is “about falling in love, and how
it’s just a matter of time until the person that you’re
in love with finds out everything about you,” she
explains. “You can’t hide your emotions from a lover.
Everything will come out, and that was my discovery
in the time that I was writing this album. It’s called
‘A Matter Of Time - until you find out I’m crazy’,
basically.”
‘A Matter of Time’ is out now via Vingolf
Recordings / AWAL. D
Jacq Justice
D 9

NEWS
Have You Heard?
Some of the biggest and best tracks from the last month.
FLORENCE + THE MACHINE
Everybody Scream
Move over Britpop summer; it’s officially time
for goth girl autumn, courtesy of Florence +
The Machine’s powerful (and just a teensy bit
witchy) new offering ‘Everybody Scream’. The
first taste of her forthcoming album of the
same name, its chorus of ethereal murmurs
soon gives way to a cacophony of screams,
before driving guitars propel Florence Welch’s
vocals forward with a commanding but unhinged delight. A little
rougher around the edges than most of her serene back catalogue
- thanks, no doubt, in part to the production stylings of IDLES’
Mark Bowen - this is a glorious, giddy track that throws caution to
the wind and urges us to all to start embracing our more manic
side. Consider us all in.
TAME IMPALA
Loser
Marking a new, funky strut for Tame Impala,
his latest isn’t to be confused for a Beck
cover. Landing in the wake of his aptly-named
recent single ‘End Of Summer’ - which
doubled as Kevin Parker’s first solo release in
two years - his new offering ‘Loser’ is a
similarly hypnotic affair that pairs Parker’s
distinctive vocals with understated grooves
and warm, woozy textures.
single ‘Blood Magic (It’s A Ritual)’; an all-out
theatrical opus of a track that takes cues from
everything from Black Sabbath to Belinda Carlisle.
Because of course it does.
POPPY, AMY LEE &
COURTNEY LAPLANTE
End Of You
A meeting of three of
contemporary rock’s most
notable voices, ‘End Of You’
sees Poppy, Amy, and Courtney
each put their own spin on one
of the track’s verses, seamlessly
blending their signature styles
into one sucker-punch whole. What’s more,
the song has also arrived accompanied by an explosive video
which sees the three vocalists shine in their own right before
uniting as one powerful force to be reckoned with.
C
Keep your devices up to date
C
Scan for ESSENTIAL NEW TRACKS
LAVA LA RUE
easy come, easy go
A breezy banger of a track, ‘easy
come, easy go’ wraps astute
musings on AI, online
rhetoric, and the digitisation
of relationships in
nostalgic indie hooks à
la Tame Impala or
MGMT. Dubbed by
Lava as “the soundtrack of my summer
holidays”, the song walks the tightrope
between dystopic, Black Mirror-esque
anxiety and hopeful optimism.
Ultimately, though, the message of
‘easy come, easy go’ is a heartening
one. In Lava’s words: “Even if you
feel hopeless about the state of the
world, use that energy to genuinely
double down on radically exuding
compassion and community
action.”
Autumn De Wilde
CREEPER
Blood Magick (It’s A
Ritual)
The eagle-eyed
among us may
have noticed that
this year, Halloween
falls on a Friday, which
can mean only one
thing: Creeper must
release a brand new
album. Our wish is their command, it seems, with
the band planning to release their fourth record,
‘Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death’, that very day. And
what better way to introduce their newest, than via new
10 D

AVAILABLE NOW

reeperbahn
festival
17th - 20th September
Various venues, Hamburg
Gutted that festival season 2025 has come to an
end? Never fear - it might be getting too cold to
keep stomping around a field at midnight, but
Germany’s Reeperbahn Festival is the perfect
place to get your fix of ace new music this
Autumn.
Taking place in venues across Hamburg, this
year’s edition will play host to some of Europe’s
brightest rising stars, including the likes of Man/
Woman/Chainsaw, Chloe Slater, CATTY,
Etta Marcus, Silver Gore and more, as well as
a handful of longtime faves (think Blondshell,
Everything Everything and MØ, to name but a
few) to help keep the party going. What’s more,
we’re once again going to be hosting a stage at
the city’s infamous Molotow on Wednesday night,
with Getdown Services, The Pill, Surprise Chef
and breakout Irish quartet Florence Road.
florence road
ahead of their turn at reeperbahn this
month, we caught up with the band to
find out more about their whirlwind
year so far.
Hello Florence Road! Who are we chatting to and
how are you doing?
Hi! It’s Ailbhe, Lily, Emma and Hannah here - we’re
doing very well thank you.
You’re fresh off a pretty hefty run of live shows
and festival slots; how has this summer been for
you as a band?
It’s been so brilliant! This was our first proper festival
run and we’ve loved every second of it. We’ve learned
so much; every crowd brings its own energy, and it
pushes us to bring something new at every show.
There have been so many highlights from the summer
but one that really was incredible was All Together
Now Festival in Ireland. We walked into that tent
not realising just how big it was, so to then see it
completely packed… our heads nearly exploded!
Playing to a home crowd is always really special, so
that moment felt huge.
Are there any other particular highlights that have
stood out?
Opening for Wallows
in Belfast, Glasgow,
and London was a
real pinch-yourself
moment. Each show
was incredible,
but playing Brixton
Academy was just
surreal. That room
is iconic, and to see
D stage
Wednesday 17th Sept
Molotow
The Pill
Surprise Chef
Florence Road
Getdown Services
it completely packed while we were on - especially
as the support - honestly took us by surprise. The
crowds across all three cities gave us so much back,
and we’re hugely thankful to Wallows for having us
along. Those nights will stay with us for a long time!
Back in June, you released your debut mixtape
‘Fall Back’. What do you think it says about you as
a band?
‘Fall Back’ was a long time coming; some of those
songs had been sitting with us for a while and were
ready to see the light of day. We’ve spent the last 18
months writing and really figuring out who we are
as songwriters, so it felt right to finally let them go...!
What we love about the mixtape is that it shows the
instinctive way we make music - we don’t get caught
up in overthinking, it’s about chasing a feeling and
putting it down while it’s alive. We’re incredibly proud
of what ‘Fall Back’ says about us, and it feels like the
starting point for so much more.
Your latest single ‘Break The Girl’ has just
landed - can you tell us a bit about the
inspiration for that track?
Hi, Lily here! ‘Break The Girl’ is a very special
song. I was having a tough conversation with a
friend, and it was on my mind when Ailbhe and I
went into a session that week. It was hard to see
someone so beautiful and who I love so much
be treated incorrectly, and I couldn’t think about
anything else, and so ‘Break The Girl’ was born.
It’s got sad lyrics but it’s upbeat, and I think it
represents the idea that sometimes all you can do is
push/sing through the pain.
You’re heading back out on the road to play a
ton of shows overseas over the next couple of
months. How do you mentally prepare for taking
your music so far from home?
Honestly, the excitement is carrying us already - we’re
sooo buzzed to be taking our music so far from
home across the world. It’s the first time we’ve done
something like this really, and we can’t wait to go to
places we’ve never been before and do what we love
to do: play our music…. loud!
You’re also going to be playing at Reeperbahn
Festival; what do you hope people will take away
from your set? Are there any other acts there
you’re hoping to catch?
We cannot wait for Reeperbahn! We honestly just
hope that people enjoy themselves at our set and feel
the music. Music sometimes
(nearly
always) speaks louder than
words, and if people can
take a song or even a
lyric that resonates
with them in some
way, then we’re happy
campers. We’d love
to catch Alice Phoebe
Lou, Matilda Mann and
She’s in Parties while
we’re there too!
more, more, more!
scan m e to head to the latest festival ne ws.
Jan Philipzen
12 D

D 13

NEU
New artists, new music.
Die Spitz
From causing chaos with their riotous live shows to being the latest signing to Jack White’s Third Man Records,
meet the Austin, Texas quartet who are taking the world by storm, all on their own terms.
Words: Rhys Buchanan
14 D

easier to
just say ‘I hate
women’ than
“It’s
accuse us of
being industry
plants,” laughs Die Spitz guitarist
and vocalist Ava Schrobilgen. From
the band’s rehearsal space couch in
Austin, Texas, the four best pals have
ended up on the subject of misogyny
while discussing the DIY work ethic
behind their rapid rise. “It’s because
we’re doing well and people don’t like
women.”
Just about every group of women
who’ve had an explosive start in
recent years has had to bear the
brunt of such lazy labelling; just ask
The Linda Lindas, Wet Leg or The
Last Dinner Party, to name but a
few. But more importantly - for every
naysaying crank - there’s seemingly
thousands more people ready to
jump straight into a Die Spitz moshpit
at the band’s increasingly notorious
live shows.
“It’s just a compliment to us because
we’re doing it ourselves and we’re
learning along the way,” says Ava,
who started the band with her
childhood friends Eleanor Livingston
(guitar/vocals) and Kate Halter (bass)
before they found Chloe De St. Aubin
(drums) weeks before their first ever
show. A case of learning on the job,
Eleanor says, “We would take any
show that was offered to us and give
it our all. It was that ‘fake it until you
make it’ mindset.”
Their signature showmanship was
present from the band’s first ever
show, back in 2022 at Austin dive
bar Hole In The Wall - a venue with
the words ‘booze, brawls and bands
behaving badly’ lettered upon its
faded exterior sign. “We played
awfully but we went completely
insane on stage,” she laughs while
cringing. “The songs did not deserve
that level of energy but people
moshed, glasses got broken and that
was the start of it all.”
That abandon and playfulness
was writ large across the band’s
early recorded material; from the
scuzzy grit of 2023 EP ‘Teeth’ right
through to this month’s debut fulllength
‘Something To Consume’,
the evolution between those two
releases is easily drawn. Take recent
single ‘Throw Yourself To The Sword’,
which ditches their garage rock roots
for the kind of overblown metal riffs
that fellow Texans Power Trip might
call their own.
Having grown up listening to heavy
metal giants, Eleanor says it’s
inevitable that such influences crept
into her own playing - alongside
elements of shoegaze and grunge. “I
was raised with bands like Sabbath,
Ozzy and Maiden on the stereo. That
genre was huge for me and it still is
“Making space for everyone - but
particularly young women and queer people -
to be fucking angry is cool.”
- Eleanor Livingston
so we do have some heavier songs,
it’s mainly for fun.”
Fun - and freedom - is exactly what
the record boils down to, and that’s
something the band have taken to
the stage too, with crowdsurfing,
cartwheels and flying kicks galore.
“We’re always trying to make each
other laugh onstage and play pranks
on each other all the time,” says Kate.
“We played this French festival that
had a barber included and Chloe was
planning on just rocking up with one
of those soccer boy fades before
our set.”
here’s no denying that
‘Something To Consume’
T marks a moment of growth
too. “We’ve got to give ourselves
credit,” says Eleanor. “We’re just
going to keep getting better. Do I
think I’ve gotten better since we
started? Fuck yeah! It’s cool to hear
people notice the nuances and
growth within our music now, that’s a
really nice feeling.”
With the band selling out tours in
Europe with barely any recorded
material out in the world, it’s
unsurprising that labels were all
scrapping for the band’s signature in
the run-up to their debut album. Ava
says it was an easy decision moving
forward with Jack White’s Third Man
though.
“They were just the nicest and so
artist-friendly. We love Jack White as
well, it was fucking insane to watch
him play guitar from the side of the
stage. He’s one of the greatest guitar
players of all time. He’s so awesome
and so weird, so kind and so cool.”
She puts on a piss-taking voice
before impersonating the other major
labels who came knocking: “Yeah,
we’re the biggest label ever and you
have to make three records we’ll own
forever and you’ll sell your soul.”
Moving into the future, the band hope
to use their rapidly growing platform
to be the change they want to see.
“We are going to have it harder than
some bands,” says Eleanor. “It’s
harder to gain respect; before you
even put your foot in the door, you
have to work ten times harder. We’ll
be playing a festival and we’ll get
comments all the time. It’s kick ass
that we have this mixture of heavy
and melodic songs, it’s a bit of a fuck
you that shows we’re here to stay.”
Ultimately, they want a Die Spitz
show to be a safe space for girls to
come and let loose. “There’s not a
lot of space for women in hard rock
music or whatever. Also with so many
guys down at the shows it can make
it uncomfortable for women to want
to come and get involved. I think
making that arena for everyone - but
particularly young women and queer
people - to be fucking angry is cool.”
Whether it’s videos blowing up or
hitting the road with celebrated
names like Viagra Boys, you get the
impression it’s all about enjoying the
ride and having fun for these close
mates. “It’s about being in every
moment because we are sensitive
people,” agrees Kate. “We’re all
super grateful we get to do this with
each other because we all get along
so well: our wildest dreams are really
coming true.” D
Pooneh Ghana
D 15

A monthly focus on these crucial cogs in the wonderful new music wheel.
NEU
NEU Recommended
Your pocket guide to the new names who’ve been catching our eyes (and ears) of late.
NEU
LABEL SPOTLIGHT
TTSSFU
Wigan-born songwriter and sonic shapeshifter using shoegazey
haze to create something sharp, chaotic and defiantly her own.
Channelling pent-up anxiety into fuzzed-out guitars, glitchy textures, and celestial
vocals, TTSSFU (aka Tasmin Stephens) crafts songs that feel both intimate and
unhinged, veering from unsettling analogue-horror ambience to sun-soaked bursts
of dream-pop clarity. Last month’s ‘Blown’ EP captures that duality in full: colliding
early internet aesthetics with the immersive pull of shoegaze, hers is a world of
messy contradictions, all pieced together with a scythe-like edge.
LISTEN: Recent single ‘Forever’ finds joy in friendship through a whirlpool of fuzz,
reverb, and radiant guitar lines.
SIMILAR TO: The bold, idiosyncratic edge of Just Mustard or Soccer Mommy, filtered through
a glitchy, nightmarish lens.
Chiedu Oraka
The self-styled ‘Black Yorkshireman’ who’s fast
becoming one of rap’s most vital voices.
Out of the already exclusive pool of artists who can say they’ve
supported Coldplay, even fewer have done so in their hometown
stadium at the personal request of Chris Martin. And yet that’s
exactly what Chiedu Oraka pulled off just a few weeks ago,
his performance at Hull’s Craven Park the pinnacle of a career
thus far dedicated to putting his demographic on the map.
Offering up mediations on mental health, masculinity, and social
marginalisation through the eyes of a Black, working class
northerner, last year’s ‘Misfit’ mixtape was a clarion call for moving
beyond the bounds of the UK’s oft London-centric hip hop scene.
Don’t doubt that his next project, ‘Undeniable’, will be exactly that.
LISTEN: Returning single ‘Kid On The Estate’ is a confident, resonant
reflection on place and identity, underscored by an infectiously bouncy
garage beat.
SIMILAR TO: Not Coldplay (don’t worry).
Maruja
Cacophonous, jazz-infused post-rock rooted in defiance and solidarity.
In recent years, there have been few groups so deftly able to muster both searing
rage and resolute optimism than Maruja. Over the course of three spellbinding EPs,
the Manchester quartet have forged the more muscular elements of post-rock with
the frenetic aspects of free-jazz, demonstrating how fury and hope can and must
coexist in the face of despair. Intensely outspoken and confrontational both on
record and on stage, Maruja spin narratives that reject the delirium of an unstable
world while cultivating resistance within; incoming debut LP ‘Pain To Power’ promises
to be a beacon in dark times.
LISTEN: ‘Zeitgeist’ is a lumbering broadsword of caustic rage calling for inner strength in
the face of late-stage capitalism.
SIMILAR TO: If Pharoah Sanders, Joshua Idehen and Glenn Branca formed a supergroup to
perform at pro-Palestine rallies.
Tommy WÁ
Indie, folk, and West African flavours coalescing as soul-stirring sonic gold.
Between the traditional Nigerian music he grew up on, the indie that dominated his
teenage airwaves, and the vibrant sounds of his now-home of Accra, Ghana, Tommy WÁ
has a deep-rooted affinity with each of the shades that make up his personal sonic palette.
Possessing the evocative, raw fragility of Bon Iver and the heartening, enveloping warmth
of Michael Kiwanuka - and vocals that, like both, are truly goosebump-inducing - the Dirty
Hit signee crafts tunes that are authenticity embodied.
LISTEN: Recent EP ‘Somewhere Only We Go’ transcends genre and geographic boundaries in a
way that feels genuinely timeless.
SIMILAR TO: The fit of your favourite old jumper; the taste of your mum’s cooking; the embrace of an old friend.
Radio Free Alice
The heady hybrid of British indie sensibilities and Aussie attitude.
They may be based in Naarm / Melbourne, but Radio Free Alice wouldn’t
sound out of place on the airwaves of ‘80s Manchester. Cutting
irresistible new wave nods with a healthy dose of self-aware cynicism
(“driving around the UK felt like wandering through the aftermath of a
house party that was definitely over, but no one seemed capable of
moving on from,” they said of their recent tour), the quartet’s third EP
‘Empty Words’ knowingly plays into nostalgia in both sound and theme.
They could run with the Brat Pack; but they’d probably choose not to.
LISTEN: The Smiths-esque chorus refrain of ‘Toyota Camry’ is brainscratchingly
satisfying.
SIMILAR TO: The soundtrack to a John Hughes film.
A. L. Noonan, Daisy Carter, Gemma Cockrell
DIY153
#9
CHURCH ROAD
Why did the metal scene need a label
like Church Road? Tell us a bit more
about the place you feel it occupies in
the independent music landscape.
Justine Jones: We’re an independent,
mid-sized music label - big enough to be
full-time and hands-on, but still personal,
DIY, and deeply connected to our artists in
a way that major labels often aren’t. What
makes us unique is that we’re musicians
ourselves [Justine is frontwoman of
Employed To Serve and runs Church Road
alongside guitarist Sammy Urwin] so we
understand the artist’s journey from the
inside. At our core, we’re massive music
fans who can’t wait to champion our roster
and share their work with anyone and
everyone who’ll listen!
You’ve coined ‘From the extreme to the
serene’ as a label mantra - but with that
wide a remit, how do you decide what
fits the bill and feels ‘right’ to publish
via Church Road?
Even though our bands sound vastly
different from each other, there’s a link
in their ethos and work ethic. We love
the fact that our bands are all music fans
themselves and often support each other
by playing on the same bills, or simply just
turning up to each other’s shows. We’ve
always wanted our roster to be more of a
scene rather than just a list of bands that
don’t know each other.
How do you think being in a band
yourselves has influenced the way you
approach running a label?
The age-old saying of “who you know”
is still relevant when it comes to music;
with so much competition out there, it
really helps to have someone fighting your
corner. You’re more likely to listen to a
band if your mate sends it to you, rather
than just another person behind an email
address. I also think knowing what not to
do is just as important - we’ve made a fair
few mistakes in the years being a band, so
being able to help other bands navigate the
pitfalls really helps!
What are you most
excited about for the
rest of 2025?
We still have five
varied and equally
awesome releases
left for the rest of
the year, so I’m
very excited about
that! I’ve also got a
few more festivals
I’m going to, and
we’re on tour with
Killswitch Engage
all around
Europe later
this year, which
means record
shopping!
45 RPM
Henry Collier, Stewart Baxter, Greta Kalva, James Marcellinus Wormenor, Harry Baker, Bethan Miller
16 D

LONDON 2025
TICKETS: FORMPRESENTS.COM
DUCKS LTD
01.09 - OSLO
CHASTITY BELT
02.09 - MOTH CLUB
GEORGE CLANTON
03.09 - THE DOME
GOOD LOOKS
04.09 - THE VICTORIA
CHRISTOPHER OWENS
06.09 - EARTH THEATRE
KNOWER
11.09 - KOKO
FAR CASPIAN
11.09 - SCALA
SYDNEY MINSKEY
SARGEANT
16.09 - STONE NEST
THE DEAR HUNTER
23.09 - EARTH THEATRE
GINA BIRCH & THE
UNREASONABLES
24.09 - THE 100 CLUB
THE CRANE WIVES
24.09 | 30.09
ISLINGTON ASSEMBLY HALL
NATALIE BERGMAN
25.09 - UNION CHAPEL
WOOM
26.09 - ICA
MARGINS UNITED
FESTIVAL
27.09 - EXHIBITION WHITE CITY
CARDINALS
SO YOUNG TOUR
30.09 - MOTH CLUB
DAKHABRAKHA
07.10 - THE ROUNDHOUSE
BILLY NOMATES
09.10 - ELECTRIC BALLROOM
BILLY WOODS
09.10 - SCALA
ANGRY BLACKMEN
12.10 - THE GEORGE TAVERN
BEVERLY
GLENN-COPELAND
15.10 - HACKNEY EMPIRE
ALIEN CHICKS
15.10 - THE GARAGE
HOPE OF THE STATES
15.10 - ISLINGTON ASSEMBLY HALL
SE SO NEON
15.10 - SHEPHERD’S BUSH EMPIRE
LONG FLING
16.10 - THE LEXINGTON
CROOKED COLOURS
17.10 - COLOUR FACTORY
LOW ISLAND
18.10 - COLOUR FACTORY
BAR ITALIA
18.10 - THE DOME TUFNELL PARK
MCKINLEY DIXON
20.10 | 21.10 - THE LEXINGTON
CANNIBAL OX
22.10 - THE LEXINGTON
SPACEY JANE
23.10 - O2 ACADEMY BRIXTON
KATHRYN JOSEPH
27.10 - OMEARA
LES SAVY FAV
28.10 - HEAVEN
SAMIA
28.10 - KOKO
COURTNEY MARIE
ANDREWS
29.10 - ST PANCRAS OLD CHURCH
SUNFLOWER BEAN
29.09 - THE DOME TUFNELL PARK
SCOTT LAVENE
30.10 - MOTH CLUB
U.S. GIRLS
30.10 - EARTH THEATRE
SONIQUE
31.10 - KOKO
CLOTH
04.11 - OSLO
AMENRA
04.11- SCALA
SMOKEDOPE2016
05.11 - EARTH HALL
MARSEILLE
07.11 - THE LEXINGTON
DEKKER
07.11 - THE LOWER THIRD
PSYCHONAUT
08.11 - THE LEXINGTON
IVAN AVE
09.11 - THE DOME TUFNELL PARK
SWANS
09.11 | 10.11 | 11.11
ELECTRIC BRIXTON
RENY CONTI
10.11 - THE WINDMILL
HEY, NOTHING
10.11 | 11.11 - CAMDEN ASSEMBLY
THESE NEW
PURITANS
12.11 - VILLAGE UNDERGROUND
G FLIP
12.11 - O2 ACADEMY BRIXTON
ROC MARCIANO
12.11 - JAZZ CAFE
NIGHTBUS
12.11 - CORSICA STUDIOS
THE RAPTURE
13.11 - HERE AT OUTERNET
NATION OF
LANGUAGE
12.11 - THE ROUNDHOUSE
WATER FROM
YOUR EYES
13.11 - VILLAGE UNDERGROUND
HOTLINE TNT
18.11 - THE GARAGE
TICKETS AND MORE SHOWS:
FORMPRESENTS.COM
Pitchfork Music
Festival London
King Gizzard and the
Lizard Wizard
Royal Albert Hall - 04.11
The World Is A Beautiful
Place & I Am No Longer
Afraid To Die
Truck Violence | Clutter
93 Feet East - 04.11
Two Shell
Mechatok | Silver Gore | Isaiah Hull
Here at Outernet - 05.11
Hannah Jadagu
Yves Jarvis | Bells Larsen
93 Feet East - 05.11
Unwound
Divide and Dissolve | deathcrash
KOKO - 05.11
Ali Sethi & Nicolás Jaar
james K
Union Chapel - 05.11
Upchuck | Rat Boys
Party Dozen
Village Underground - 05.11
Kali Malone
Rachika Nayar & Nina Keith
Kathryn Mohr
EartH Theatre - 05.11
10k Global
MIKE | Sideshow | Anysia Kym
+ more
Colour Factory - 06.11
Du Blonde
Makeshift Art Bar | No Windows
93 Feet East - 06.11
Destroyer
The Fiery Furnaces
Barbican - 06.11
Marie Davidson
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith | RIP Magic
Barbican - 06.11
Los Thuthanaka
Nazar | Pollyfromthedirt
ICA - 06.11
Saul Williams meet
Carlos Niño & friends
Elliott Skinner
Village Underground - 06.11
Oklou
Erika de Casier | Malibu | Nick Leon
Loukeman | holybones
The Roundhouse - 07.11
Nala Sinephro
+ more
Southbank Centre - 07.11
Tunde Adebimpe
Mamalarky | Pan Amsterdam
EartH Theatre - 07.11
Dalston Takeover
Panchiko | Indigo De Souza | underscores
Jay Som | Momma | Great Grandpa
hey, nothing | Body Meat | Deep Sea Diver
Full Body 2 | Slate | Renny Conti | Teethe
Runo Plum | Nadia Kadek | Will Paquin
Alex Aman | + more
Various Venues - 08.11
Laurie Anderson
Lonnie Holley | Maria Sommerville
Beatrice Dillon | Elaine Howley
Lauren Duffus
The Roundhouse - 08.11
Tickets available at:
Pitchforkmusicfestival.co.uk

NEU
Night Tapes
Across their long-awaited debut album ‘portals//polarities’, London trio Night Tapes have revelled in their
environment to prioritise intimacy, texture and feeling.
Words: Emma Way
Photo: Emma Swann
Instead of heading home between legs
of touring, London-based Night Tapes
instead chose to write their debut album
‘portals//polarities’ from the temporary
sanctuaries of hotel rooms and Airbnbs.
“These big gusts of winds would rise up through the
mountain and blow everything away in the studio,”
recalls Max Doohan of a trip to Mexico, where the trio
ran cables out to the rooftop of their accommodation,
opting to lay down tracks over a view of the valley.
“We were writing two years prior to that with pictures
of mountains on the desktop,” laughs Sam “Richie”
Richards, reflecting on the neat twist of fate.
The trio’s debut follows a line of EP releases (the
earliest dating back to 2019), and was formed from
evening jams within the south east London shared
house where Max, Sam and lead vocalist Iiris Vesik
previously resided. “Max and I were in bands together
when we were younger,” notes Sam, explaining those
early days of living in the capital post-studies. “We
were producing in different rooms, and we naturally
started to write songs together.” The group of
producers’ first full-length lands somewhere between
analogue and digital: “the contrast, for us, is where a
lot of the interest is. What happens when you combine
multiple things?” Max posits. “It’s like collage.”
Sonically, the band lean towards more guitar-driven
songwriting instead of the house and dance music
usually synonymous with their peers, embracing
the odd tape hiss or imperfection as they sample
found sounds from busy city traffic to house party
chatter. The seed of their earliest work was planted
when Max’s mum gifted him an old dictaphone; once
used to record her yoga classes, the device would
later hang from a window to capture the capital’s
ambience. “You can record a really simple guitar part
and then call it to this cassette player, and it will come
back unrecognisable. It was a way of becoming more
interested in guitar music from a textural place. It
inspired me to write songs again,” he explains.
Experimenting with textures captured the band’s
ear for environments. Their living arrangements
and recording methods naturally encouraged vocal
saturation, while their set ups used the smallest
amount of equipment possible. Restraint became
key to Iiris’ vocal delivery, her near-whisper floating
above Max and Sam’s instrumentals but nestled
within the reverb-heavy mixes, which take cues from
bedroom electronic styles to prioritise intimacy over
spectacle. “You can have wobbles and flutters and all
that stuff that you wouldn’t get when it’s super clean,”
the vocalist adds, her visual brain firing. “I remember
hearing Flying Lotus for the first time, and I could see
this big, crunchy, floating ball of textures hovering
around.”
Valuing discovery and retaining the imperfections of
their earliest times as a band, on their debut LP, Night
Tapes take advantage of their quirks and limitations;
where many bands later attempt to recapture an
original energy and authenticity, they’ve worn it on
their sleeve with pride from the beginning. ‘portals//
polarities’ showcases this in razor-sharp detail. D
“The contrast, for us, is where a
lot of the interest is. ”
- Max Doohan
18 D

NEU
The Buzz Feed
All the buzziest new music happenings in one place.
Closer Than
Ever
After teasing the prospect of a new
project throughout the summer, Irish
singer-songwriter Nell Mescal has now
announced plans to release her brand
new EP later this year. Set to follow on
from last year’s ‘Can I Miss It For A
Minute?’, her new EP ‘The Closest We’ll
Get’ is due for release on 24th October
via her new label home of Atlantic
Records, and was recorded over in
Brooklyn, NY with Philip Weinrobe on
production duties. What’s more, it’ll
include her recently-released single
‘Carried Away’, which landed earlier in
summer.
“’The Closest We’ll Get’ is a collection of
songs that tell a story about two people and
how their relationship is in the grey area of friends
or lovers,” Nell has said of her forthcoming release.
“Each song is a realisation of how sitting in the in-between
affected me and in turn affected the ‘friendship.’”
Alongside news of her newest release, Nell has shared the EP’s gorgeous, folk-flecked title track, and also
confirmed plans for a hefty UK and Ireland headline tour, set to take place this November and December.
Head over to diymag.com to hear her new song and to check out the full tour schedule.
Sound of the
Underground
Following on from last summer’s music bonanza, which played host
to the likes of Cosmorat, Gallus, and DITZ, SON Estrella Galicia
have announced plans for a second edition of their Soundhood
Hackney event (and DIY are media partners!)
This year, the multi-venue mini-fest will take place on Saturday 27th
September, and will take over Paper Dress Vintage, Sebright Arms,
and Oslo for a day packed to the brim with ace music. What’s more,
the acts set to perform across the day include Dublin noiseniks Gurriers,
Liverpool quartet Courting, experimental guitar troupe Folly Group and
scuzzy Monmouth group MORN, as well as two Spanish artists, Yawners and
Amor Líquido.
Plus, as ever, there’ll be loads of other activities to get stuck into, including DJ sets and immersive experiences
such as ‘Beer Backstage’ (taking place at Sebright Arms at 5.45pm) and ‘Beer & Beats’ (at Paper Dress
Vintage from 7pm). And what’s even better news is that a ticket allows 100% access to all sets at Oslo and
full access to sets at Sebright Arms and Paper Dress Vintage until the venue reaches capacity. Tickets are
available via DICE now - and head over to diymag.com to find out more.
In The Parlour
Rock’n’roll reincarnates Picture Parlour have confirmed
that their semi-self-titled debut album, ‘The Parlour’,
will be arriving on 14th November - a record that
promises to fully realise the richly evocative world
that the pair - aka Katherine Parlour and Ella Risi
- have crafted so far. Drawing inspiration from
Northern Soul culture, dive bars, and the grassroots
circuit from which they sprung, the LP’s eleven
tracks build a conceptual venue of their very own:
“One through line in this process was that we kept
finding ourselves returning to this one state of mind,
which became known as The Parlour,” the band have
said of their vision.
“It kept us sane, kept us swinging, and consistently
reminded us of who we are and what Picture Parlour is at
its core. It’s magical to now present this place where people
can hide away with us and experience our strange world. As with
our live shows, we’re here to take our listeners on a unique journey as
authentically as possible. It’s not always pretty, or neatly packaged. All we’ve ever wanted is to set an intense
and indescribable mood, and to nurture that electricity for the entire sonic and visual experience.” Find out
more - and check out their psych-rock romp of a latest single, ‘Used To Be Your Girlfriend’, on diymag.com
now.
THE NEU
PLAYLIST
Fancy discovering your new favourite artist?
Dive into the cream of the new music crop
below.
CATTY - Prized
Possession
A clarion call to be loved with
burning ferocity, ‘Prized
Possession’ blends the vocal
acrobatics and hook-writing of
Cher with ‘80s hair-metal guitar
solos and low-lighting cabaret
piano breaks. Dramatic and
intoxicating, CATTY is seductive and dynamic in
equal parts, balancing sass and sincerity across
four minutes of exquisitely crafted power-pop
reminiscent of the finer cuts of stadium filling
anthems from the 2010s. A. L. Noonan
Chalk - Pain
Industrial grind meets resurrected
high-energy rave in Chalk’s latest.
With ‘Pain’, the Belfast outfit serve
up another ample portion of
block-rocking beats, aggressively
swirling electronic noise, and
huge basslines. That’s topped off,
of course, with searingly observant words which
drop through thick layers of filter, often to veer away
into a scream or roar. Chalk neither take nor give
any nonsense: they’re a band who get straight to
the point and make a big mark doing so. Getting
caught up in their maelstrom is unforgettably
cathartic. Phil Taylor
bb sway - Road
Melbourne-based bb sway rounds
off their three-track project
‘Becoming You’ with the gorgeous
‘Road’, a straightforward
mid-tempo ballad with a timeless
feel. Complete with harpsichord
and strings, the song could have
made the cut on any ‘70s soft rock album. “Your
eyes are set on the road in front of you”, bb sway
sings in a whispery voice, wrapped in hazy pop
bliss. We can’t wait to find out where that path will
be taking them next. Attila Peter
Vanity Fairy - Queen of
Queens
From the first beat, the title track
of Vanity Fairy’s upcoming EP
could have stepped straight out of
1984: think neon glow, Linndrum
punch and synths so sharp they
could slice through hairspray
haze. It’s pure, unapologetic funk,
channelling the slick precision and playful swagger
of Prince’s golden era, right down to the piercing
lead lines. You can almost picture rival dance crews
squaring up under flickering club lights, blinded by
the brilliance. Bold, irresistible and brimming with
groove, it’s a track that doesn’t just nod to its
influences - it struts right alongside them. Gemma
Cockrell
UPDATE YOUR EARS!
Scan the code to listen to the Neu Playlist.
Alex Tia Johnson, James, Katie Grayce Silvester Leonard, Shot By Melissa
20 D

NEU
Silver Gore
The new project from FKA twigs and Nia Archives collaborator Ethan P Flynn and
the classically trained, expertly-skilled Ava Gore, there are no boundaries that Silver
Gore won’t attempt to push through.
Words: Ciaran Picker
After their first Great Escape show back
in May this year, Silver Gore were
described by one reviewer as “weirdopop”.
It’s a term that raises a smile
from co-founders Ava Gore and Ethan
P Flynn when DIY brings the phrase up today, as
the pair prepare to catapult their almost undefinable
sound into the spotlight with their intriguing debut EP.
Sprawling and untameable, ‘Dogs In Heaven’ shifts
effortlessly between experimental art-pop (‘Forever’),
emotive electronica (‘Celestial Intervention’), and
sassy Europop (‘All The Good Men’). From ethereal
vocal highs (‘25 Metres’) and bubblegum pop synths
(‘A Scars Length’) to a fuzzy, theremin-lined title
track (‘Dogs In Heaven’), Silver Gore have created an
addictively unpredictable and nuanced collection of
songs that refuse to stand in the same spot for even
a moment.
“There was no forethought or plan,” reveals Ethan.
“We just made stuff that sounded quite good and
“There was no forethought
or plan. ”
- Ethan P Flynn
gradually it became the band.” Ava grins: “Yeah, it’s
funny, we didn’t take the band seriously until after we
finished the EP; we were just messing around at first.
We wrote ‘All The Good Men’ about two and a half
years ago but forgot about it and moved on. Then one
night, randomly, we wrote ‘25 Metres’, and I guess
that started the band. Even then, it was just ‘unnamed
Ava-Ethan project’.”
Liberated from self-imposed restrictions - except for
the determination to create six sonically standalone
tracks - Silver Gore was created in snatched moments
and all-night sessions at locations dotted throughout
the pair’s past. “‘Celestial Intervention’ was recorded
in my childhood home in Yorkshire,” Ethan reminisces,
“I was trying to get some final inspiration out of
it before it was sold. We basically just recorded
wherever I had a home studio set up, even though a
lot of the time I had to persuade Ava to write a song.”
“It’s because I knew what I was in for if I said yes!”
Ava retorts. “I knew it was going to be intense all-night
sessions of me lying
on the floor trying to
get things off my chest.
It’s my first time writing
songs in this way, so
there was quite a lot of resistance because I was
writing from the soul.”
“I’m glad that we got this done, though,” she levels, “I
needed to go through this process so that I was ready
to move onto the next stage. This EP is like a time
capsule of emotions, but now I know that I can write
different types of songs, we can create something
more considered and stylised.”
The EP became a trial run for Silver Gore, to see if
the magical madness translated to the masses. After
festival sets at Green Man and End of the Road left
those assembled clamouring for more, it’s clearer
than ever that the sky’s the limit. “The EP could have
been a demo reel,” Ethan posits, “but we wanted to
see what works and how we fit into the wider scene.”
Ava nods. “What comes next is like the EP but turbocharged;
I think we’ve found a sound that nobody has
heard before.”
If ‘Dogs in Heaven’ is Silver Gore sniffing out their
niche, then their next steps promise to see them truly
unleashed. The end goal? Simple. “We want to be the
biggest band in the world.” D
Nikola Lamburov
D 21

Since
2022’s
‘Dragon New Warm Mountain I
Believe
In You’, Big
Thief have contracted and
expanded, breathing
new life into their ever-animate body of work. Turning their
gaze outwards
Words: Daisy Carter Photos: Jenn Five

to make sense of
our innermost workings, the now-trio
are back bearing cosmically-inclined sixth album ‘Double Infinity’ -
their
means
most distilled,
as a
disarming record to date.

S
ometimes,
the stuff you study in school
just sticks. Maybe, years later, the
innocence in To Kill A Mockingbird, or The
Great Gatsby’s green light are right there ready to
reference. Maybe it’s quoting Shakespeare, or reciting
Sylvia Plath. For Adrianne Lenker, it’s French philosopher
Pascal who has remained enduringly fascinating, ever since her
collegiate self first came across his notion of ‘the two infinities’. That’s
right, fact fans - in some ways, the title of Big Thief’s sixth studio album has
been on the cards since 1670.
“For, in fact, what is man in nature?,” he writes in his collection, Pensées. “A Nothing in comparison with the Infinite, an All
in comparison with the Nothing, a mean between nothing and everything.”
“It had quite the impact on me,” Adrianne smiles, acknowledging that what she read as a student has since been turned over in her
mind myriad times, assuming a morphed new form of its own. “It’s kind of like learning a song when you’re a kid, and then [when] you
play it later as an adult, you don’t even know if that’s the way it was taught to you.”
She continues, meditatively: “The two infinities; double infinity; the inner, the outer; the micro, the
macro; being at the bridge in these bodies where we can’t see anything before or after; and when you
look down at things on a cellular level, it’s similar to looking out at the cosmos. It’s a concept I’ve
often been drawn to; it’s always been in our general conversation.” She looks over at bandmates
Buck Meek and James Krivchenia, who sit, either side of her cross-legged frame, on the squashy
leather sofa of a London hotel suite.
All three, in different ways, seem slightly at odds with this setting - a room of glass coffee tables,
tasteful neutrals and skyline views, where the city’s Victorian-terraced past rubs shoulders with
its chrome-clad present. Really, they all seem slightly at odds with each other: Adrianne, in
beautifully patchworked jeans her grandma made, idly fiddling with the plant behind; James,
reclined and relaxed, hands folded behind his leopard print cap-wearing head; and Buck,
his suave suit jacket abandoned as the British summer heat heightens. Get past the sartorial
incongruity, though, and Big Thief come quickly into focus, not only as one cohesive band, but
almost as one shared consciousness, the now-three members inextricably linked by the language
they’ve penned and performed together.
Over the course of five previous albums and nearly ten years, they’ve steadily
transcended their cult indie-folk beginnings to become festival-headlining,
Recording Academy-recognised auteurs (their last LP, 2022’s ‘Dragon New Warm
Mountain I Believe In You’, was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at that year’s
GRAMMYs). Paying little heed to the outside noise, though, the band are apparently still the
same, self-sustaining unit that formed in Brooklyn a decade ago - people driven not by accolades, but by the betterment of their
artistic practice (and who, while undeniably earnest, are far from the pretension such phrasing might suggest).
“The more you make things, [the more] you become fluent in translating what it is you feel inside,” Adrianne says. “Your vocabulary
expands and your way of understanding yourself gets deeper and richer, and maybe you become better at putting it out there into
the matrix for people to digest or comprehend.”
With experience has come self-acceptance, which in turn breeds the comfort and confidence needed for unbridled honesty.
“I think good communication - whether it’s with yourself, writing something, or with a group - requires patience and
iteration,” nods Buck. “In order to really get somewhere in communication, you have to get into a flow state; you
have to iterate through the winding path of your conversation until you actually arrive somewhere. For us,
finding a little more self-acceptance allows you to just be real, and then the process of iterating to get to
something deeper is just a clearer, smoother path.”
James agrees, noting that “for this album, all three of us were triangulating on a point
we were all noticing, making this collective understanding [of the record] before
even doing it.” “None of us can even articulate what we’re trying
“The
more you make
things, [the more]
you become fluent in
translating what it is
you feel inside.”
- Adrianne Lenker

D 25

“I think we just wanted to blow it
wide open,” affirms Buck, reflecting
on the decision to deliberately
pop their previously insular creative
bubble. “But we chose the players very
carefully; we chose people that we really
admired, and that we felt a trust with.” And,
in doing so, the band actually came to feel more
inherently themselves than ever. “We could just find
our part and sink into it, and figure out who we were in the
arrangement, and then let this group lift us up,” he says fondly.
“[The contrast between] being in a vacuum - just the three of us,
for instance, or alone - and having the space to try and project
who you want to be onto a blank canvas; and being in a room
with so much to respond to, and intuitively reacting to things: it’s
a different way of being genuine.”
“‘Enya in a barn’; that was our thing.”
- James Krivchenia
to make, and yet we’re agreeing on what it is,” Adrianne
laughs incredulously. “It’s really strange.”
“We just wanted to blow it wide
open.”
- Buck Meek
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the
name, ‘Double Infinity’ is a record
of dichotomies. True to Pascal’s
principle, it’s at once achingly intimate
and unprecedentedly expansive, not
just in ideas but in execution. Having
parted ways with founding bassist Max
Oleartchik in July last year (a decision the band said
at the time was made due to “interpersonal reasons”
but “with mutual respect in our hearts”), this is
the sound of Big Thief turning the page as a
trio. And yet, it’s also an album on which
the door has been flung open to other
musicians like never before - a move
that, today, Adrianne notes was a
direct result of the “huge paradigm
shift” of Max’s departure.
Even now, four months later, they speak about the studio
experience with a certain reverence, attempting to put into words
the particular alchemy of such instinctual, non-verbal
communication. (“Every person interprets the song
in their own way, and then is simultaneously
reacting to everyone else, responding
without words,” James enthuses). Though
the three had worked out the bones
of the songs in advance - having,
for the first time ever, all written
together - none of their ten other
collaborators heard a note of music
before stepping foot in New York’s
The Power Station studio; “with
someone like [eminent ambient
musician] Laraaji,” James laughs of
this leap of faith, “you don’t even really
know what they’re gonna bring in terms
of their actual instrument.”
The result is a sweeping sonic
palette of zither, droning, and fivepart
harmonies, of improvised, barely
overdubbed arrangements that are full
to the brim yet somehow still spacious.
Take lead single ‘Incomprehensible’, a
prime example of just how much those
initial ideas expanded over the course of the studio
stint. Many fans first heard the track last summer,
when Big Thief included it - in its original, much more
raw form - in their live setlist for last summer’s festival
run. The final recording, meanwhile, is a plush,
distinctly pacier offering, bolstered by shimmering
string flourishes and a marked tempo shift. “It’s funny,
because I’ve seen people say ‘I like the old version’ or
whatever,” nods Adrianne. “But for me, when it became
double time, it really clicked. I felt like the music matched
the feeling of the words [then]; it was like moving down a
highway.” She exhales deeply and closes her eyes, as if

feeling wind
running through her hair. “Like:
‘ah, yes!’”.
Where post-lineup change pressure could have easily led the
band to seek safety in prescriptive, clearly delineated processes, instead
they chose to follow their intuition in pursuit of the intangible “essence” of
‘Double Infinity’ - a title which came long before any of the tracks themselves. “At first
we thought ‘let’s just make rock and roll’,” says Adrianne. “And then we said: ‘what even
is that?’, because we all have such different feelings for what rock and roll is. We kept talking
about [concepts] like ‘shimmery’ and ‘ethereal’ and ‘Enya’-.” “‘Enya in a barn’,” James confirms, as
everyone laughs, “that was our thing.” Ultimately, Buck explains, “what felt more rock and roll to us at the
time was just something that felt weightless, and that made you want to move and feel young.”
It was, in every sense, the epitome of trusting the process: every day for three weeks, in the depths of a brutal
cold snap, the band would cycle ten miles to the studio and immerse themselves utterly for nine hours straight - a
creative Groundhog Day devoid of outsiders, distractions, and even windows. “It was a timeless, seasonless place,
just suspended in time,” describes Buck, as Adrianne offers: “like a warm, wooden womb.”
“We actually tried recording in our old way, in the countryside, for a bit,” she continues. “But we realised that instead of
the outside being our refuge - when you’re in the studio and you go and jump in the river or walk in the trees - we actually
needed the inside to be a refuge. Outside it’s loud, and it’s New York, and there’s people and the city and sirens and
bustling and cold; so inside becomes this warm refuge place. It really felt like a needed thing, to be pulling inward.” As she
speaks, her voice takes on a curious quality, as if she’s treading an unexplored neural pathway in real time. “And that’s also
poignant for ‘Double Infinity’; the more inward we went, deep inside, the bigger [the record] became - the inward infinity and
the outward infinity. I also feel like this with lyric writing: sometimes, the more micro you get, the more macro it becomes.”
And, in following this instinct to its nth degree, Adrianne connects our inner selves and the outer world,
creating a lyrical Möbius strip where the two are one and the same. At times, particularly personal points
of reference are offset by some universal truth (“Grandmother, my mother / Tell me about the lake again
/ [...] / We are made of love / We are also made of pain,” she murmurs on ‘Grandmother’). At others,
reflections aren’t grounded in the past, but inform forward-facing musings on mortality and memory
(“And they say time’s the fourth dimension / They say everything lives and dies / But our love will live
forever / Though today we said goodbye,” goes closer ‘How Could I Have Known’).
The album is a document of all-encompassing interconnection, of our fundamental desire to understand
and be understood, to be part of something bigger than ourselves and yet the centre of our own
universe. It is, quite literally, timeless.
“From a slightly outside perspective of analysing Adrianne’s songs, I feel like part of the deep
power in them is that they always have this familiarity - a good song by anyone does,”
says James. “You can’t imagine it not existing after you’ve heard it; you just think ‘oh
man, that is so sturdy - that must have been sung for 1000 years’. And Adrianne is
so good at anchoring [her songs] with familiarity… [you think] ‘this feels like
a feeling I’ve had’, and yet it’s so fresh.”
Adrianne beams at her bandmate. “My friend told me
of this concept called ‘future nostalgia’:
nostalgia for
something
you haven’t even
experienced yet. And
that’s often the feeling I get when
writing, because it’s not just about
[being] sentimental and looking back, it’s
about the excitement of the world…. It has to be
forward and backward and present for it to be ‘Double
Infinity’. I think we are made of all of those, all at once.” “To
me,” joins Buck, “the nostalgia - or the future nostalgia, or maybe it’s
“I
hope this album
is about everything.
It’s coming back to that
sensation of true love, true
beauty, and longing to know
it, for real.”
- Adrianne Lenker
a nostalgia for the present - that I hear in your songs doesn’t feel like they’re idealising the past or the
future. It feels like gratitude.”
This may well be the crux of ‘Double Infinity’: whether acknowledging the deep, enduring connection
between ex-lovers (‘Los Angeles’), exulting in the euphoria of physical intimacy (‘All Night All Day’)
or embracing the passage of time as a gift (‘Incomprehensible’), these nine tracks are shot through
with the sense that to feel is to be alive, and to be alive is to be lucky. It’s a philosophy that, with age,
Adrianne has tried to practice as much as preach.
“I think that’s the hardest, to look at yourself and see all the beauty that’s there,” she says softly. “I mean,
maybe for some it isn’t, but for me it has been. [‘Incomprehensible’] is written out of this desperation to
grow to love myself, and to see myself as beautiful, and to get out of this nauseating and exhausting maze of appearances
that we live in, where for some reason [we’ve] been conditioned to only see a certain shape, or palette, or age or whatever as
beautiful. We’re just aging the whole time, so most of your life is not in that initial youth period, and it’s so sad to me that a lot
of people spend the beautiful years of their lives feeling that they shouldn’t be getting older or looking older.”
She continues: “I listen to Clarissa Pinkola Estés a lot - she’s written Women Who Run With The Wolves, and has different
podcasts and audiobooks [like] The Joyous Body and The Dangerous Old Woman, where she talks about how our bodies
are our friends. [I’m] just coming to be in my body, I guess, and to not be resisting it. I want to look in the mirror now, and
tomorrow, and when I’m 40 and 50 and 60, and truly feel beautiful. There’s a real richness with time, and it’s a blessing to
get older, because not everyone gets to.”
And so, nestled between its existential mediations, the album also offers a pair of lyrically sparse, almost incantationlike
recordings; titled ‘No Fear’ and ‘Happy With You’, the tracks are, Adrianne explains, a call to “dissolve the
lines, dissolve these things that make us feel separate from each other, from ourselves.” The latter, she says, is
specifically about “dissolving the bounds around love, around who your partner should be, around who you
love and how you love, and how you see yourself. This album is a love album, in the biggest sense.”
A summation of “the deepest part of who we are”; of philosophy and sociology and personal history;
of “the strangeness of being human, and all the questions that come with that”: not bad for a 41
minute runtime. Where such a manifesto would be absurd in the hands of another band, for
Big Thief, it seems, there is no concept too vast. “The eye behind the essence / Still,
unmovable, unchanging,” Adrianne smiles, quoting ‘Double Infinity’’s title track. “I
hope this album is about everything. I think it is. It’s coming back to that
sensation of true love, true beauty, and longing to know it, for real.”
‘Double Infinity’ is out now via 4AD. D
28 D

Lessons from the Big Thief school of listening.
James: I learned a lot about listening in these sessions,
watching Laraaji. Going into the control room to listen to takes
immediately puts me in a more critical space where part of me is
definitely thinking ‘is this good enough?’ or ‘is it emotional?’; I’m
interrogating myself, asking ‘am I feeling something right now?’. But
then I’d look over and Laraaji would just have his eyes closed - not
judging it, just enjoying everything. That’s how we listen to music we
actually love; we’re not thinking, we’re just letting it hit us.
Buck: Often, when you’re playing music with other people, you
realise no one’s listening because everyone’s too focused on
themselves: on their own virtuosity or insecurities or ego - which
is totally human, and I think we all probably oscillate in and
out of that. But James often says before we play on
stage: ‘listen to everyone except for yourself’. And in
these sessions, you could feel it; if I felt like I was
talking to everyone in the room, and I was
hearing everyone, it was probably
a great take.

hey say the only constant is change,
and Sprints know that better than most.
From the outside, it might have looked
like their whirlwind recent years were the
stuff that dreams are made of: sold-out
headline tours; support slots with
Fontaines DC, Pixies, and IDLES; a
critically acclaimed debut LP that broke both the Irish
and UK Top 20, and saw them co-signed to Sub Pop
for their second. And, in many ways, they were. But
every dream comes at a price, and beneath the
surface, the bonds tying the band to their former
selves were becoming increasingly strained.
“I think the longest [period of time] we were at home
last year in one go was two weeks,” half-laughs
drummer Jack Callan, reflecting on their relentless
2024. “We always say we’re in the eye of the storm,”
nods frontwoman Karla Chubb. “It’s incredibly hard to
know what the fuck is going on when you’re doing it. I
used to be a big planner - I wanted to know what was
going on for my month ahead; right now, I operate on
a need-to-know, day by day basis. It’s very much one
foot in front of the other.”
The irony being, of course, that even now, those
feet aren’t on home turf. Between a packed festival
season, a concurrent album campaign, and
a couple of cross-Irish Sea moves for good
measure - Jack and bassist / vocalist Sam
McCann having relocated from Dublin to
London - Sprints are a difficult bunch to
pin down. They’re also a band who
thrive in a live setting. That’s why DIY
have found themselves in Amsterdam
this afternoon, chatting to Karla
and Jack over a round of drinks
(lunchtime white wine and sparkling
water - très European) before the
pair hop on the Eurostar to Brussels
this evening.
Jet set? Sort of. Theirs is the reality
of modern day rock stars, forever
on a knife edge between the
emphatically ordinary and
the utterly surreal. In one
breath, Karla’s talking
us through her
current read - one
of four books she
bought at the
airport before
their flight
here, because
they were on
two-forone.
In the
next, she’s
recalling
how they
went on
a night
out in
Berlin with
Fontaines
and Greta
Thunberg.
“Jack was
putting music
on and Greta
said ‘Oh, I love this song’,” she laughs, adopting a
Swedish lilt. “I was thinking ‘fuck yeah!’,” adds Jack,
punching the air with a grin. “‘This is wild!’”
A
n ever-present touch of chaos, it seems, is
the cornerstone of Sprints’ modus operandi.
Not necessarily intentionally so, but still; by
circumstance more than design, the band have
become true riders on the storm. Last year, Karla
split up with her partner of eight years, moved out of
their long-term home, and left behind close friendship
groups: “essentially, I completely upended my life”.
Just a few weeks later, founding member Colm
O’Reilly quit - a departure spurred by “a desire to
retreat from public performance and full time touring”
which, while amicable, nevertheless left the others
with a significant guitarist-shaped hole to plug.
“It was incredibly difficult,” affirms Karla,
contemplating those murky couple of months. “I
thought: ‘How the fuck are you going to come out of
this?’ At one point, I really didn’t know if we could.”
If their ferocious debut ‘Letter To Self’ was born
of private turmoil, each track a blistering exorcism
of inner demons, then its imminent follow-up ‘All
That Is Over’ is the inverse - the potent product of
interpersonal upheaval, played out against a backdrop
of a world at war with itself. In Karla’s words: “the
only thing we could control was music”. The breakup
itself happened in the middle of Sprints’ US tour, as
she stared down the barrel of another four weeks
on the road. The band had a show to play that very
night. And, while Jack notes that “if someone can’t do
something, we will pull the plug”, looking back now,
she says having that distraction may well have been
her saving grace.
“Your life is so chaotic but also so regimented at
the same time. You kind of have to put your big girl
pants on and go ‘Well, the choice is either I fly home
and deal with this, and it has consequences for
multiple people’s lives, or I just fucking suck it up and
push myself through it’. I think that’s honestly how
I processed it so quickly - because I had to. I didn’t
have a choice.”
W
ith all that in mind, you’d be forgiven for
expecting ‘All That Is Over’ to be an album of
endings - of loss, closed doors, and goodbyes.
Instead, it’s struck through with a vivid sense of
strength; second time around, Sprints are defiant, not
defeatist, and more sure of themselves than ever.
Taking cues from the emotional whiplash of their
current reality (“we’re on tour doing the thing that
we love, looking at the apocalyptic outside world,”
summarises Jack), they worked once again with Gilla
Band’s Daniel Fox to craft textured, suitably nuanced
arrangements. Layered between furious noise rock
(‘Descartes’) and My Bloody Valentine builds (‘Better’)
are spacious electronic flourishes (‘Beg’) and the
Western twang of a nylon-string guitar (‘Rage’) - the
makings of a soundscape that evokes the dystopia of
the album’s unavoidable global context - genocide,
far-right rallies, climate crises - with arresting
discernment.
“We wanted to touch on those themes more in the
atmospherics of the album, to give you that sense of
the tumbleweed in the desert or sitting alone in the
dark,” Karla notes. “Particularly ‘Abandon’ - that’s
purposely so sparse, because it’s supposed to feel
like you’re absolutely walking alone into the depths
of hell.”
Tempering the despair, though, are also flashes of
dazzling light - moments of propulsive emotion which,
while not necessarily happy, are as vital and urgent
as they come. Take ‘Pieces’, a thundering account of
the emotional ricochet from heartbreak to new love;
or closer ‘Desire’, whose creeping cowboy prowl
epitomises “how exciting it was to fall in love again,
and to explore sexuality and romance”.
“Rebirth is a theme across some of [the tracks], and
finding yourself again,” Karla confirms. “This year I’ve
gone through a lot of growth, and feel much more
comfortable in myself, my sexuality, and my gender
expression.” She considers: “We had Colm leave, we
D 31

transitioned into being full time musicians, and our
lives personally changed; we were shedding a lot of
old skin and building this whole new life.”
W
here Colm’s departure could have easily created
room for doubt to creep in, it instead only reaffirmed
Karla, Jack, and Sam’s commitment
to the cause. “The three of us went for a pint, and
that was a really good bonding moment for us,” she
shares. “We all said: ‘We can’t stop’. It wasn’t ‘what
are we going to do?’; it was ‘how do we continue?’”
With new guitarist Zac Stephenson onboard from last
summer onwards (“literally the first weekend we were
away together, it was like we’d all been best mates
for years,” smiles Jack), the recast quartet were once
again able to look forwards - and this time, with fresh
eyes.
“[Zac’s] excitement to be involved kind of gave us a
new lease of life,” Jack says. “Because what we’re
doing is amazing, and we’re so lucky to be doing
it.” For Karla, entering a new relationship was also
pivotal in shifting her perspective. “For the first time,
I’m dating someone who has absolutely nothing to
do with music. And when I mean nothing, I mean the
girl told me her favourite artist when I met her was Ed
of how fucking fortunate we are to do this; coming
from Ireland, there are very few people who get to
break out of Dublin, even, and here we are doing our
second album with City Slang but also Sub Pop. I
dreamed of this when I was a kid.”
B
olstered by new blood both professionally and
personally (and having developed necessarily
thick skins), the whole band - but particularly
Karla - now find that previously painful barbs no
longer cut quite as deep. ‘Need’, for example, is a
tongue-in-cheek retort to unsolicited opinions, its
air-raid siren intro and bratty chanting an aural middle
finger to the comments picking apart her appearance,
musicianship, or singing style. “‘She’s just talking; it’s
just a noisy lecture’,” she mimics, rolling her eyes.
Shrugging, she continues. “Before, some comments
may have crippled me for a couple of days, and now I
just kind of laugh. It’s something I’ve worked on, but I
think it’s easier to brush it off a little bit now. [Because]
if you’re a woman, you’ll be criticised for quite literally
anything: if I’m loud, if I’m not loud enough; if I’m
outspoken, if I’m not outspoken enough. There’s
no winning. If they’re going to criticise you anyway,
you might as well just be authentic and give them
something fun to talk about.”
As more and more artists use their platforms
to publicly address political issues, do
Sprints feel hopeful about the difference such
collective action can make?
Karla: In my mind, art and politics have always
been intertwined, and always will be. It is
impossible for one not to bleed into the other. I
think the arts are an expression of our humanity
and our empathy, and I think to try and remove
politics from art is anti-human, honestly. It’s
anti-feeling. It’s burying your head in the sand,
and to be able to say that it should be removed is
a privilege.
Jack: Particularly in recent months, a lot of
artists and music have been used as scapegoats,
whether by the media or governments, and it’s
become this big talking point. And it’s maddening
in a sense, but at the same time, whatever the
initial hope was in targeting, say, Kneecap or
Bob Vylan, has completely backfired. People
who otherwise might not be talking about this are
really paying attention to it.
Sheeran,” she laughs. “That was nearly enough for me
to go ‘Well, we’re never speaking again…’. But she’s
a baker - she’s so removed from the music world
that [she has] this childlike innocence that you start
looking at our job with. When she came to festivals,
she was saying ‘Oh my god, this is backstage - Amy
Taylor’s over there!’”
Karla grins. “She didn’t know who Amy Taylor was
until I told her, but still. It really makes you take stock
Musically, too, there’s a real freedom
at play here. These garage punks now
count sample pads and synths among
their arsenal, and Karla no longer feels
the gendered pressure to constantly
justify her abilities. “There’s definitely a
maturity, and a [sense of] stepping into
our own in this,” she agrees. “A lot of
this album is about confidence: I think
the shackles of self-doubt and imposter
syndrome are gone.”
W
hen people talk about the ‘difficult
second album’, rarely do they
mean it quite as literally as
this. But, with ‘All That Is Over’, Sprints have seized
opportunity from adversity, emerging as a band for
whom the adrenaline is only just kicking in. Nowhere
is this more audible than on penultimate cut ‘Coming
Alive’, a life-affirming, goosebump-inducing battle cry
that, in its anthemic central refrain and closing synth
swell, encodes the same sort of euphoric surrender as
LCD’s ‘All My Friends’ or The Libertines’ ‘Don’t Look
Back Into The Sun’ (or, as Karla suggests with a laugh,
The Simpsons scene where Mr Burns is mistaken for a
benevolent, glowing green alien - IYKYK).
“Joy is mortality,” she nods, quoting her lyrics. “That’s
exactly the point. It’s all so fleeting, and it can slip
through your fingers, so we might as well embrace it.
And embrace all the brutal parts of art and touring:
some of them are hard, yeah, but some of them are
extraordinary.”
Of all the scribbled lyrics and extraneous ideas
surrounding the record, Karla tells us, there’s one
phrase in particular that she kept turning over in her
mind: “‘I burnt my whole house down so I could build
a better view’,” she ponders, glancing out over the
Amstel. “That was what I thought my home was, our
life before. And it’s so completely different now. All
you can do is hope that it’s going to be better.”
‘All That Is Over’ is out 26th September via City
Slang / Sub Pop. D
Emilia Spitale, Titouan Massé

SEP
Dutch Interior
The George Tavern
Thursday 4 September Sold out
Whatever The Weather
Milton Court
Saturday 6 September
Throwing Muses
Village Underground
Tuesday 9 September
Bremer/McCoy
St Pancras Old Church
Thursday 11 September Sold out
Friday 12 September Sold out
UNIVERSITY
The George Tavern
Wednesday 17 September
Omar Souleyman
Fabric
Thursday 18 September
Caroline Rose
St Pancras Old Church
Thursday 18 September
Sold out
Subterranean Festival
ft. Lisa O’Neill, Incredible String
Band, Peggy Seeger & more
Southbank Centre
Saturday 20 September
Sean Nicholas Savage
Club Cheek
Saturday 20 September
Black Country,
New Road
Beacon Hall, Bristol
Monday 22 September Sold out
Nadia Reid
The Ivy House
Wednesday 24 September Sold out
For Those I Love
Islington Assembly Hall
Thursday 25 September
London & Beyond
birdonthewire.net
The Beths
Roundhouse
Friday 26 September
By Storm
Club Cheek
Saturday 27 September
OCT
The Magnetic Fields
Union Chapel
Thursday 2 October Sold out
Friday 3 October Sold out
Tuesday 14 October Sold out
Wednesday 15 October
ionnalee |
iamamiwhoami
HERE at Outernet
Monday 13 October
Meagre Martin
Windmill Brixton
Thursday 15 October
Fine
St Matthias Church
Friday 17 October
The Ivy House
Saturday 18 October
Sold out
DEBBY FRIDAY
Club Cheek
Tuesday 21 October
YHWH Nailgun
Scala
Tuesday 21 October
Holden & Zimpel
ICA
Thursday 23 October
Jessica Winter
The Lower Third
Tuesday 28 October
Sold out
mark william lewis
Village Underground
Tuesday 28 October
Yoshika Colwell
The Lexington
Tuesday 28 October
Titanic
ICA
Wednesday 29 October
Black Country,
New Road
O2 Academy Brixton, London
Friday 31 October
Marissa Nadler
St Matthias Church
Friday 31 October
NOV
GHOSTWOMAN
The Garage
Saturday 1 November
Penguin Cafe
Soho Theatre Walthamstow
Saturday 1 November
Albertine Sagres
The Lexington
Tuesday 4 November
Steam Down
Islington Assembly Hall
Wednesday 5 November
Joep Beving
St Martin in the Fields
Friday 7 November
Isabella Lovestory
XOYO
Friday 7 November
Mac DeMarco
Eventim Apollo
Monday 10 November Sold out
Momma
The Garage
Tuesday 11 November
TOPS
Heaven
Tuesday 11 November
Pile
The Dome
Wednesday 12 November
Fievel Is Glauque
EartH Theatre
Thursday 13 November
Frankie Cosmos
Electric Brixton
Tuesday 18 November
múm
Islington Assembly Hall
Monday 24 November
ØXN
EartH Theatre
Monday 24 November
Lola Kirke
Oslo
Thursday 27 November
DEC
Porridge Radio
Islington Assembly Hall, London
Monday 1 December
JAN
The Golden Dregs
King’s Place
Friday 30 January, 2026
FEB
caroline
KOKO
Wednesday 18 February, 2026
Wednesday
The Fleece, Bristol
Monday 23 February 2026
Electric Ballroom, London
Thursday 26 February 2026
Grandbrothers
Scala
Thursday 26 February 2026

dare to
through electrifying debut album ‘escalate’, glasgow quintet and diy class of 2023 alumni
vlure upscale their thrilling rave-punk to ascend into another dimension.
words: rishi shah
“i
want it euphoric,” demands Hamish
Hutcheson on the opening track of
VLURE’s debut album ‘Escalate’. “Give
me a release,” he pleads two songs later.
Before long, the bliss that he’s conjured
out of thin air is being regurgitated back
out to the world. “There are always better days,” he
reminds his audience, before the record’s penultimate
song requires only one lyric: “This is not the end.”
“There’s something quite cathartic about repeating
a phrase that makes you believe it,” he ponders,
nodding to these lyrics, speaking to DIY alongside
guitarist/producer/mastermind Conor Goldie. “When
you hear it over and over, you believe it yourself,
and then you can push on.” This is the way VLURE
operate: throw everything and the kitchen sink at
it with enough tenacity and determination, and a
breakthrough will come.
In the Glasgow five-piece’s world, such progress
cannot be ascribed to any particular moment or
accolade. Sure, they bulldozed their way into DIY’s
Class Of 2023, and were then soon snapped up by
label Music For Nations. Only last month, they blew
the roof off at Reading and Leeds festivals. But the
root of VLURE’s fundamental mission has no ceiling.
When it comes to the human experience of euphoria
(the title of the group’s 2022 debut EP - by no
coincidence) there is always more.
“We’ll never stop asking for more,” declares Conor.
“We move the goalposts, and then we push it further.
Scottish folk are [often] quite self-deprecating - that’s
probably why we’re so bad at sports, right? We don’t
want to have that self-imposed boundary… let’s try
to bring everyone with us and push this further than
anyone’s given us a right to, based upon the way that
we look at ourselves here.”
V
LURE’s ‘rave-laced punk’ - to coin an old
phrase of Hamish’s - is a never-ending quest
for transcendence. Dense, bulky guitars
and a throbbing pulse hark back to The Prodigy’s
ruthlessness, while there’s also a bluntness that keeps
everything off the cuff. On ‘Escalate’, house and
techno soundscapes dominate, as the band nosedive
further into the Glasgow club culture that helped
shape them.
“Our intention since the start was always to bring
electronic influences into the band world,” says Conor.
“The grey area is super exciting. Pulling together two
opposing worlds [brings] a whole bunch of people into
a space they sometimes don’t share. Then they start
to share ideas, and that’s what art’s all about.”
Hamish’s brutish Glaswegian twang is VLURE’s secret
weapon, his narrative showcasing different shades of
the city, but perhaps most prominently, its hedonism,
which he notes “can be your best friend but your
worst enemy at the same time.”
“When I listen to the record, part of me sees the
Broomielaw, a street that goes along the River Clyde,
on a rainy Saturday night, when you’re walking from
a club to your pal’s at 3am, and there’s all sorts going
on,” he pronounces. Beyond the picture-painting,
Glasgow’s founding principles are on display. “The
honesty of this city, it’s a no bullshit zone. People see
through it. If you’re not being authentically yourself,
they’ll call you out on it,” he continues. “The world
could do with more of a Glaswegian mentality,” adds
Conor. “When you’ve got a room full of Glaswegians,
it’s all of yous against the world.”
he word ‘Escalate’ implies acceleration on
an upward trajectory. ‘Between Dreams’ is
Ta crash course in lightspeed-paced trance,
while a re-recorded ‘Heartbeat’ turns unexpectedly
on its head, much like a DJ flipping a track. ‘Let It
Escalate’ oozes with momentum. “We tried not to
bottle those [feelings],” smiles Conor.
By the end of the record, introspection enters the
game, club hooks meeting industrial emotional
outpourings, be it the bittersweet ‘This Is Not
The End’ or ‘How To Say Goodbye’, written about
someone close to Hamish who was unwell. “I had
to get that off my chest and go through that,” he
explains. “It was a perfect way for me to let out this
huge bit of emotion, which we hadn’t really gone into
throughout the record… laying my cards fully on the
table.” It builds up to sombre closer ‘A Clear Tide’,
arguably the sole moment of respite on the record, a
grappling with immortality and time that perhaps also
represents the tranquility of the empty streets as seen
from the window of a night bus.
“The way that it comes after ‘This Is Not The
End’ is quite poignant, because it’s about
nostalgia, the movement of life and the concept
of immortality,” says Conor, who wrote ‘A Clear
Tide’ as a poem many years ago. “I’ve always
been obsessed with the idea of trying to make
something bigger than myself. When I cease
to exist, this record will still exist. That’s all I’ve
ever really cared about, making art greater than
the means.”
Lending his hand to the track is Primal Scream
legend Bobby Gillespie, who is from the same
area of Glasgow as Conor and his brother (and
bandmate) Niall. “He laid the foundations with
those early Primal Scream records to have the
‘dance-rock’ band,” he grins. “When I wrote that
“we move the goalposts, and
then we push it further.”
- conor goldie
poem, I would have been listening to ‘Screamadelica’
on my headphones.”
Though ‘Escalate’ marks the culmination of VLURE’s
story so far, it’s important to remember that this is still
only the start. Hamish, Conor, Niall, along with Carlo
Kriekaard (synth/drums) and Alex Pearson (keys) have
opened a window into their collective imagination,
driven to seize their moment, however long it may
last.
“I want to wake up when I’m 50 and know there’s
nothing more I could have given to [the record],”
affirms Hamish. “It’s about giving people that come
to the shows something to believe in, collectively,”
concludes Conor. “If luck doesn’t go our way, my
knees don’t work anymore or my throat is blown, [I
can] sit there happy and say, ‘God, I really went for
it.’”
‘Escalate’ is out 26th September via Music For
Nations. D

dream
Alex James

joy
de
vivre
four years on from the release of her rich, mercury prize-shortlisted debut ‘skin’, joy crookes
is back with a confessional, exploratory follow-up that sees her delve deep into herself, and
come out all the stronger for it.
words: alex cabré
Should Joy Crookes ever tire of crafting together, including the Pulp Fiction inspired line “Feel
her gut-wrenching blend of neo-soul like Travolta / Each time I hold ya”. “I was like, ‘my
and R&B, she might consider narrating chest at the moment, you know that scene where
audiobooks, so smooth is her South they stab [Mia Wallace] with the needle because she’s
London timbre as she recites the first taken way too much cocaine?’ They were like ‘yeah?’
verse of Candi Staton’s disco opus and I was like, ‘well, that’s how it feels’.” She grins.
‘Young Hearts Run Free’. “‘You get the babies, but you “They were like ‘well, that’s a lyric!’”
won’t have your man / While he’s busy loving every
woman he can…’. It’s so fucked up!” she laughs. “This Crookes may only be onto her second LP,
song is really sad, and everyone just be dancing....”
but the Londoner has been professionally
active for almost a decade, earning love for
Five decades since Staton waxed eloquent on marital
her era-bending soul displays as far back
abuse over brass and congas, it’s now Joy who’s
exploring the trope of ‘sad song, upbeat arrangement’
through her own prism on her second album ‘Juniper’.
It’s a confessional, introspective effort that takes the
richness of her 2021 debut ‘Skin’ as a starting point,
but, this time, the mission statement was “go deeper”.
“Whatever emotion [a song] is evoking, how far can
you go down that rabbit hole?”
Two outstanding fruits of Joy’s labour are ‘House with
a Pool’ and ‘First Last Dance’. Like ‘Young Hearts…’
they find the 26-year-old in radio-friendly territory,
easy on the ear from Blue May’s glossy production
(he also engineered most of ‘Skin’), however scratch
beneath the surface and there’s more at stake. A
slow jam with crunchy percussion that wouldn’t jut
out from any study or coffee shop playlist, the first
meditates on abusive relationships, informed by Joy’s
own experiences and her observations of others’. It
includes some of her most acute penmanship ever,
and she knows it. ““In over my head / I could be
drowning / You don’t wanna get wet”. Me and [cowriter]
Jonny Lattimer double-dunk twerked on that
one!” she beams, proudly.
The latter, meanwhile, manifests as a “love letter”
to the anxiety Joy suffered throughout recording -
over a bed of Kylie-tinged Europop, naturally. She
recalls rocking up to a session around the time
she was contending with regular vomiting attacks.
“Everyone was like, ‘why are you here?’ Like, what
else am I gonna do, stay at home and be anxious?”
Collaborators Lattimer and Tev’n helped piece it
as 2017. ‘Skin’ received universal acclaim, a Mercury
Prize nod, and carried her around the world with a
set of songs that were as tender as they were ballsy,
seeming to declare, ‘this is who I am; here’s why you
should care’. A gifted vocalist and a voracious muso
herself, she sounds equally at ease covering Kendrick
Lamar as she does The Wannadies. She cites an
expansive range of influences from Nina Simone
to Joy Division, Marvin Gaye to Mac DeMarco, and
she’s stoked to get nerdy about her practice with DIY.
“Thank fuck,” she exclaims, on learning today’s chat
is for a music magazine. “I tried to explain harmonics
on Sunday Brunch. They were like, ‘we don’t get it but
that sounds amazing!’”
Conscious to avoid the dreaded second album crisis,
Joy returned to her earliest known working methods
for ‘Juniper’. Echoing days spent tinkering in her
childhood bedroom as a young wannabe, she chose
“limitation” as a path forward. A back-to-basics
approach removed distractions like lavish studios,
“where everything’s at your disposal”. The mindset,
as she puts it, was “if I write something good, it’s
blatantly good, it’s not caked up in shite”. Composing
initially on bass, “which doesn’t dictate harmonics”,
she enjoyed needing to “search more” for toplines,
which birthed cuts like infectious single ‘Perfect
Crime’ with its duelling earworm melodies. The
process wasn’t all peaches and cream, though. Joy
recorded the entire album’s vocals in her voice notes,
where it lived for a year and a half. “Which sounds
cool for an interview,” she quips. But recreating “the

“[‘juniper’] is such an
attractive word to me. it’s
like a cooler way of saying
resilient.”

play and the childlikeness” proved “a fucking ball
ache”, and led to some “tense moments” in the studio.
Necessity being the mother of invention, she
embraced a more technical role than ever before,
at the encouragement of close friend and executive
producer Harvey Grant. “He just turned to me and
said ‘Mate, I think you need to sit the fuck down and
get on the laptop’.” Despite initial fears, she found
the process “liberating” and “really punk”, sticking to
her dialled-down methodology even with the chance
to go big. One work in progress featured “stems
and stems of Abbey Road recorded strings”, she
recalls. “Harvey has this story where [he’s like] ‘it was
hilarious sitting on the sofa watching you mute these
fucking thousand pound strings, like, nah, don’t want
that one, don’t need it!’”
True to her vision, Joy flourishes on ‘Juniper’ when
less eclipses more. In fleeting terms, on its luxe
opener ‘Brave’, she ponders a choice she faced
between love and loss when weathering rough mental
health in the time since ‘Skin’ - although, she says,
the emotions originate much earlier. “Touring and
everything is a great distraction but I obviously had
something bubbling up for years in the background
I’d decided not to deal with, mentally.” When she
found herself falling in love with someone, “it all
came to the surface”. What appeared as “ugly traits”
from the outside, she confesses, “were actually
traits of someone with very specific traumas”. She
faced a crossroads: continue distracting herself with
hedonism - “aloof and in [my] own world” - or, frankly,
focus on sorting out her shit. “It [felt] like, you can fuck
around, but the play time’s gonna end at some point.
No more Alaïas or Tabis, you’re gonna have to put on
your fuckin’ Salomons and go on the hike!”
If having ‘Brave’ as track one sets the intention
of starting afresh, then bookending the record,
‘Paris’ - a leisurely rumination on self-assurance
and sexuality - suggests she was successful. “I
feel like that’s one of the best songs I’ve ever done.
Because I went there. I really sent it on that song,”
she asserts. “I felt myself falling into a state of flow
while recording it, and allowed whatever needed to
come out of that to happen.” Hardly a lament - “it has
a ‘fuck it’ energy” - ‘Paris’ draws on a relationship Joy
had with a woman and the grieving when it ended; not
for that person, but for her short-lived freedom to be
“outwardly gay”. It features one of her most stunning
verses: “Kinda wanted you to be my girlfriend / Didn’t
wanna fuck with no more Catholic guilt / When it
comes to pride / I’d raise my heart to a girl or guy”,
she recites, in the same hushed tones as earlier. “And
then it goes “But I believed I was a sinner”, and I have
church-sounding vocals in that part. When I played
it to my friend, she gasped. I was like, ‘fuck, yeah,
maybe that bit is kind of crazy’.”
Irish Catholic on her dad’s side, Bangladeshi Muslim
on her mum’s, Joy wasn’t raised strictly either, but
her dad felt she should understand the Catholic
church from a young age. “Sure. Okay!” she laughs,
flippantly. “I love the iconography, don’t get me
wrong. All that gold? Nuts!” She soon questioned,
though, “if gay people are accepted here”.
“You get to about 12 and [wonder] ‘am I a sinner for
feeling like that girl in my class is really cute?’ But
you have no one to talk to, because you’re in church.
There’s this unspoken thing of, ‘if I say something, am
I gonna go to hell?’” She pauses. “That was fucking
terrifying. The breath of hell down your neck… No
child should ever have to deal with that. So, I think me
going “didn’t want to fuck with no more Catholic guilt”
is extremely powerful. It’s kind of nuts I could get to
that point.” Perhaps ironically, it was her dad who
introduced her to Van Morrison, a key influence on the
song’s vocal style. “[He] is one of my biggest vocal
inspirations, ‘cause he does this thing where instead
of saying “the lion” he says “the la-da-da-da”, and he
just spits. My dad used to say ‘he’s letting go’. I feel
like on ‘Paris’, I let go.”
After what sounds like a turbulent spell, Joy seems
grounded. She’s seen her therapist this morning, and
a session with dance producer Jakwob for potential
third album moves is next on the agenda. She has
yet to plan the ‘Juniper’ tour, due to hit big stages
around the UK in November (including the legendary
Brixton Academy, a stone’s throw from the cosy loft
where we meet), but she’s brainstorming. “I don’t
think I’m gonna build huge sets… what Sault had at
All Points East - I haven’t got that white collar crime
kind of budget!”, she quips, mischievously. “Sensory
overload” is the ambition, though. “Venues all smell
of piss and beer, which I kind of love, but [I want]
triggers everywhere: visuals, auditory, smell. My ex is
a perfumer so I was gonna ask him for help. Juniper
smells amazing.” A gorgeous segue that begs the
question: why name the album ‘Juniper’?
“It’s such an attractive word to me. I love [the movie]
Juno. I love the way ‘Juno’ sounds. When I heard
the word ‘Juniper’ I was like ‘what the fuck does
this mean?!’ Then I read about the plant itself. It’s
native to Ireland, and lots of other places; it can grow
anywhere, but it doesn’t need to be watered. It’s like
a weed - a beautiful weed that makes gin and nice
things. It’s aromatic. They put it in loads of stuff. It’s
like a cooler way of saying resilient.”
Joy is the kind of animated soul it’d be possible to
chat with for hours - outgoing, warm, thoughtful - but
she has to bounce; Jakwob awaits. A fellow Tarantino
head, she recalls their most recent conversation. “He
said ‘you remind me of the last scene in Kill Bill’, when
[The Bride] has her daughter in the car and they’re
driving the Pussy Wagon into the distance. He was
like, ‘you don’t know where you’re headed, but you’re
out the other end’. I think I feel honestly the best I’ve
ever felt.”
‘Juniper’ is out 26th September via Insanity. D
“touring is a great
distraction
but i obviously
had something
bubbling up
for years in the
background i’d
decided not to
deal with.”
Ewen Spencer

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VIOLENT
MOVING AWAY FROM THE MORE COLLABORATIVE FOCUS OF HER EARLY CAREER, ON
SECOND SOLO ALBUM ‘YOU HEARTBREAKER, YOU’, JEHNNY BETH IS STRIPPING THINGS
BACK IN EVERY SENSE.
WORDS: SEAN KERWICK
Jehnny Beth is deep in rehearsals. She arrives on Zoom fresh from a
morning of vocal warm-ups, and for good reason. “This record, it’s
quite difficult to sing,” she laughs, slicking back her jet black hair.
“The songs go from whispers to screams. The notes are high,” she
emphasises. A healthy balance of propolis spray and sleep are the
antidotes. With nine songs clocking in at just under 30 minutes, it feels like she’ll
need a healthy supply of both to summon the fierce spirit at play across new
album ‘You Heartbreaker, You’ on the road.
romance - the guitar. “I realised [Johnny] was a riff machine,” she reflects. “I felt
so excited by that.” Johnny Hostile has been involved at every musical juncture
of her career. The couple’s fingerprints are over every part of this new era, even
beyond the wax. “It’s just the two of us - every video, every photo, every artwork.
Right now, we’re designing billboards,” she chuckles. “It really makes me laugh.
We need to provide these formats and dimensions - technical things that we need
to understand that we’ve never done before. For me, it’s so funny that we can do
that.
A starkness lingers in this new collection of songs. Throughout her career, Jehnny
has created music predominantly through collaboration. There was the storming
Savages that put her on the map, before 2021’s ‘Utopian Ashes’ arrived, an
album of duets with Bobby Gillespie - think Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood if
they’d dressed more punk. While 2020 debut solo LP ‘To Love Is To Live’ saw her
tagging in the likes of Cillian Murphy, Romy from The xx and IDLES’ Joe Talbot,
its follow-up is stripped bare of guest stars leaving her raw and unfiltered with
creative and romantic partner Johnny Hostile.
“It was time to look at each other and do what I call the Oasis trick,” she explains.
“Which is to believe in yourself, they’re the kings of that. I really felt it was
time. It was fucking about time to do it.” Gravitating around a volatile, reactive
atmosphere, Jehnny’s vocals are driven into the red atop thundering drums and
muscular guitar for the most part. Sonically, it’s a thrilling tapestry that references
Nine Inch Nails and hardcore groups like Fugazi, Converge and Quicksand. Or,
as Jehnny puts it, “washy guitars and music for the sad and horny. There is an
urgency to the record and the lyrics, that’s for sure.”
Jehnny frequently adds to a series of ‘20 things I’ve noticed’ on Instagram;
a list of small proverbs for the internet age that range from the profound
to the silly. One of her wiser ruminations goes ‘don’t write to be read,
write to breathe’. It feels as if she’s taken this in her stride across the
often breathy, gasping delivery of her lyrics that are dipped in a carnal
energy on the album. Some ring out like observations spluttered out
at the height of pain or pleasure, and sometimes paranoia. “How
can it be so complex / I just wanna see you undress,” she croons on
‘Out Of My Reach’, while on ‘No Good For People’, she proclaims,
“You haven’t found a way to kill me yet”. Later, ‘Reality’ finds her
boasting “I hit your G so hard, it made you fall.”
Another rumination that sticks out is perhaps less profound:
‘There are two kinds of people, those who have Oasis tickets and
those who don’t’. She falls in the latter camp - despite having
shared vocals with Noel Gallagher on his Gorillaz collaboration
and Britpop-ceasefire-of-sorts ‘We Got The Power’.
“I haven’t been but I’ve heard amazing stories from people
who have been. My friend always goes to the mosh pit. I go
with her,” she smiles. “Apparently, there’s quite heavy pits
for Oasis right now. She said there were middle aged men
doing ketamine off each other’s heads. She’s very used
to mosh pits but this was moshing from another
generation. I think that what [Oasis] do, especially
to men in the UK, is really important. They speak
to a part of the population that sometimes
feels not really talked to in culture, music or
media. I think it’s great. They deserve that.”
M
osh pits would become an
important part of the genesis
of ‘You Heartbreaker, You’,
in particular the circles formed among
crowds during the Queens of the Stone
Age tour Beth supported on in 2023
- alongside Viagra Boys. “In America,
they really love extreme music,” she
says. “There’s a real army of audience
there, fans of Korn and Tool and now
Turnstile. There’s a code to it. If you
don’t understand it, it can feel quite
violent at first but it’s not. It’s a dance. If
you’re halfway into it, you’ll probably get
hurt. You have to go all in. It’s one of
those rare things in life that keeps
you in the present - a mosh pit is
that and for me being on stage
is that.”
Jehnny returned from
that tour with a rekindled
ARE
“SONGS
ADDRESSED TO
THE
IT’S LIKE IN
WOR LD.
ANY
“I think it’s also very capitalist,” she continues. “We live in a capitalist society
and it’s pushed on you that you need to pay other people to do things. I wanted
to go back to that DIY mentality, I wanted to get close to how it felt when I first
started making music. I needed to find my focus back, and [Johnny] is the best
collaborator for that.”
The album was forged in the brutal habitat of its creator’s own narrowing attention
spans, a topic explored on ‘High Resolution Sadness’ - “I wanna take it all in / I
wanna put down the screens,” she screams over a thrashing instrumental. “I’m
like everyone. I’m a doom scroller,” she admits. “I get swallowed into the vortex.
Some parts of it I like. My Instagram wall is full of comedy and food stuff. Our
number one rule was if we’re bored, we delete.”
hat manifesto was penned ritually, ahead of Jehnny’s creative pursuits,
‘Don’t bore me’ becoming a mantra of sorts in the studio. “The music
Tknows better than you know, and you have to get really good at listening,
paying attention to what the world you’re creating is feeding back to you. You
juggle subjectivity with objectivism. It’s a tricky balance. I don’t write songs to
fix my own problems. I think songs are conversations. Songs are addressed
to the world. It’s like in any conversation: don’t bore me, I don’t like small
talk.”
CONVERSATION:
It appears this restless nature extends beyond music too. Keeneyed
observers of Netflix would have spotted Jehnny in ‘Hostage’,
a political drama starring Suranne Jones. It marks her first acting
work outside her native France (where she featured in 2023’s
broadly acclaimed Anatomy Of A Fall); now, having recently done
a three week shoot in Brazil, she’s on the cusp of filming another
movie back home.
“I try to do both. I’m always happy to sacrifice film for music
because music is my art,” she says. While she doesn’t identify
many crossovers between the creative acts - she turns
down any musician roles offered to her - dialogue from the
silver screen often bleeds into her writing. “Even ‘You
Heartbreaker, You’ could be a line from a movie. I think
that in songs, the more personal, the more people
like it. And sometimes it’s true. Writing a song is
kind of similar to writing for a character. It’s a
perspective.”
DO N’T BO RE ME,
I
LIKE
SMALL
TALK.”
DON’T
This weaving between disciplines recalls
another one of her Instagram proverbs
- ‘There are many versions of yourself,
just make sure they all get the right
shoes’. “Well, right now I’m barefoot,”
she laughs. “That’s really true though.
I used to wear stilettos in Savages.
We were afraid of being caught by the
fashion police and not taken seriously
as musicians because we were
women. The only thing I would allow
myself would be interesting shoes.”
For this upcoming tour though,
sneakers are on the cards - a seemingly
sensible choice to offset the intense
physicality this new music will demand
in the live arena. “I’ve got my Nikes
or Doc Martens - something a little bit
more comfy. [The] stilettos are not there
anymore,” she smiles. “There’s an evolution
in that.”
‘You Heartbreaker, You’ is out
now via Fiction. D

DELIGHTS
Johnny Hostile

A LITTLE HELP
AFTER 25 YEARS AS A BAND - AND LONGER STILL AS FRIENDS - ANYONE WOULD
BE FORGIVEN FOR NEEDING A BIT OF A BREAK. ON THEIR GORGEOUS NEW ALBUM
‘FUTIQUE’, BIFFY CLYRO PROVE THAT SOMETIMES YOU NEED TO HEAD OFF IN
DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS TO COME BACK TOGETHER STRONGER.
WORDS: SARAH JAMIESON
When Biffy Clyro took to the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury for an epic
sunset slot just a few weeks ago, it looked as though it’d be impossible
to wipe the smiles from their faces. For anyone gathered in front, the
Scottish trio looked to be in the prime of their lives; 25 years into an
illustrious career, a picture-perfect example that hard work and tenacity
really does pay dividends. And, on the whole, all of that is true. Had we
seen them 18 months prior, however, it likely would have been a different scene.
As with any relationship, time spent together is often not enough. Throw in
gruelling schedules and long stints of time away from home, and things can
start to feel challenging. Add in the fact that Biffy have barely come up for air
during their tenure as a band (their newest will be their tenth studio album in 13
years, following their back-to-back efforts in 2020’s ‘A Celebration of Endings’
and 2021’s ‘The Myth of the Happily Ever After’), it’s perhaps little surprise to
learn they needed a break from one another.
“We never got to a point where we took it for granted,” bassist James
Johnston assures, as the trio sit in a central London hotel to chat today, “but
I think that time off helped us to feel lucky again, and remember how lucky we
are to be doing this.”
“THE WORLD IS A FUCKING DUMPSTER FIRE, BUT
THERE’S LITTLE SHAFTS OF LIGHT THAT WE CAN ALL
FIND.”
- SIMON NEIL
For anyone searching for inter-band beef or dramatic blow outs, you’ll not find it here.
Today, they sit together laughing at in-jokes, retelling stories of their time in Berlin
recording, and nodding in support of one another’s statements, in the way that only
lifelong friends know how. Instead, their story stemmed from something altogether
less explosive; the exhaustion of the tail-end of the pandemic and a need to breathe
a different kind of air.
“The last couple of years have been a little bit tougher for us,” nods frontman
Simon Neil. “I was away with [side-project] Empire State Bastard and it’s
probably the longest time we’ve all lived separate lives. Sometimes we’ve
been off the road with the band, but we’re all sharing the rhythm of life.
Coming back we were just… Not on completely different wavelengths,
because that implies that we didn’t see eye to eye, but we were just in a
different rhythm.”
“I think, with the isolation [of the pandemic], we all just forgot how to
interact,” he continues. “Not just us, but everyone. I think everyone
had forgotten how to communicate and be kind. I know that was the
phrase of the month a while ago, but I think we all had our elbows out.
We were probably guilty of it a wee bit as well: I’m sure when I came
back from Empire State Bastard, the boys were probably - rightly
so - a bit like, ‘Okay, well…’ You know, you stand your ground.
As much as we’re a team and we always will be, we’ve all got
individual egos and ambitions that don’t always match.”
While Simon has previously dabbled in projects outside of
the band, the emergence of Empire State Bastard - in which
FROM MY FRIENDS

“WE’VE RELEASED A LOT OF ALBUMS, SO LET’S MAKE SURE WE’RE DOING IT
BECAUSE WE WANT TO, NOT JUST BECAUSE ‘IT’S TIME’.”
- SIMON NEIL
he performs with Biffy touring
guitarist and former Oceanside
frontman, Mike Vennart -
marked a distinct line in the
sand. Craving a move away
from his identity as ‘Simon
from Biffy’, the project’s debut
‘Rivers of Heresy’ packed in
scorched screams and bludgeoning riffs to deafening effect. “‘The Myth…’ led
into ESB, and ESB was very much fucking one of those things where if anyone
wanted to watch it… thanks!” Simon laughs, nodding to its decided lack of mass
appeal. “Not many people did, but I think I got a lot of that real horrid darkness
out, that anger and spite.”
That wasn’t the only musical focus that the trio had to distract themselves. In
October last year, the band took to the stage for six special shows - aptlytitled
‘A Celebration of Beginnings’ - to commemorate their first three,
beloved, albums. Taking place over three nights in London’s Shepherds Bush
Empire and the infamous Barrowland in Glasgow, the opportunity to revisit their
younger selves also doubled as a satisfying (and well-timed) reminder of how far
they’ve come.
“It did - apart from the fact we had two and half weeks to do it!” Simon laughs,
at their somewhat ill-planned scheduling, which gave them less than a month
to rehearse the 75-plus songs that they’d cram into the setlist. “Sitting at home
playing and re-learning those songs was the most fun I’ve ever had playing my
bass - just sitting at home!” adds James. “I felt like a 14 year old learning his
favourite band’s songs in a way. It made me think of us at that age - and I was
really fucking impressed! It was a really great journey to go on and look back
through. I was like, ‘fucking hell, that was really good’. “I had to skip back a few
times and go ‘what the fuck did we do there?!’,” chimes in drummer Ben Johnston.
“It was absolutely crazy.”
“You kind of inhabit your younger self, because it’s hard not to,” Simon adds. “As
James says, you’re taken back to the memories of recording them, writing them,
of us playing them in our old YMCA room while the junkies were at the door. I think
that helped us with where we were at as a band 25 years in. If we hadn’t had that
real connection to who we are and what we are, then, when we were having a bit
of a fall out, it perhaps would’ve [done] more damage. I think that put things in
perspective and reminded us that it’s not about how we’re feeling for this eight or
twelve months, it’s about how do we feel about this as our lives?”
Despite some wondering whether Simon’s work with Empire State Bastard
might go on to inspire a darker new chapter for Biffy’s next steps, that
couldn’t have been more untrue. “Everyone at the time was asking, ‘oh is
[the new music] sounding like ESB?’ No!!” Simon grins. “Melody just came
flooding out. The melodies that came out were very optimistic.”
Instead, the frontman found himself swapping screaming (“I love screaming,
it’s fucking great fun - you should try it,” he winks) for the more open, soaring
offerings that pepper new album ‘Futique’. “This one was led by love,” Simon says
plainly. “Last year was the first time since my mum passed 20 years ago when
I’ve gone through all of my family photos, and it’s the first time where I felt like the
memories - and my relationship to those memories - were positive, rather than this
built-up thing I had in my mind that equates with sadness. [There was] all of that
reflection, and thinking about the ups and downs we’ve had for the past 20 years
- in and out of the band - and appreciating the strength that that gives us, and the
fact we’ve survived.
“I think we’ve all been through a period of reflection over the last few years,” he
goes on. “When you hit the age we are, when you’ve been doing something for
20 years and you’ve maybe said a lot of what you want to say… We never just
want to do this because, ‘it’s time to do it’. I know I say that with every album, but
it’s genuinely true. It shouldn’t be rote - ‘it’s time for another Biffy record!’. We’ve
released a lot of albums - way more than any of our fucking favourite bands ever
did - so let’s make sure we’re doing it because we want to, not just because ‘it’s
time’ or it’s our work.”
After the more barbed statements of their previous two records (“With
‘Celebration’ and ‘Myth’ I think I addressed things as well as I could about
how I felt about society,” he confirms), ‘Futique’ is instead about “wanting
to be loving and positive despite the way you feel”. Led by the gorgeous ‘A
Little Love’, the floodgates were opened towards a more inclusive feel, not too
dissimilar to that of their breakthrough 2009 record ‘Only Revolutions’. “The whole
album is kind of like, ‘you could hide away in the shade and the bushes if you
wanted, but isn’t it a lot better to be in amongst the things you love rather than get
scared of them?’”
Simon even admits that this change of pace has had an impact on him physically,
too. “I just wanted to feel the joy of those moments in a chorus where you all hit a
chord and you’re like, ‘ahhh’,” he proffers. “See when you sing that way? I hadn’t
realised until I’d been screaming, but it affects your physiology as well; it affects
how you hold yourself and your thoughts and your brain. Your perspective and
outlook on everything changes when you sing like that.
“When I was screaming in ESB, the words weren’t as articulate; they were
important but it was more about how it was coming out. Coming back to the
singing, I really wanted the words to matter and didn’t want to cloak it in the whole
‘life can be amazing because of love’. No, life can be tough because of love but it
still makes it fucking worthwhile.”
A record that proudly wears its heart on its sleeve, ‘Futique’ may see the band
turning more emotionally inward, but in the wake of the chaotic outside world, it
may well be the healthiest approach. “If the last few years have taught us anything,
[it’s that] you don’t know what’s even happening next year and we just want to
be in the moment,” Simon says. “That’s why it’s called ‘Futique’; Future Antique.
It’s about realising what we haven’t been in the moment of in our last 20 years.
Those amazing moments are so fleeting and before you know it you’re passed that
moment and you’ve not even savoured it. That’s what this is about, and not in a
naive way; the world is a fucking dumpster fire, but there’s little shafts of light that
we can all find.”
‘Futique’ is out on 19th September via Warner. D
Eva Pentel
44 D

D 45

REVIEWS
This issue: Hayley Williams, Deftones, Blood Orange, Shame and more.
5
HAYLEY WILLIAMS
Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party
Post-Atlantic
With Hayley Williams’ latest solo effort - now officially
known as ‘Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party’ - she
has breathed a new lease of life into the more static
confines of the idea of an album, shifting things in a
manner not too dissimilar to that of Radiohead on their
2007 pay-what-you-want LP ‘In Rainbows’. Releasing
the record’s then-17 tracks without an official tracklist
- and entirely for free, through her password-encoded,
nostalgia-loaded website - her latest solo work
became an opportunity for fan collaboration, with
thousands of different playlists and configurations
popping up within a few days.
It’s perhaps only because the record is so musically
varied and rich that this approach could yield such
extensive results; a real pro of its meandering, 18-track
runtime. A running of the gamut through Williams’
huge wealth of musical influences, ‘EDAABP’ never
quite settles into a rhythm, instead twisting and turning
in satisfying sonic directions to fit the mood of each
new emotion present. And there are emotions aplenty
here. From the lackadaisical rage that sizzles through
opener ‘Ice In My OJ’ (“A lot of dumb motherfuckers
that I made rich,” she dedicates, presumably to higher
ups at Paramore’s former label home), to the dark
self-examination of ‘Negative Self Talk’ - all via the
near-constant hum of doubt and sadness in the wake
of a relationship’s breakdown - our narrator finds
herself continually traversing through darkness in
search of light.
It’s an album that feels intensely nostalgic in moments
(take the scuzzy Riot Grrrl squalls of ‘Mirtazapine’, or
the creeping, hypnotic ‘Kill Me’), and yet immensely
arresting in others (the vocoded vocals of ‘Glum’; her
downtuned riff of Bloodhound Gang’s
‘The Bad Touch’ in ‘Discovery Channel’
). It’s the devastating final one-two of
‘…I Won’t Quit On You’ and ‘Parachute’,
however, that best summarises the
album’s immense power. Moving from
the quietly gorgeous dedication of the
former, through to the thrashing, gutpunch
of the closer is a blistering display
of the complexity of grief, with ‘Parachute’’s second
verse feeling especially desperate and wounded: “And
you were at my wedding, I was broken, you were drunk
/ You could’ve told me not to do it, I would’ve run, I
would’ve run”. A metaphorical opening of wounds in
the most visceral way.
The fact that Hayley Williams is an eloquent, evocative
songwriter has never been in doubt, but with
‘EDAABP’ in all its sprawling scale, she proves just
how far-reaching and all-encompassing her talents
really are. Sarah Jamieson
LISTEN: ‘Parachute’
A metaphorical opening of
wounds in the most visceral
way.
46 D

5
JADE
THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY
RCA
¢
BIG THIEF
Double Infinity
4AD
ALBUMS
If it feels like this, the debut solo album from JADE - aka former Little
Mixer, Gallagher mocker and national hun Jade Thirlwall - has been a
long time coming, it’s because, well, it has. Announcing her as the single
most exciting name in topline pop (bar, perhaps, Chappell Roan and
Charli), lead single ‘Angel Of My Dreams’ first descended over a year
ago, its madcap exploration of fame’s double-edged sword a
show-stopping demonstration of her artistic ambition. And that was just
the start: since then, the South Shields singer has kept everyone - fans and critics alike
- well and truly on their toes, dropping appetite-whetting tracks that ran the gamut from
pulsing, hot and heavy club numbers (‘IT girl’; ‘Midnight Cowboy’) to Lady Gaga-esque
melodrama (‘FUFN’) and funk-flecked grooves (‘Fantasy’). Lyrically, too, she always
seemed one step ahead: between the sex-positive, feel-good bangers were vulnerable
admissions of insecurity amidst the fickle fame machine and eviscerating asides about
exploitative industry types (well, one high-trousered, Dayglo-toothed exec in particular).
Hers was a run of singles of such consistent quality that you couldn’t help but think - has
JADE already played all the best cards in her hand?
In a word: no. The latter half of ‘THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY!’ is a dizzying journey through
genre, era, and Jekyll and Hyde dynamic shifts that more than lives up to the vitality of
its previews. ‘Headache’, for example, has all the attitude of a heat-warped Pharrell 7”;
‘Natural At Disaster’, meanwhile, offsets earnest crooning with choral BVs and glitchy,
video game-like effects, a Frankensteined collage of the shredded pop ballad blueprint.
The album’s only slight stalls come with ‘Self Saboteur’ and ‘Lip Service’ - a pair of
shimmering synth-led cuts which, while not bad by any stretch (both recall Caroline
Polachek at best, The 1975 at worst) feel frustratingly safe next to the balls-to-the-wall
experimentation of the rest of the record. Because, clearly, JADE thrives most when she’s
throwing curveballs: namely, the gloriously ‘80s guitar pop of ‘Unconditional’ - which could
sit shoulder to shoulder with Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode - and The Supremessampling
‘Before You Break My Heart’: an impossibly catchy instant-classic that casts
her as the natural successor to Diana Ross’ girl-group-to-solo-superstar trajectory. After
a career’s worth of constricting, prescriptive pop formula, she’s now finally concocted a
recipe for success on her own terms - and it’s anything but vanilla. Daisy Carter
LISTEN: ‘Unconditional’
On the face of it, it should have spelled trouble for Big Thief that they
arrived at a studio in midtown Manhattan this past January without
any clear idea of how a sixth album was going to take shape. For a
band who’s calling card has been intricate, inventive arrangements
for as long as they’ve been making music, gearing up to record with
plenty still be to worked out sounds like it should be anathema, but
they needn’t have worried. ‘Double Infinity’ is a gloriously satisfying
record on which it feels like everything is in its right place; an album
that on some songs features up to twelve players, but feels consistently intimate and
laid-back.
It helps that Adrianne Lenker remains in the songwriting form of her life; with every
album she releases, with her band or solo, the debate over who might be the greatest
songwriter of her generation inches closer to being settled. There’s something more
playful, conversational even, to her lyricism on these songs in comparison to last year’s
rawer solo effort ‘Bright Future’, and it perfectly suits the sound of ‘Double Infinity’: there’s
a countrified crackle to the swooningly lovely ‘All Night All Day’; a folky breeze to ‘Los
Angeles’; and a lilting, anthemic quality to the harmony-led closer ‘How Could I Have
Known’.
There’s still room for experimentation, too; ‘Incomprehensible’ is suffused with a
wonderfully weird, spacey atmosphere, as what starts out sounding like a stream of
consciousness from Adrianne gradually morphs into a powerful statement of selfempowerment.
She is a genius, and Big Thief now have six out of six great records. Joe
Goggins
LISTEN: ‘All Night All Day’
Zachary Gray, Jenn Five
D 47

ALBUMS
¢
BIFFY CLYRO
Futique
Warner
After almost 25 years together as a band, one thing is for certain: Biffy Clyro have never been
afraid to listen to their gut. Whether in the jagged, raw-edged frenzy of their earliest releases, or
the epic, mainstream-bothering likes of 2009’s ‘Only Revolutions’, they’re a band who have
traversed through different feels and genres effortlessly without ever seeming to second-guess
themselves. So, after the strangely prophetic ‘A Celebration of Endings’ and its immediate
follow-up ‘The Myth of The Happily Ever After’ (which both flirted with the more idiosyncratic side
of their musical coin), and a foray into scorched metal via Simon Neil’s side project Empire State
Bastard - it’s little surprise that Biffy’s tenth is an altogether more uplifting affair.
Granted, there are still moments of serious, darkly-hued reflection here (take ‘Hunting Season’’s rumination on internet
culture and the cultivation of hatred, or the quiet, epic revelation of ‘Goodbye’), but on the whole, these are songs that
- both lyrically and sonically - encourage us to move through the shadows in order to hold life, and our loved ones, that
little bit closer. From the swirling chorus of ‘Shot One’ (and its mantra of “You only get one shot / And that’s what makes
it serious”) to the piano-led lilt of closer ‘Two People In Love’, which soon gives way to a gorgeous, free falling chorus
(“Two people in love / Is a world in one”), ‘Futique’ is a bold album that - much like its overarching concept of ‘future
antique’ - filters through Biffy’s past, all with the aim of protecting their future. Sarah Jamieson
Listen: ‘Hunting Season’
¢
DEFTONES
private music
Reprise / Warner
An altogether more
uplifting affair.
Marking both their tenth studio album and a cataclysmic 30 years since the release of scene-leading
debut ‘Adrenaline’, ‘Private Music’ arrives as somewhat as a reinvigoration for Deftones, even for a band
rarely not at the top of their game. Glastonbury cancellation aside, the lead up in the last few months has
seen the outfit storm stages worldwide, building to the album’s announcement at a triumphant Crystal
Palace headline show and the reveal of opener ‘My Mind is a Mountain’; a brisk near-three minute
banger landing somewhere between the ferocity of their early material and the experimental melodies of
their underrated ‘Saturday Night Wrist’. Where 2020’s ‘Ohms’ brought ‘Adrenaline’ producer Terry Date
back into the fold, here they team up with Nick Raskulinecz - the man behind the expansive melody driven ‘Diamond Eyes’
and ‘Koi No Yokan’. The result is a sound that builds effortlessly on their wide ranging core principles, traversing dark
claustrophobia and sprawling soundscapes, beautiful in both its composition and delivery.
‘Private Music’ leans on the softer moments to power the heavier, not least as the gentle closing of ‘Souvenir’ gives way
to Chino Moreno’s distinctive screams as ‘cXz’ kicks into gear. ‘Metal Dream’ embodies the ebb and flow most, taking
the frontman back to the verge of nu-metal rap with remarkable precision, far from cliche or pastiche, and paired with an
ever-mesmerising chorus. Standout ‘Milk of the Madonna’ explodes with chugging guitars that pave the way for some of
his most affecting vocals to date. That he reportedly took over a year to complete the lyrics and lay down his voice after
the music was complete is evident, this record somehow playing as their most complex yet most simple to date. Few
bands survive 30 years, and fewer still with such clarity and vision. At 10 albums and three decades deep, ‘Private Music’
showcases a band both at the top of their game and with still much more to come. Ben Tipple
LISTEN: ‘Milk Of The Madonna’
#
DAVID BYRNE
Who Is The Sky?
Matador
How often can an album
be described as a victim
of its accompanying
tour’s success? David
Byrne’s last record,
‘American Utopia’, will
surely be remembered for
the magnificence of its live show (which
ended up on Broadway) first, and its actual
songs second. It remains to be seen
exactly what the former Talking Heads
frontman has in store when he takes this
latest LP, ‘Who Is the Sky?’, on the road,
which at least means that for the time
being, we can enjoy it for what it is; a
typically playful, often infectious pop
record.
Everything is a touch off-kilter in Byrne’s
world - if he has even ever been on-kilter
- a fact that remains the case this time
around. Of key importance is that this
is a collaborative effort with Ghost Train
Orchestra, a 15-piece New York City
ensemble who have helped him to weave a
musical patchwork quilt out of his demos,
along with production assistance from Kid
Harpoon. When it works, the results are rich
and joyous, as on the opening one-two of
‘Everybody Laughs’ and the psych-tinged
‘When We Are Singing’.
There are other collaborations, too; Hayley
Williams duets on the sultry ‘What Is the
Reason for It?’ - which probably leans a
little too far into Dean Martin’s ‘Sway’ for
comfort - while there are backing vocals
elsewhere from his old friend, St Vincent.
But ‘Who Is the Sky?’ is at its best when
David Byrne is just being David Byrne -
writing love letters to his apartment, or
bumping into Buddha at a party and giving
him a piece of his mind. He is nothing if not
a one-off. Joe Goggins
LISTEN: ‘When We Are Singing’
4
JOY CROOKES
Juniper
Insanity
Four years on from her
Mercury-shortlisted
debut ‘Skin’, Joy
Crookes’ second takes
its name from a plant that
thrives in harsh
conditions. The juniper’s
resilience is a mirror to her own
experiences during its creation, as across
twelve tracks she tells tales of the
happiness and fear that comes with falling
in love, mental health struggles, queer love
and anxiety against a backdrop that blends
R&B, soul and jazz seamlessly in the style
she’s made her name on.
It’s a record rich in collaborations - witty
lead single ‘Pass the Salt’ features Vince
Staples, and sees Joy clap back at a
jealous acquaintance who crossed her:
“When a bitch don’t rise to rumour / Get
the words stuck in your throat”.” Kano
later guests on ‘Mathematics’, where she
explores the messy realities of unrequited
love. Trust issues are tackled on the
orchestral flourish-laden ‘I Know You’d Kill’,
while on introspective closer and standout
‘Paris’, she reflects on coming to peace
with her sexuality: “I believed I was a sinner
/ Took so long / There’s nothing sweet
about that”.
‘Juniper’ is an album that reflects growth, a
testament to Joy’s inner strength, and one
which places her lyrical prowess centre
stage. Ife Lawrence
LISTEN: ‘Paris’
Eva Pentel
48 D

ALBUMS
4
DIE SPITZ
Something To Consume
Third Man
From playing shows alongside Amyl and the
Sniffers and Sleater-Kinney, through to being
signed by Jack White’s Third Man Records, it’s
clear that Austin, Texas, quartet Die Spitz have
found themselves in the right circles since their
formation back in 2022. And while their frenzied
live reputation certainly precedes them, it’s with
their debut ‘Something To Consume’, that their vision comes into
sharp relief. Far from scrappy or rough-around-the-edges, ‘Throw
Yourself To The Sword’ is a punishing offering - landing closer
sonically to metal titans Pantera and Black Sabbath - while ‘Sound
To No One’ is a sludgy but mesmeric offering that could suit
Deftones. Elsewhere, the bolshy strut of ‘Down On It’ brings a playful
feel to proceedings before their hazy closer ‘a strange moon /
selenophilia’ brings things to an ambient but powerful conclusion. A
fierce, fearless debut. Sarah Jamieson
LISTEN: ‘Throw Yourself To The Sword’
¢
SHAME
cutthroat
Dead Oceans
To say that ‘Cutthroat’ is a return to form would be
a disservice to Shame - the one-time poster boys
of South London post-punk who’ve since shaken
off the label’s shackles to tread their own
ever-intriguing path (see the sweat-laden swagger
of 2021’s ‘Drunk Tank Pink’, or the slower burn of
2023’s ‘Food For Worms’). And yet, this fourth
album is undoubtedly a return to something: full of raw, barely
restrained bite, it’s as if they’ve taken all the sparky, unself-conscious
vigour of their 2018 debut and, in their relative maturity, learned to
wield it even more potently. Ever the rabble-rousing ringleader,
Charlie Steen is on vintage lyrical form, taking aim at social climbers,
cliques, and weak-willed specimens (ostensibly everyone from
“people who drink protein shakes” to “members of parliament”) alike.
Crucially, though, this sneer of worldly disdain is still shot through
with self-aware humour, the band delivering their polemic with both a
middle finger and a wink. And for every visceral spark of familiar fire
(the brilliantly bombastic title track; ‘Screwdriver’), there are equally
inspired flashes of the unexpected: ‘Lampião’ is a playful, bilingual
left turn; ‘Axis Of Evil’’s glitchy electronic loops present dance-punk
as a promising sonic offshoot; and the disarming, Americana-flecked
‘Quiet Life’ stands as one of their best tracks to date. Here, Shame
might be concerned with cowardice, but they’ve never sounded
more self-assured. Daisy Carter
LISTEN: ‘Quiet Life’
Full of raw, barely
restrained bite.
The anger remains
palpable, the lyrics ever
relatable.
5
SPRINTS
All That Is Over
City Slang
Since Dublin’s Sprints exploded out the gate with the stunning ‘Letter To Self’
at the start of last year, they’ve proved a relentless force across the live touring
circuit. Matching their furious off-kilter racket with an equally poignant and
powerful performance, their schedule recently climaxed with an early afternoon
set at Glastonbury, fittingly pairing their political punk with matching backdrops
calling the amped up crowd to action. Time on the road, it seems, has done
little to quash their outrage - a time that has also birthed ‘All That Is Over’, their
second album in two years and one that carries much of the visceral frustration that its forebearer
began, rolled out at breakneck speed.
One significant change sees founding guitarist Colm O’Reilly replaced by Zac Stephenson, a
move that in their own words has injected new energy into the fold. That energy manifests itself
most on the latter part of the record, where Sprints find their groove in a series of sludging,
garage rock numbers, not least the brilliant final one-two of ‘Coming Alive’ and ‘Desire’,
simultaneously their most melodic and sparse tracks to date. ‘Better’, too, sees them at their
most experimental, set against the continued fury of ‘Descartes’ and ‘Beg’ - both of which are
perhaps more reminiscent of what has come before.
Not that that’s an issue - the formula that helped propel the four-piece remains perfectly strong,
led with notable power by guitarist and vocalist Karla Chubb, now a stalwart of the homegrown
punk scene. The anger remains palpable, the lyrics ever relatable, and ‘All That Is Over’ injects
enough ingenuity to keep Sprints right at the top of the class. Ben Tipple
LISTEN: ‘Better’
4
WEDNESDAY
Bleeds
Dead Oceans
If the timing of ‘Bleeds’ feels somewhat fortuitous to the outside world (a band
called Wednesday releasing a record in the shadow of the brightly-lit spotlight
cast by the Netflix series of the same name), then it was seemingly the reverse
for its creation. With frontwoman Karly Hartzman’s decidedly diaristic writing
style, that we’re told that most of this sixth album from the North Carolina outfit
was written before her split with guitarist MJ Lenderman - then a full member,
now at least not a touring one - matters little, as an eerie glumness pervades
most of the record that’s difficult to avoid tying to the protagonists’ real-life timeline. Similarly, the
tension created by a shuffle between styles leaves a visible seam each time: a case in point is the
wonky, pretty country-lite of ‘Phish Pepsi’ (featuring the memorable pop culture quip “We
watched a Phish concert and Human Centipede / Two things I now wish I’d never seen”), which
leads to the indie whisper of ‘Candy Breath’, where an almost comic timing precedes the line
“everyone’s divorced”. It’s not a complete push-pull in contrast, and both tracks themselves
singularly work, but there’s a perceptible vibe shift that has the record on edge - one which (with
the gift of hindsight, at least) suggests a band similarly on edge.
This slight maladroit as Wednesday’s styles jostle for attention doesn’t affect the record - and
in fact, the ‘what we know now’ adds to the emotional heft Karly has already displayed a knack
for conveying. For example, the ennui and classic slacker rock storytelling of ‘Wound Up Here
(By Holdin On)’ is palpable; elsewhere, on ‘Pick Up That Knife’, her refrain of “they’ll meet you
outside” becomes increasingly pained as the track progresses. It’s better yet when this emotion
is echoed by the music itself: the ominous organ of ‘Carolina Murder Suicide’ reflects her soft,
sad delivery; and ‘Wasp’ - the one point where the record could be described as truly noisy -
sees vaguely muted guitars combine to cacophonous (and glorious) emotive ends. Bella Martin
LISTEN: ‘Wasp’
Jamie Wdziekonski, David Willis
50 D

OUT NOW
“Crashing in with an urgent,
alluring energy, shame’s
return is here to blow the
cobwebs away.”
— DIY

ALBUMS
Far from easy but
certainly entrancing.
4
BLOOD ORANGE
Essex Honey
RCA
It’s been seven years since Dev Hynes’s last release as Blood
Orange, when ‘Negro Swan’ forewent much of the commercial song
structures of stunning predecessor ‘Freetown Sound’ and,
somewhat naturally, leaned fully into the unpredictability of
in-studio exploration. Subsequent writing, production or feature
credits on the likes of fellow experimentalists The Avalanches,
Porches and contemporary immersive powerhouse Blackhaine
have since paved the way for the even more expansive ‘Essex
Honey’ - in part a collection of songs, but perhaps more a vast exploration of sound
alongside some of Dev’s nearest and dearest. Underpinned by his distinctive hushed
vocals, the compositions are deliberately unpredictable, jumping into strings, electronic
beats, and chimes at a moment’s notice. Take ‘Mind Loaded’, which in its latter half
ramps up rhythmic 80s keys, far removed from what any fan of its credited collaborators,
Caroline Polachek and Lorde, may come to expect.
This unpredictability won’t be a surprise for those who have followed Blood Orange’s
work closely, taking confident steps away from some of his earlier, more straightforward
hits: not least after a deserved recent TikTok resurgence for his catchy 2011 track
‘Champagne Coast’. New fans may be surprised by the lack of anything close to
its underground radio-ready melody, Dev instead presenting a series of largely
experimental, delicate, and soulful ruminations. The feature list, rolled out like a personal
invite to an intimate jam session nobody would want to miss, also includes Tirzah,
Canadian singer-songwriter Eva Tolkin, and Turnstile frontman Brendan Yates. Each
sit slightly outside of their standard affair, enveloped in Dev’s irregularities, as ‘Life’
embraces R&B against a down-tuned wall of wind instrumentation, and the surprising
‘Scared Of It’ twists the bare melodic bones of hardcore, as if filtered through a hushed
jazz-wash. Perhaps the solo tracks - the gently driving ‘The Train (King’s Cross)’ or the
tropical-tinged ‘I Listened (Every Night)’ - are the closest to what some may consider a
classic song, if only in structure alone. But ‘Essex Honey’ isn’t about convention or the
norm; as Dev continues to push against these boundaries, surrounded by acclaimed
like-minded contemporaries, he delivers something far from easy but certainly
entrancing. Ben Tipple
LISTEN: ‘Scared Of It’
¢
LA DISPUTE
No One Was Driving The Car
Epitaph
Trying to grapple with the narrative strands of La Dispute’s latest opus
- the ominously-titled ‘No One Was Driving The Car’ - is not for the faint
of heart. Inspired after frontman and lyricist Jordan Dreyer read the
phrase in a newspaper after a self-driving car crash caused several
fatalities, the album is a vivid exploration of society’s growing
dependence on technology and how it seems equally likely to cause
our downfall. Like much of their discography so far, ‘No One Was…’ is
a thoughtful, powerful reflection - this time, on modern life - which ebbs and flows
through its concept to paint a detailed but still engaging picture.
From the stark opening gambit of ‘I Shaved My Head’, in all its sparse, intense glory,
through to the lilting, tense spiral of ‘Environmental Catastrophe Film’, the band are
experts at building songs that feel both fragile and claustrophobic all at once, helped
along by the spool of Jordan’s intricate, intense poetry. There’s a more primal rawness
this time around (whether in the heavy sense, as in ‘Man With Hands and Ankles
Bound’, or its lighter moments) that was perhaps less present on its predecessor, 2019’s
‘Panorama’, which works to heighten the sense of desperation at the album’s heart.
An affecting - albeit somewhat terrifying - portrait of how life could shift in the not-sodistant
future, ‘No On Was…’ is perhaps the stark reminder we all need to hear. Sarah
Jamieson
LISTEN: ‘Environmental Catastrophe Film’
4
KING PRINCESS
Girl Violence
Section1
King Princess - aka Mikaela Straus - opens this third record
‘Girl Violence’ with a ghostly title track, laying bare her belief
that love is warfare. “I guess it’s true love,” she surmises,
“‘cause it truly fucks with me”. But this moody approach
belies the record’s actual manifesto: that the pain makes it
worthwhile. Addicted to and enamoured by heartbreak,
Mikaela performs with all the boozy alt-rock of a lovelorn
Britpop act: “Jamie / A-ha / Can’t you leave me alone?” she pleads on ‘Jamie’,
drunk and lovesick. As with all artsy romantics, she finds identity in the agony;
on ‘Girls’ she confesses herself a martyr for women and the earth-shattering
romance that accompanies them. “Girls! / Bring me to my knees,” she sings,
her staple New York drawl floating over wintry soft-rock, punctuated by a
crescendo of cries, “Ah! / Ah! / Ah! / Ah! / Ah! / Ah! / Girls!”
At its most romantic, ‘Slow Down And Shut Up’ sees Mikaela paint a version
of love disrupted by stardom, but she’s enigmatic in her seduction, alleviating
anxiety with brash arrogance. “It’s you that I want / Fuck your friends / They’re
no fun / And it’s you that I want.” Largely, the record sways in this smoky
alt-rock dive bar performance, affected and broken, coursing with suffering,
post-break-up self-pity and attempts at indifference as remedy to the pain.
Standout ‘Serena’, meanwhile, is far more sober in its approach, swelling with
staple King Princess pop-rock grandiosity, all while affirming the sincerity of
her romance, despite its rough-around-the-edges tendency. “If I could make
you feel this / Then maybe you’d believe me / Not everybody loves like this.”
At its core, ‘Girl Violence’ is a portrayal of melodramatic love and its
overwhelming possession that’s as earnest, self-indulgent and womanising
as expected from the King Princess demeanour. “You’ll hear me scratching
at your post,” she promises on ‘Covers’, “and you’ll wonder if it’s me that’s
haunting you.” Otis Robinson
LISTEN: ‘Serena’
4
PURITY RING
Purity Ring
The Fellowship
After nearly a decade of weaving shimmering, otherworldly
synth-pop tapestries, Purity Ring have returned with a
self-titled fourth album, and it’s a thrilling evolution of their
unmistakable sound. Fans of their breakthrough debut
‘Shrines’ and 2015’s ‘Another Eternity’ will discover
something both familiar and strikingly fresh here. Where
previous records fused eerie, body-horror-tinged lyrics with
icy, futuristic production, this time Purity Ring take a bold leap into the
fantastical and conceptual. Drawing inspiration from narrative-rich RPGs like
Nier Automata and Final Fantasy X, the album unfolds like a cinematic journey
following two characters on a quest to build kindness in a fractured world. It’s
ambitious in scope but never loses the intimate emotional pull that Corin
Roddick and Megan James command so effortlessly.
Lead single ‘place of my own’ sets the tone perfectly: euphoric synths pulsate
with yearning; a dreamy escape wrapped in bittersweet nostalgia. Like much
of the album, it balances their ethereal aesthetic with urgent, deeply human
themes - the idea of building a kinder world where grief is spoken aloud and
family is a verb, not just a noun. Gone is some of the clinical coldness of their
early work; instead, there’s a warm, embracing quality to their fully formed,
imaginary universe where vulnerability and hope collide. Gemma Cockrell
LISTEN: ‘place of my own’
4
JEHNNY BETH
You Heartbreaker, You
Fiction
On pressing the play button on this second album from
Jehnny Beth, two key elements are immediately evident: a
bassline evocative of Nine Inch Nails’ ‘The Fragile’, and the
juxtaposition between an aggressively human, bloodcurdling
scream, and a mechanised composition. The
former won’t come as any surprise to anyone familiar with
her time as frontwoman of Savages. The latter, however,
marks a full foray into the industrial, her needle pointed closer to Ministry than
Coil on the stylistic spectrum.
With a title inspired by graffiti seen during a London walk with long-time
collaborator and partner, Johnny Hostile, ‘You Heartbreaker, You’ explores
a darker side of long-term monogamy and its related anxieties. “How
many years are we gonna last?”, she asks on standout ‘Stop Me Now’,
over glitchy guitars and drums that suggest the breakdown of a machine:
a pleasing synchronicity between form and content. On the seductive ‘Out
Of My Reach’ - distracting in its similarity to Faith No More’s ‘Ashes To
Ashes’ - she sings “I would go down on my knees, just to make you stay”,
tipping the balance between desperation and desire. A cautionary tale of the
dangers of repressed emotions and running a relationship on autopilot, ‘You
Heartbreaker, You’ presents the contrast between machinery and primal urge.
Guess which will win... Ife Lawrence
LISTEN: ‘Stop Me Now’
Vinca Petersen
52 D

Imagine
Togetherness!
MØ
Pip Millett
Alice Phoebe Lou
Greentea Peng
Everything
Everything
Fuffifufzich
Waving The Guns
Lugatti
Anna Ternheim
Blondshell
Gizmo Varillas
Vendredi sur Mer
Dry Cleaning
Au/Ra
Melike Şahin
Bow Anderson
Etta Marcus
Paula Cendejas
KiLLOWEN
Night Tapes
49th & Main
Twin Tribes
Matilda Mann
Getdown Services
Carpetman
RAPK
I Am Roze
Luvcat
The K’s
David Bay
Deki Alem
Ahzumjot
Chloe Slater
Ray Lozano
h3nce
Nell Mescal
Yasmine Hamdan
Yukimi
Mei Semones
TTSSFU
Sofie Royer
Nilipek.
Cara Rose
The Pill
Westside Cowboy
Soft Loft
und viele mehr
Hamburg, Germany
supported by
Media Partners
Organiser

ALBUMS
#
SYDNEY MINSKY
SARGEANT
Lunga
Domino
This debut solo
record from Sydney
Minsky Sargeant
might represent the
most dramatic
change of pace by
an artist all year, the
frontman of doomy dark electronica
merchants Working Men’s Club
swapping the claustrophobic synths of
that band - as well as recent
supergroup side project, Demise of
Love - for acoustic guitars and much
introspection.
Some of the songs on ‘Lunga’ date
back to Sydney’s teenage years in
Todmorden, although you get the
sense that it has taken him until now -
and he’s still only 24 - to find the clarity
needed to imbue them with maturity.
Musically, it’s sparse - mainly guitar
and piano - although there are woozy
electronic flourishes here and there,
particularly on a couple of stand-outs,
‘Summer Song’ and the gorgeous
‘Hazel Eyes’.
Stylistically, comparisons will be
drawn to the likes of Nick Drake
and Bert Jansch and, while Sydney
demonstrates a similar talent for
generating a heady atmosphere from
a limited instrumental palette, he has
some way to go before his lyricism
is on that level; his writing here is
sometimes charmingly unvarnished,
and other times bordering on trite,
perhaps lacking a touch of the
weirdness that lends his words for
Working Men’s Club such bite. Still,
there is an admirable bravery to
‘Lunga’, the sound of a cocksure - and
often loose-lipped - frontman letting
his guard down and seeing where
his vulnerability will take him. On this
evidence, it is down a road with much
promise. Joe Goggins
LISTEN: ‘Hazel Eyes’
¢
ZARA LARSSON
Midnight Sun
Sommer House / Epic
Over a decade since their first collaboration, Zara Larsson and MNEK are reunited, with the British
multihyphenate anointed as co-creator of this fourth record from the Swedish star. Where 2015’s earworm
‘Never Forget You’ Frankenstein-ed Zara’s R&B-indebted vocal control with elaborate EDM, across ‘Midnight
Sun’ the pair similarly forge a maximalist, electronic pop future. Its title track alone is gutsy and boundless.
It’s comprehensive in its variations of electronica, dance, Scandi-pop and R&B, creating a colourful body of
work. Its forward-thinking, lush alive-ness cements Zara as a largely-overlooked genre VIP; a Main Pop Girl
that has tirelessly and thanklessly worked beyond the spotlight to pave the way for a more seamless rise for
her dance-pop successors.
“Puss puss / ’97 on the number plate,” she spits on the post-pop Brazilian funk cut ‘Hot and Sexy’, capturing the record’s cocky
and maximalist party-girl intention; later, ‘Eurosummer’ does precisely what it says on the tin; and lead single ‘Pretty Ugly’
tears apart Pussycat Dolls-esque hip hop beneath raw cheerleader-y aggression. It’s just as committed to her Scandi roots,
too: “I wanted to write about a Swedish summer where the sun never goes down,” she has asserted in recent press material.
Elsewhere, ‘The Ambition’ is a bubbly confessional on fame and love; the cutesy ‘Puss Puss’ comes backed by hyperpop
synths; and the airy alt-pop of ‘Saturn’s Return’ stands out at the record’s middle as an intriguing step into something new
entirely. Near non-stop, ‘Midnight Sun’ is entirely sun-drenched, exuberantly formulated pop that’s both scaffolded by MNEK’s
nostalgic production style and the Scandi-pop-meets-dance future that Zara has readily paved. Otis Robinson
LISTEN: ‘Saturn’s Return’
4
OLIVIA DEAN
The Art Of Loving
Capitol
Olivia Dean’s 2023 debut ‘Messy’ was itself eagerly awaited; this
successor arrives with yet more attention on the singer-songwriter,
via various high-profile appearances including a lunchtime
Pyramid Stage set at last summer’s Glasto, and the poignant ‘It
Isn’t Perfect But It Might Be’ becoming the soundtrack to this
year’s Bridget Jones movie. There’s a sense of warmth
underpinning the Londoner’s second full-length, recorded in an
East London house-turned-studio. First impressions ‘Nice To Each Other’ and ‘Lady
Lady’, both lean into a lighter, more flamboyant edge, momentarily revisiting the
carefree spirit glimpsed on ‘Messy’, even as much of Olivia’s work continues to dwell
in more reflective, tender spaces. ‘So Easy To Fall In Love’ is similarly upbeat; a
romantic retelling of the early stages of falling for someone over tinkering keys and
decorative drums.
The opening lyrics of ‘Close Up’ (“Chasing rabbits don’t usually end with happily
ever after”) match a certain unease provided by the twang of a descending piano,
as the song opens into an expansive chorus, before the bookending ‘Loud’, soaring
vocals front and centre, is bolstered by delicate plucked guitar and cinematic
strings. ‘Loud’, also deserving of flowers for its emotional depth and transparency,
brings listeners back to her ability to communicate the complexities of human
relationships, the warmth of her voice radiating sincerity. ‘I’ve Seen It’, meanwhile,
provides a round-up with an anthemic ending: a final declaration of knowing
one’s self-worth. ‘The Art Of Loving’ is all of these lessons; from the need for
independence (‘Man I Need’) to the art of letting go (‘Let Alone The One You Love’),
Olivia manages to convey all wisely, without becoming preachy. Emma Way
LISTEN: ‘Loud’
4
NIGHT TAPES
portals//polarities
Nettwerk
Most artists will say their music is
shaped by their environment, but
for London trio Night Tapes, it’s
nothing short of fundamental.
‘portals//polarities’ is a deeply
immersive journey that travels
through the places and sounds of
its creation across the globe.
From a bubbling swamp in Tallinn, Estonia, to birdsong
in Mexico and even a Los Angeles police helicopter,
this debut boasts a wildly exploratory soundscape.
Made quietly in a shared South London house - where
Iiris Vesik, Max Doohan and Sam Richards had to keep
volume low to avoid disturbing neighbours - these
songs are time capsules of the band’s experiences,
both direct and indirect. Take ‘pacifico’ - a trip-hoptinged
nod to a mythical mindset inspired by stories of
Mexico’s San Jose del Pacifico, with a cheeky wink to
Souls of Mischief’s classic ‘93 ’til Infinity’.
At its core, ‘portals//polarities’ is an exploration of
energy, identity and freedom - themes that run deep
for Iiris, who grew up in Estonia, still under the shadow
of authoritarian rule. Her hypnotic voice floats over
sparse beats and spacious synths, weaving through
tracks like the mysterious, sensual ‘babygirl (like no1
else)’ to create a debut that’s more than a collection of
songs - it’s a cohesive body of work that dreams big
while staying human and connected; music that’s as
unpredictable as it is beautiful. Gemma Cockrell
LISTEN: ‘pacifico’
4
SUEDE
Antidepressants
BMG
This tenth album from
Suede might not quite
fit the definition
offered by frontman
Brett Anderson in the
early stages of its
genesis
(“experimental” is, of course, often a
relative term), but there’s nothing across
these eleven tracks that suggests the
Sussex stalwarts have ripped up theirs,
or anyone’s rulebook. Still, what
‘Antidepressants’ does succeed at is
living up to its name: its similarly
suitable working title came from
centrepiece and standout ‘Broken
Music For Broken People’, a song
which bears greatest similarity to the
band’s ‘90s megahits while also
possessing a passing resemblance to
Alternative National Anthem ‘Mr.
Brightside’.
For all Brett’s thirty-plus-year
protestations against the term Britpop,
that ‘Antidepressants’ has appeared
following a nostalgia-fuelled summer
during which entire generations
discovered ‘90s behemoths for
themselves (and amid a period where
the algorithms like to suggest the
longtime popular) gives the record
potential - if its delivery avoids veering
into wilfully earnest territory - to latch
itself onto these new audiences. The
overly melodramatic ‘Somewhere
Between An Atom And A Star’ begs to
be epic and ‘June Rain’ is pure, instant
nostalgia for a time not yet lived; opener
‘1’ brims with Joy Division-esque
agitation, while dark closer ‘Life Is
Endless, Life Is A Moment’ suggests a
chicken-and-egg situation as it parallels
Fontaines DC’s propensity for expanse.
Amusingly, too, when writing ‘Trance
State’, they could hardly expect to have
been the second artist to namecheck
Mirtazapine this summer [this issue! -
Ed]. There are points where the lyrical
repetition fails in its emphasis, and
instead falls into overdone (‘Criminal
Ways, ‘Dancing With The Europeans’),
and - to be incredibly nit-picky - the
sampled and distorted “see it, say it,
sorted…” that concludes ‘The Sound
And The Summer’ frustratingly cuts
off before its iconic whole. But, overall,
‘Antidepressants’ is a solid, pleasantly
dense record from a band who’ve been
solid for decades yet. Louisa Dixon
LISTEN: ‘Broken Music For Broken
People’
Emma Swann
54 D

¢
HO99O9
Tomorrow We Escape
Deathkult / Last Gang
To describe ‘Tomorrow We
Escape’ as intense would indeed
be a case of stating the bloody
obvious, as three albums and
countless live victory laps in,
HO99O9’s stall - a patchwork of
cues taken from across hardcore,
punk, industrial, hip hop and just about everywhere
else - has been well and truly set, and it’s never not
been a vivid one. But this third outing is so
impeccably paced, with its twists and turns and
frequent 180-degree sonic shifts, that it somehow
makes the outfit’s already fiery flame burn yet
brighter. Take the dreamy, ‘Space Oddity’-esque
‘Immortal’, where a guest turn from Chelsea Wolfe
pits her hypnotically soft vocal alongside a similarly
dreamy soundscape: sandwiched between the
frequently rapid-fire ‘Tapeworm’ - on which The
Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato delivers
knowingly clichéd lines in such a deadpan manner
that it turns from potential pastiche to sincere
homage - and ‘LA Riots’, on which the outfit’s riffs
are as pointed as their words (“How you gonna take
all of us / You know we ain’t giving up”), its silence is
amplified. Similarly, the daydreamy ‘Psychic
Jumper’ follows ‘OK, I’m Reloaded’, on which an
industrial beat combines with a messy metallic loop
to land somewhere between ‘brat’ in the moshpit
and if Sleigh Bells’ abrasive debut had fallen after
100 gecs made their name. The most straightforward
number here is ‘Incline’, on which TV on the
Radio’s Dave Sitek presents a suitably funky base
on which a collection of collaborators - Nova Twins,
Pink Siifu, Yung Skrrt - are able to build, the
shuffling beat and use of vocal effects leaning
daringly close to zeitgeisty. But it’s closer ‘Godflesh’
that crowns ‘Tomorrow We Escape’ in the best way
possible; a gargantuan track that’s beat-perfect in
its moshpit-friendly dynamism, the push-pull of loud
and, well, slightly less loud building to a finale that’s
gorgeously chaotic and pure catharsis on record.
Ed Lawson
LISTEN: ‘Godflesh’
#
NEWDAD
Altar
Atlantic
After last year’s ‘Madra’ left much to be desired, with this swift follow-up,
NewDad pull through with a stronger, more memorable record, but one
which still suffers from a lack of consistency.
‘Altar’ finds the Galway trio throwing ideas at the wall - and when they stick,
it’s with super glue: ‘Roobosh’ is one particular standout, the track pouring
with more aggression than the band have shown thus far, backed by a
snappy chorus. The decidedly indie ‘Pretty’, too, breezes through with lush
chorus harmonies working in unison with tangy guitar work to leave a pleasantly whimsical
impression. It’s a lyrically consistent record: themes of homesickness and uncertainty of
belonging are explored throughout, reaching a suitable climax in closer ‘Something’s Broken’,
which creates an intense emotional release that’s been building throughout. Yet for all this,
there’s also the disappointing ‘Sinking Kind Of Feeling’ and opener ‘Other Side’, the latter’s
slow build at odds with the overall tone of the record. Still, it’s a great stride forward with some
tracks that’ll likely go down as some of the band’s best. Peter Martin
LISTEN: ‘Roobosh’
4
VLURE
Escalate
Music For Nations
4
GEESE
Getting Killed
Partisan
To be labelled a
‘hyped’ band can be
a poisoned chalice,
especially for groups
where the average
age of members is
under 25. Since
2023’s ‘3D Country’ and the critical
acclaim of frontman Cameron Winter’s
solo album ‘Heavy Metal’, Geese have
been heralded as the heir apparent to
New York’s indie-rock throne. With the
release of ‘Getting Killed’, it is clear
that such praise is justified.
Alongside producer Kenneth Blume
(aka Kenny Beats), Geese have
moulded their art-inflected dadrock
into something exploratory and
markedly progressive. While the
quartet flex their experimentalism
in the skulking basslines and bayou
brass stutters of ‘Trinidad’ or the
undulating guitar play and drum
breaks of the album’s title track, there
is a considered focus on songcraft at
the heart of each composition.
Despite being progressive and
extensive, ‘Getting Killed’ remains
measured and ultimately fun. ‘100
Horses’ invokes ’70s stadium rock
in its bluesy swagger and anti-war
messaging, while the record’s second
half features the offbeat shimmer and
singalong tenderness of ‘Au Pays du
Cocaine’ and ‘Taxes’, before closing
on the rousing gallop of ‘Long Island
City Here I Come’. A carefully crafted
and expansive release from a group of
young musicians truly coming of age.
A L Noonan
LISTEN: ‘Long Island City Here I
Come’
Since erupting onto the scene in 2021 with the barbaric ‘Shattered Faith’,
Glasgow’s finest pill-punkers VLURE have been busy administering sonically
gloomy yet spiritually euphoric injections of rave catharsis across the UK.
Their debut LP may feel somewhat overdue, but the storm of thrashing
synths, raging vocals and unrelenting energy proves worth the wait. “Give
me a release,” frontman Hamish Hutcheson demands incessantly on the
high-tempo ‘Heartbeat’, a statement of intent delivered with clenched fists.
‘Feels Like Heaven’ could soundtrack the peak of any night out, its glitchy vocal samples
twisting a declaration of love into a euphoric rush, while ‘Better Days’ pulls things inward, a
poetic reflection on nights gone by and those still to come. Across 13 tracks, the record’s pulse
rises, falls, and distorts, occasionally testing its own stamina but never losing focus. Capturing
a once-dominant culture that few now dare to revisit, ‘Escalate’ proves VLURE’s ability and
desire to marry sentimentality with sheer force. This is their moment - and they seize it
completely. Finlay Holden
LISTEN: ‘Feels Like Heaven’
COMING UP!
Your handy list of records worth getting excited for.
3rd October
AFI - Silver Bleeds the Black Sun
ASH - Ad Astra
DEAF HAVANA - We're Never Getting Out
DODIE - Not For Lack Of Trying
IDLEWILD - Idlewild
JAMIE WOON - 3,10, why, when
LONG FLING - Long Fling
MAYDAY PARADE - Sad
MOON PANDA - Dumb Luck
PROJECTOR - Contempt
RICHARD ASHCROFT - Lovin' You
ROCKET - R Is For Rocket
SAY SHE SHE - Cut & Rewind
SIGRID - there's always more that I could say
SNÕÕPER - Worldwide
THRICE - Horizons/West
UPCHUCK - I'm Nice Now
VEGAS WATER TAXI - Long Time Caller
10th October
ARIES - Glass Jaw
AVERY TUCKER - Paw
CORREN CAVINI - A Place To Call Home
DUST - Sky Is Falling
HANNAH FRANCES - Nested in Tangles
JAY SOM - Belong
JERSKIN FENDRIX - Once Upon A Time... In
Shropshire
KHALID - After The Sun Goes Down
MADI DIAZ - Fatal Optimist
OTHER LIVES - Volume V
ROBBIE WILLIAMS - Britpop
THE ANTLERS - Blight
THE WYTCHES - Talking Machine
TOUGH COOKIE - The Countryside Is Good For You
WERKHA - Unsung Irregular
17th October
ASHNIKKO - Smoochies
BRÒGEAL - Tuesday Paper Club
DEAR BOY - Celebrator
HOME COUNTIES - Humdrum
JOUSKA - How Did I Wind Up Here?
JUST MUSTARD - WE WERE JUST HERE
MILES KANE - Sunlight In The Shadows
MILITARIE GUN - God Save The Gun
POLIÇA - Dreams Go
SKULLCRUSHER - And Your Song Is Like A Circle
SOULWAX - All Systems Are Lying
SUDAN ARCHIVES - The BPM
THE LAST DINNER PARTY - From The Pyre
24th October
BEAU ANDERSON - Soundtrack of Letting Go
CIRCA WAVES - Death & Love
DANCEHALL - 100% Music
ELIZA MCLAMB - Good Story
FANCLUBWALLET - Living While Dying
HANNAH JADAGU - Describe
LILLIAN KING - In Your Long Shadow
NELL MESCAL - The Closest We'll Get
SPIRITUAL CRAMP - RUDE
THE LEMONHEADS - Love Chant
31st October
ADMIRAL FALLOW - First Of The Birds
CHIEDU ORAKA - Undeniable
CREEPER - Sanguivore II: Mistress Of Death
DANIEL AVERY - Tremor
ETTA MARCUS - Devour
HIGHSCHOOL - HighSchool
LUVCAT - Vicious Delicious
THE CHARLATANS - We Are Love
WITCH FEVER - FEVEREATEN
7th November
JORDANA - Jordanaland
PICTURE PARLOUR - The Parlour
SORRY - COSPLAY
WHITE LIES - Night Light
14th November
AUSTRA - Chin Up Buttercup
OF MICE & MEN - Another Miracle
WYLDEST - The Universe Is Loading
9th December
PROBLEM PATTERNS - Boring Songs For Boring
People
9th January
THE CRIBS - Selling A Vibe

LIVE
ALL POINTS EAST
Victoria Park, London
BARRY CAN’T SWIM
Amid swelling plumes of dust, Friday night hosts Barry Can’t
Swim - aka Josh Mainnie - taking to the stage for his first
ever headline set. Fresh from toppling the UK Dance Charts
with 2025 album ‘Loner’, Barry is anything but as he stages a
lineup chock-full with joyous, feel-good club music.
Shygirl’s demented club pop provides the perfect escape
by proving she can get as down and dirty as the dusty park
itself. Donning a coquettish silk bow tie, and surrounded
by slinky backup dancers, the Londoner rarely lets the
momentum slip, commanding her crowd to give “ENERGY,
ENERGY!”. It’s all killer, no filler; opening with the glamorous
‘Cleo’, she runs through hits like ‘Freak’ and ‘Fuck Me’ before
her rip-roaring remix of Charli xcx’s ‘365’. If you thought that
wasn’t enough, buckle up for Confidence Man, who have
made it their mission to conquer every festival imaginable
this season. The Australian dance group start strong with a
mighty run of crowd-pleasers - ‘ALL MY PEOPLE’, ‘I CAN’T
LOSE YOU’ and ‘NOW U DO’ among them - but it turns out
they have an even bigger surprise up their sleeves. Enter
JADE, who launches into a fully choreographed routine to
her collab with the pair, ‘gossip’. The crowd laps it up, and it
makes for a huge highlight in an already-packed day.
Finally, it’s time for Barry Can’t Swim, who makes a
boisterous entrance by sounding a siren before exploding into
a psychedelic feast for the eyes with ‘The Person You’d Like
To Be’. It’s his birthday today, he says, and he’s determined
to celebrate in style with a full orchestra and some of the
most impressive lasers Victoria Park has likely ever seen.
He bounds between everything from the seductive gurgles
of acid house to the transcendent salsa chants of ‘Kimbara’.
Special guests also make an appearance: Låpsley emerges
for a stirring rendition of the sensual, piano-led ‘Woman’,
while somedeadbeat - Irish poet Jack Loughrey - recites his
monologue on ‘Deadbeat Gospel’. Following up with ‘Still
Riding’ and ‘How It Feels’, Barry closes out with the classic
‘Sunsleeper’, before an impromptu round of ‘Happy Birthday’
chants come from the crowd. Barry may not be able to swim,
but he sure can host a banging line-up. Alex Rigotti
RAYE
By the time woman of the hour RAYE is up, this year’s All
Points East has already played host to D&B upstarts Chase
and Status, soul enigmas Sault and Cleo Sol, and the new
face of tropico-house Barry Can’t Swim. Unsurprisingly, her
show is very sold out, and DIY is raring to get stuck in.
But first, Chloe Qisha’s 80s-tinged alt-pop is contagiously
fun on the enormous East stage. Melodramatic and sleek,
‘21st Century Cool Girl’ earns an early singalong, while the
lithe ‘Sex, Drugs & Existential Dread’ sets hips a-groovin’ -
think ‘Love Me’ era 1975. This arvo, her band are tight and
her wicked banter is endearing. Soon, the day’s first big ticket
item emerges; sporting an icy blue tracksuit and bold lip-liner,
JADE is mesmerising as she ascends on the East stage to
punch right into audacious electro banger ‘IT girl’. Flanked
by a band, back up singers and dancers, the ex-Little Mixer
swiftly puts her pop chops to work, leading clap-alongs as
the crowd revels in her clubby melodrama. ‘Plastic Box’ feels
like an extension of her girlband origins, not a rejection; it’s
gratifying to witness JADE growing authentically alongside
her audience. She steps things up a notch, a cover of
Madonna’s ‘Frozen’ dissolving into a pumping techno storm,
before a medley of Little Mix tunes transforms an overcast
Vicky Park into pure summer carnival. Her joy radiates as she
speaks on finding her new direction, North East accent warm
enough to melt iron, before wrapping with her spellbinding,
genre-bender ‘Angel Of My Dreams’. Festival slots seldom
come more wholesome.
A trek over to the West stage then finds FKA twigs, a
last-minute sub in for the absent Doechii. A jaw-dropping
career retrospective ensues, blurring music, dance, and
performance art, as Twigs showcases her futuristic, sexpositive
dance record ‘Eusexua’ with a troupe of statuesque
dancers. The unit moves hypnotically under stark, white
lighting, a huge backlit scaffold the focal point, and Twigs’
unearthly vocal cutting through the amorphous synth sounds.
In short, it’s phenomenal, every aspect so considered, so
artisan, and the setlist posits Twigs a true nonpareil. When
the throbbing electronica ends, she delivers a skeletal
rendition of ‘Cellophane’ over lilting piano, and the field
falls silent. When she eventually exits, beaming, the roar of
support is the loudest all day.
Then, the main event. RAYE’s return to All Points East is a
resolute victory lap after a delayed-but-breakneck ascent
to stardom. Her name in lights, stage crammed full with
orchestra and choir - the Flames Collective - she’s a picture
of vintage glamour as she powers into ‘Oscar Winning Tears’
and ‘The Thrill is Gone.’ in quick succession. ‘Flip A Switch’ is
an early highlight, its trap beat contrasting with the elaborate
arrangements in the best way; it’s loud, it’s sophisticated,
and it’s quintessentially London. Akin to Adele, RAYE is
a powerhouse vocalist, but her gobby ad libs are equally
entertaining. “This next song is about addictions - woohoo!”
she jokes, before ‘Mary Jane.’ The festival soundsystem
doesn’t fully do justice to the complexity of her arrangements,
but the electric and orchestral elements still complement
each other majestically. A rendition of ‘It’s a Man’s Man’s
Man’s World’ follows and the set hits fever pitch; she’s on
her knees belting James Brown’s iconic lyrics like her life
depends on it. Before the final hurrah that is ‘Escapism.’ she
recalls early performances in empty rooms, “more people on
stage” than in the audience. They were “some shit gigs”, she
THE MACCABEES

LIVE
says, soulfully. “Let me tell you, this was not a shit gig”.
We couldn’t put it any better. Alex Cabré
THE MACCABEES
Rarely, if ever, has there been quite as much
anticipation for a London day festival as this, the final
installment of All Points East 2025. Ever since last
October, when eagle-eyed fans first spotted that the
socials of one beloved indie band were active once
again, people have been counting down the days to
this particular bank holiday Sunday: The Maccabees’
big reunion. Or, as it’s long been known in the DIY
office, Indie Christmas. Because, with each lineup
announcement, the roll-call of late ‘00s/early ‘10s
favourites who’d been recruited to join the fun just kept
getting longer: Bombay Bicycle Club! The Cribs!
Everything Everything! The Futureheads! And, in
between the giddy nostalgia trips were nestled all sorts
of exciting newer names, from art-rock paragons Black
Country, New Road to country-pop sensation CMAT.
Safe to say, The Maccs - who curated this entire, guitar
band homage of a support bill themselves - had nailed
it.
Which is why, no doubt, so many people are here
in East London’s Victoria Park as soon as gates
open, intent on watching as much of today’s stacked
programme as possible, dry and dusty conditions be
damned. Beneath the crossed arches of the X Stage
enclosure are Man/Woman/Chainsaw - a band who,
having been a standout fixture on the London live
circuit since before they were old enough to drink in the
venues they play, are now rightfully greeted by everbigger
crowds. Still, though, there’s an enduring sense
of playfulness to proceedings: taking the opportunity
to road-test unreleased material, the six-piece revel in
dynamism, delivering tempo shifts and trading vocal
duties such that anyone watching is kept on a knifeedge.
Over in the tented canopy of the Cupra North
Arena, Nottingham folk-rockers Divorce are busy
proving themselves to be an effective bridge between
today’s old guard and new prospects: though their
album ‘Drive To Goldenhammer’ only arrived in March,
it stands as one of the year’s best debuts, and today’s
tight set gets a reception that firmly suggests they’ll be
playing similar such stages for years to come.
Is there a more iconic image this festival season
that Ireland’s giddiest star CMAT diving headfirst
into the crowd for a rousing final chorus of ‘Stay
For Something’? It’s perhaps only eclipsed by the
last notes of her set today, which see her lifted aloft
to crowdsurf her way back to the East Stage after
a triumphant turn in the second-to-headliner spot.
As ever, she - and her Very Sexy CMAT Band - are
an unabashed riot of fun, with the set landing as
the perfect release as the final countdown to The
Maccabees begins.
As the dust emphatically doesn’t settle on today’s
dizzyingly busy support bill, all paths really do point
East. The Main Stage lights go down, the screen
flickers, and a montage of old photos and videos
from The Maccabees’ formative days flashes up; the
intervening decade falls away, and it could be 2015
again. What follows is a selfless, impeccably judged
setlist spanning all four of the band’s albums, leading
us by the hand through flippant swimming pool-related
carnage (opener ‘Latchmere’) to earnest, particularly
poignant pleas for enduring connection (‘Precious
Time’) with deft confidence and unconcealed joy. In
fact, so absorbed are the band in playing together once
more that they barely seem to notice when the sound
briefly cuts during ‘Love You Better’ and ‘Can You
Give It’; unsurprising, really, given that this crowd can
apparently sing every word of every song loud enough
to not warrant accompaniment.
Between the backdrop - which flits between the album
covers for ‘Colour It In’, ‘Marks To Prove It’, and more
ambiguous cityscapes -
and the disco ball lighting,
which lowers as they
launch into ‘Spit It Out’
to cast Felix White and
Orlando Weeks in shades
of silver, there’s a curious
timelessness to tonight.
Though shared memories
and nostalgia obviously
loom large, it doesn’t feel
as if The Maccabees are
striving to emulate the
past; instead, they seem
to suggest that the present
moment was, somehow,
exactly how it was meant
to all play out. “We’ve
come back to do this for a
reason,” grins Felix.
Because, as well as
celebrating the band’s
already-cemented place
in people’s hearts,
acknowledging and
honouring the lives
soundtracked by these
songs, this evening is
also about giving the
audience new moments
to remember. And, for
everyone here, there are
few surprise guests that
could send up as much of
a roar as Jamie T - “Jamie,
Jamie, Jamie fucking T” -
who, in a wonderfully full
circle moment, joins the
band onstage for ‘Marks To
Prove It’, just as he did at
their ‘last’ Ally Pally show in
2017. That they then launch
into a cover of ‘Sticks
‘N’ Stones’ with the man
himself is the cherry on top of an impossibly tall cake;
if there’s ever been justification for residents around
Victoria Park making noise complaints, 50,000-odd
people shouting “lightweight prick” in unison might
be it.
Taking a moment to address the audience pre-encore
- a triple-header of ‘Toothpaste Kisses’, ‘Grew Up At
Midnight’ and ‘Pelican’ that perfectly epitomises The
Maccabees’ emotional range and resonance - Orlando
looks out at the sea of faces who, for years, thought
they’d never again be stood here. “All of you bought
tickets. You gambled. It’s unbelievable: that you took
that risk, paid that money, and put your faith in the love
that you had for our band, and the love you had for the
occasion that this might be.” Safe to say, the gamble
paid off. Anyone fancy another flutter? Daisy Carter,
Sarah Jamieson
BARRY CAN’T SWIM
JADE
Isha Shah, Ellie Koepke, Bree O’Hagan

READING FESTIVAL
Richfield Avenue, Reading
Photos: Emma Swann
Having spent the better part of three
decades channelling the zeitgeist and
providing music fans and GCSE-takers
alike with plans for the final throes of
summer, this year’s edition of Reading
Festival still more than meets the brief.
Across 2025’s eclectic bill, it sees the likes of Aussie
punks Amyl and the Sniffers share a stage with US
rapper Travis Scott, while huge dance names like
Becky Hill and Sammy Virji rub shoulders with rising
stars like Luvcat and Antony Szmierek.
Topping off a victory lap of a summer that’s seen
them celebrate two whole decades of their 2005 indie
classic ‘Silent Alarm’, Bloc Party’s appearance on the
Main Stage on Friday afternoon is made particularly
special by the fact that, going off R&L’s usual post-
GCSE demographic, many of the crowd gathered here
weren’t actually alive to hear the hits first time around.
Another band who are far from strangers to the fields
of Reading & Leeds, SOFT PLAY’s brand of openhearted,
politically-charged, self-aware punk is, on this
evidence, just as capable of whipping up a frenzy as
it always has been. Under the (relative) shade of the
newly-tented Chevron Stage, mosh-pits open almost
immediately; after the Europop bounce of Vengaboys’
‘We Like To Party!’ (the duo’s walk-on song of choice)
gives way to the snarl of last year’s ‘Mirror Muscles’,
the crowd let up their pinball antics only once, for the
heart-wrenching banjo strums of ‘Everything And
Nothing’. Laurie Vincent and Isaac Holman, too, are
pulling absolutely no punches: between leading the
crowd in emphatic
SOFT PLAY
chants of “Free
Palestine” and “Fuck
the BBC”, they bring
out Kate Nash to give
recent joint single
‘Slushy’ its live debut,
before she seizes
the opportunity for a
triumphant ‘Punk’s
Dead’ crowdsurf.
Obviously. It’s riotous,
ridiculous, and
Reading to a T.
That Reading and Leeds were, once upon a time,
emphatically rock-oriented festivals is a fact that tends
to get wheeled out, year on year, by lineup naysayers
and ‘music isn’t what it used to be’ types. While their
guitar-dominated days may be over, though, the
twinned fests are still field-sized paragons of youth
culture, and nowhere is that more obvious than the
crowd for Friday co-headliner Chappell Roan. Pink
cowboy hats are perched on heads as far as the eye
can see; we’d hazard
a guess that no artist
playing this undercard
sunset slot (booked as
she likely was before
her star went truly
stratospheric) has
ever pulled so many
people.
And have no doubt:
she was born to
perform on stages
this big. Strutting out
in a gloriously gothic,
bat-adorned outfit,
she emerges as the
undisputed queen of
the castle behind her - a sprawling, multi-story stage
set the drama of which Reading has never seen.
Indeed, there are moments where her performance
verges on theatre - when a parade of monk roadies
carrying candles appear before her storming cover of
‘Barracuda’, say, or when she mournfully serenades a
toy alien, illuminated by thousands of phone torches
held aloft, during ‘Coffee’ - but the show’s overarching
concept is bound tightly together by a near-relentless
run of songs that are nothing short of phenomenal.
(Which, given they’re overwhelmingly lifted from her
one and only album, ‘The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest
Princess’, is all the more astonishing). In many ways,
Chappell’s rise to stardom has been the stuff of
fantasy; tonight, she’s living out a fairytale of her own
making, its scale and
spectacle a striking
assertion that pop
- feminine, camp,
lesbian pop - has just
as much of a place
at R&L as anything
else. But beyond all
the bells, whistles,
and pyro (and believe
us, there are plenty
of each), what’s really
the most special
thing about Chappell
Roan’s Reading set
is what she clearly
WUNDERHORSE
CHAPPELL ROAN
inspires in her crowd. Regardless of gender, everyone
here seems so joyful; happy to sing at the top of their
lungs or do a silly little dance, they’re gloriously unselfconscious
in a way teenagers so rarely are. Maybe the
kids are alright after all.
If anyone was the perfect fit to pick up the gauntlet
thrown down by Chappell the previous evening, it’s
Saturday’s headliners Bring Me The Horizon, who
tonight, promise to close out ‘Post Human: Nex Gen’
era with a bang. But first, a day of genre-hopping
ensues, courtesy of an early day Main Stage slot from
fierce punks Lambrini Girls, the bubbly, MGMTnodding
lilt of Royel Otis and the goth-hued guitar
pop of Pale Waves, who’ve even brought their own set
of candelabras to the Chevron Stage to really amp up
the drama.
Later on the Chevron and Wunderhorse are
embarking upon the final stretch of their victory lap,
via a gloriously frenzied run-through of the arms-aloft,
hold-your-mates-closer tracks that defined their 2024
album ‘Midas’, before the swaggering, nu-metal titans
that are Limp Bizkit take to the Main Stage. In what
can only be described as a glorious resurgence for the
‘90s stalwarts, their set is as ridiculous as you might
expect, Fred Durst et al meandering through 13 of their
biggest tracks in a manner that’s somehow entirely
laidback, yet completely frenzied all at once. It’s when
Fred pulls fan Brooke (dressed in his iconic red cap)
onstage for a blistering rendition of their 2000 hit ‘Full
Nelson’, though, that the ante is really upped, with her
performance bringing a fierce energy and then some.
The fact that she probably wasn’t even born when
the track was first released makes the moment all the
more surreal.
Much like Friday’s headliner before them, Bring Me
The Horizon seem to thrive on the dramatic, and as
the stage screens flicker with a faux video game start
screen, the tension begins to build. Picking up where
their NX_GN WRLD TOUR
LIMP BIZKIT left off, their stage show
is a detailed dive into a
supernatural, sci-fi flecked
underworld, as led by their
AI “companion” EVE (who -
surprise, surprise - actually
turns out to be the baddie).
Away from the sheer scale
of the show’s production,
they are a well-oiled
machine of a band, with
frontman Oli Sykes wasting
no time in whipping up
mosh pits across the crowd.
Having spent the better part
of two years honing their set list - there’s little change
here to their recent live runs - the likes of ‘MANTRA’
and ‘Shadow Moses’ are still colossal-sounding, while
the Babymetal-featuring ‘Kingslayer’ is a sugary sweet
assault on the senses. In fact, it’s only ahead of a fanguesting
rendition of ‘Antivisit’ that the sting is taken
out of things, as it stalls the show in a way that feels
a little unnecessary, despite its Singstar-like set-up
attempting to do the heavy lifting. Nevertheless, Bring
Me The Horizon put on a show that’s ferocious and
triumphant in equal measure, solidifying themselves as
the titans of UK metal once more, and proving that - no
matter the genre - there’s a place for all music fans at
Reading Festival. Daisy Carter, Sarah Jamieson

a Crosstown Concerts presentation by arrangement with CAA
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LIVE
MAD COOL
Iberdrola Music, Madrid
Photos: Emma Swann
THURSDAY
London could learn a lot from Madrid; aside from the
delicious food, unhurried lifestyle, and more nocturnal
existence (siesta, anyone?), the Spanish capital has
it sussed when it comes to summer festivals. It may
be 6pm when the first acts of the day take to their
respective stages, but it’s still a sweltering 37°C.
What better thing to do, then, than jump around in
a black tent to thrashing West Coast punk? Now 12
years on from their debut LP, there’s an air of slight
contradiction to FIDLAR, cast as they are in the mould
of troublemaking skater boys, whose trademarks
are furious tracks about youthful dissatisfaction and
intoxication. That being said, these songs have lost
none of their potency. Between flying pints, crowd
surfing, and a “chicas only” mosh pit, the crowd at
this intimate stage isn’t stationary for a second; and,
though undeniably scrappy, frontman and guitarist
Zac Carper has everyone in the palm of his hand.
Back out in the sunshine, a heartening period of
respite comes courtesy of Conor Oberst’s Bright
Eyes, who are valiantly trying to break down cultural
divides via some choice betweensong
stage chat (“This one’s
called ‘The Wheels On The Bus
Go Round and Round’,”
he quips, to a sea of
interested but puzzled
faces). Unshared
references aside,
theirs is a
full-bodied,
far-reaching
set that shows
off their melodic
folk-rock at
its finest, the
banjo-led,
arms-around
singalong of
‘First Day Of My
Life’ proving to be one of the day’s most wholesome
moments.
Over at the festival site’s second stage, meanwhile,
rock icon Iggy Pop is bringing no little drama
to today’s sunset; although the start of his set is
hampered by technical difficulties - which pop
favourite Gracie Abrams also graciously overcame
earlier - he appears entirely unphased by the hitch,
stalking the stage and punching the air, as if these
movements come more naturally than breathing.
There’s a palpable sense within the gathered crowd
that we are indeed in the presence of a legend (not
least because The Stooges frontman is, at 78, still
more than capable of letting it rip), and the punchy
one-two of ‘The Passenger’ and ‘Lust For Life’ - as
iconic a double-header as we’re likely to get all
weekend, bar nothing - only serves to cement this
status.
Say what you want about Muse, but one thing, on
this evidence, is undeniable: Matt Bellamy and co.
sure know how to put on
a show. No strangers
to Mad Cool, having
performed here back
in 2022, the Devonshire
rockers are headlining
once again in place of
Kings Of Leon, who were
forced to cancel their summer
2025 touring commitments due
to injury. And tonight, stepping in
like pyro-flanked superheros, Muse
understand the assignment exactly.
Standing under a canopy of huge,
lantern-like boxes, which rise and fall
in formation as lights and lasers
refract at all angles, the band
deliver a set stacked with Guitar
Hero-esque anthems that, really, were made to played
on stages this big.
The beauty of Mad Cool’s start-late, finish-late
programme is that, even post-headliner, the site is
still buzzing with activity. And for those with enough
stamina to keep dancing until ‘90s stalwarts Weezer
take to the stage at 00:40, it may well be a case of
saving the best until last: at ease with the audience,
uncharacteristically chatty, and sounding superb, the
band - helmed by the endearingly un-rock’n’roll Rivers
Cuomo - are apparently riding high after a triumphant
recent turn at Glastonbury. Interspersing cuts from
across their discography (with most attention paid to
their 1996 debut ‘Pinkerton’ and 2001 self-titled effort)
with snippets of well-meaning, broken Spanish and
winking lyrical nods to tonight’s locale (the outro of
fan favourite ‘Beverly Hills’ is aptly adjusted), Weezer
storm through a set that finds them not only asserting,
but expanding, their legacy.
FRIDAY
There aren’t many festivals which attract grown-up
goth-rockers and TikTok-savvy Gen Z-ers to the same
site, but then again, it’s not often that Nine Inch Nails
and Noah Kahan share a bill. The beauty of today -
the second day of music at Mad Cool 2025 - is that,
as much as fans are here to see their faves, they’ll also
most likely stumble
across artists who are
completely outside
of their usual wheelhouse, too. And what’s a festival
without a few wildcards?
Kicking things off today are an array of European
names, from Spanish star Natalia Lacunza and
Swiss instrumental outfit Hermanos Gutiérrez, to
Georgian trio Will Kolak and Madrid locals JØL - two
of a handful of acts who beat over 1000 entrants
to win this year’s Mad Cool Talent competition
for emerging artists. It may be early by Spanish
standards, but already crowds are flocking
to the main stage; and, as breakout
singer-songwriter Benson Boone steps
out to rapturous cheers, it’s clear
that his brand of chart-storming,
backflipping pop balladry is a hit
here.
OLIVIA RODRIGO
Equally big, though, is the audience
for Alanis Morissette; striding
across the stage’s full width in
leather trousers and an understated,
oversized tee, this set shows
precisely why she’s affectionately
nicknamed ‘the queen of alt-rock
angst’. Having lost none of her
potent, emotive vocal power
or self-assured
attitude in the years
since her seminal
1995 album
‘Jagged Little Pill’,
Alanis makes sure
to give the record

LIVE
potent reminder of just how ubiquitous and farreaching
NIN’s musical fingerprints really are.
SATURDAY
As the gates open for Mad Cool’s last full day of
music - not counting Sunday’s inaugural Brunch
Electronik programme - it’s immediately clear
that, today, there’s only one name on everybody’s
lips. Scores of tweenage girls are literally sprinting
across the site, homemade signs in hand, to
secure a close-as-possible spot to the main stage,
ready to forego all else for their idol - and Olivia
Rodrigo isn’t even on for another six hours. It’s an
anticipatory, feverishly excited atmosphere, and
one which is joyously inescapable; everywhere,
there are merch-clad ‘Livies’ intent on having the
night of their lives.
WEEZER
(well, half of it, anyway) the 30th anniversary
outing it deserves - that is, when you can hear her
over the swell of crowd song. She doesn’t utter a
word during the first verse of ‘Ironic’, instead just
holding her mic outstretched as people belt out
its iconic lyrical list; later, during penultimate track
‘Uninvited’, she leaves it to us to carry it home
as she loses herself utterly in its instrumental
breakdown.
As British indie mainstays, Kaiser Chiefs are
no strangers to a festival stage. This summer
represents two decades since the release of their
beloved debut ‘Employment’, and the band are
marking the occasion accordingly with a string of
big shows both at home and abroad. And, far from
being jaded, bored, or achingly self-serious (as
some artists are wont to become), their primary
objective is - as it always has been - to orchestrate
one hell of a good time. A surprise mid-set cover
of The Ramones’ ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ keeps the crowd
on its toes before we charge forward into ‘I Predict
A Riot’, but it’s actually the outlandish animations
projected onto the screen behind the band which
are tonight’s biggest curveball: it’s truly the stuff
of an E numbers-induced fever dream. And it’s
brilliant.
A stark contrast to the extravagance of last
night’s headliners Muse, when the curtain goes
up on Nine Inch Nails this
evening, it’s them
alone who occupy
the expansive main
stage: no props,
accessories, or
set to speak of.
Not that it matters;
in fact, this (relative)
minimalism only
underscores the might
of the industrial rock
pioneers, whose music
and inimitable presence
simply needs no adorning.
Swapping between
thrashing, satisfyingly
heavy segments and more
electronic-leaning, ambient
moments, Trent Reznor and
co. continue to captivate their
far-from-casual audience through
every sonic left turn, confident
that we’ll follow willingly where
they lead. There are few bands
who can move so seamlessly
between styles as Nine Inch Nails,
nor who are as quietly influential:
the raunchy pulse of ‘Closer’ is
pure St Vincent, and ‘Hurt’ is
just as spine-tinging as Johnny
Cash’s cover. Besides being a
masterclass in uncompromising
artistry, this headline turn is a
For those Olivia fans who haven’t opted to chain
themselves to the main stage barrier, this evening’s
golden hour slot offers an opportunity to get a
different, more left-of-centre dose of pop-rock
courtesy of the inimitable St Vincent. Indeed, as
Annie Clark surveys the sunlight-bathed crowd
gathered here, she herself acknowledges some
of the most youthful faces peering back - young
girls who, by our reckoning, will go home tonight
with more than one set etched in their memories.
Flitting between a sort of manic pixie persona
(all air kisses and soft coos) and a sexuallycharged
vaudeville player, her erratic movements
are suggestive of both ecstasy and agony, the
alternative visionary presents her latest opus
(2024’s ‘All Born Screaming’) with the conviction of
one for whom - even at a foreign festival - artistic
compromise is never an option.
Like Kaiser Chiefs yesterday, and St Vincent before
them, Glass Animals’ presence on Mad Cool’s
smallest outdoor stage seems like something of
an underplay; beyond the core mass of people
who’ve positioned themselves front and centre
for the former DIY cover stars, reams more watch
tonight’s feel-good set from afar, sipping cervezas
sat down. Led by human Duracell Bunny Dave
Bayley, the band understand that this pre-headline
slot is essentially a mood-setter for the night
ahead, and accordingly bounce through a set that
(quite literally, in Dave’s case) dances from peppy
indie to neon-hued, atmospheric electro-pop with
ease.
And so, to the main event. For someone who’s
never had this many eyes on her - following her
triumphant turn headlining Glastonbury just a
few weeks ago - Olivia Rodrigo is anything but
phased. Bounding onstage as the closing bars
of The Go-Go’s ‘We Got The Beat’ fade out, she
stands at the intersection between pop idol,
rockstar, and modern-day Disney princess: an
artist of both style and substance who, if there’s
any justice, is standing on the brink of Taylor Swiftlevel
world domination. Though she’s still only two
albums in, the strength of her songs is such that
tonight’s setlist feels, essentially, like a greatest hits
compilation: any of ‘vampire’, ‘bad idea, right?’,
‘love is embarrassing’, or ‘driver’s license’
are easily encore-worthy, but here they’re
nestled mid-performance, each somehow
raising the bar - and the decibels of
this word-perfect crowd - to even more
dizzying heights. What she and her
all-female band deliver isn’t just glitter
and giddy euphoria: it’s statementmaking
inspiration for a whole
new generation of girls
who, through her music,
feel empowered to be
really, REALLY loud. To
paraphrase OlRod’s
own words: she knows
her place, and this is it.
Daisy Carter
NINE INCH NAILS
SEASICK STEVE
THE LONG ROAD
Stanford Hall, Leicestershire
Across the site of The Long Road, dogs
potter around taking in the smells of BBQ
ribs and brisket, miniature cowboy hats
placed between their ears. Groups of
friends and families set up camping chairs
in front of the main stage, set for the day.
There are several people testing the temperature of the
River Avon, which cuts through the middle of the arena,
cold water swimming providing a refreshing start to the day.
Acting as the UK’s premier outdoor country music
festival, The Long Road excels in its grassroots focus
and exploration of country’s sub-genres, each stage
showcasing emerging talent from the US as well as
focusing on local UK talent, with artists regularly combining
country with Americana, folk, roots, rock and pop. Across
six stages, there are cooking showcases, a fairground, hay
bales, axe throwing, quizzes, panels, songwriter rounds
and a non-stop programme of artists from morning until the
early hours.
On Friday, songwriter Maya Lane takes to The Front Porch,
singing some recently released new music as well as a
Fleetwood Mac cover. It’s beautifully intimate - performing
on the porch of an old house - and the crowd listen to every
word. Later on, Drake Milligan’s Elvis-indebted honky tonk
provides an energetic end to the first day, as the rising star
cements his status as a headliner.
Saturday sees the more contemporary-sounding country
pop acts lead throughout the daytime, with Mackenzie
Carpenter performing songs from her recent album ‘Hey
Country Queen’ as well as Megan Moroney’s ‘I’m Not
Pretty’ (which Carpenter co-wrote), before Jeorgia Rose
performs in the VIP section, her songs combining personal,
tongue-in-cheek songwriting with a sound reminiscent
of Taylor Swift’s ‘Fearless’ era. Later, as the sun sets, the
sound of the festival shifts, with Charles Wesley Godwin
leaning more on Americana and folk, before Midland bring
their Texas dancehall sound to the main stage to close out
the night (or get it started...).
For the festival’s final day, Trousdale - dressed in ABBAinspired
outfits - show off their three-part harmony, before
Alana Springsteen proves why she’s a reliable name on
any festival bill: her set comes full of big hooks and big
choruses. It’s perhaps testament to the variety of artists
on display at the festival that Springsteen is followed by
Seasick Steve - two artists unlikely to ever appear on the
same bill again, never mind consecutively on the same
stage. Seasick Steve introduces himself by saying “I don’t
play country, I play loud”, before showing that sometimes
less is more, performing with just his drummer and
shredding on guitars that are missing strings or, in some
cases, are completely homemade (one of them is simply a
plank of wood with one guitar string attached, and an old
can of sweetcorn turned into an amplifier). Steve makes
it sound like this was the way guitars should always be
made. The array of artists on display at The Long Road
demonstrates country music’s greatest strength: its variety.
On this evidence, the fastest growing genre in the UK
shows no sign of slowing down. Johnny Rogerson
Jade Vowles
D 61

LIVE
NOS ALIVE
Passeio Marítimo de Algés
There aren’t many festivals where you
arrive on site to the sweet-saline smell of
sea air, but, as Lisbon’s NOS Alive gets
its 17th edition under way, that’s exactly
what fills your nostrils upon arriving at
the rainbow-arched entrance of Passeio
Marítimo de Algés. The Portuguese festival is a feast for
all the other senses, too; not only are some of music’s
most iconic names - spanning many a genre - taking to
its various stages over the next three days, but across
its concise, astroturf-clad site are an abundance of
food stalls and brand activations, all designed to delight
punters in between acts.
As you might expect for Lisbon in July, the sun is
warm in the sky on the festival’s first day as the most
pop-orientated run of proceedings gets under way
over on the Palco NOS, with viral stars Benson Boone
and Noah Kahan appearing back-to-back. It’s over
on the Palco Heineken, however, that things get really
interesting, as Barry Can’t Swim transforms the
relatively intimate tent into a pulsating club for the hour.
Live, his wares are given a bold edge, with cuts from
across his debut ‘When Will We Land?’ and recent
follow-up ‘Loner’ pairing perfectly with the hazy heat
outside; ‘About To Begin’, especially, is a rhythmic,
propulsive delight. Later that night, the atmosphere of
the space shifts again for the arrival of Glass Animals,
whose crowd spills out of the sides for what’s a giddy
but concise run through their biggest hits.
CMAT
But to pretend that today is about anyone other than
Olivia Rodrigo is to be somewhat naive. Across the
day, the crowd at Palco NOS has steadily grown, with
the ages of audience members spanning at least five
decades; for every group of 20-odd year olds covered
in glitter, there’s a gathering of tiny barely-teens,
signs aloft, with their parents looking on. The sheer
joy that emanates from the crowd when Olivia finally
takes to the stage to the metallic stomp of ‘obsessed’
is palpable, the giddiness reaching fever pitch by
the time she takes to the piano for ‘driver’s
license’. But it’s in her heaviest moments - the
dark slink of ‘jealousy, jealousy’, the ecstatic
thump of ‘brutal’ - that Olivia’s at her finest,
digging deep into a punky, Riot grrrl-esque
aesthetic and sound that suits her down to the
ground. That she’s exposing so many young
women to its mantra at the same time makes
her all the more vital a star right now.
The following day comes with a fresh new
focus over on Palco NOS: the world of
electronica. While Italian-American producer
Anyma brings his huge-scale graphics to
close out NOS Alive’s second day, it’s French
duo Justice who really reign supreme. Having
first launched this version of their stage show
back at Coachella last year, their set is by
now a well-honed, audiovisual spectacle
that really has to be seen to be believed; in
fact, it’s arguably one of the most powerful
stage productions of modern times. Poised
in the midst of a constantly-shifting backdrop
of screens and lights, the band’s Gaspard
Augé and Xavier de Rosnay are a formidable
MUSE
force, taking
their role as
orchestrators
of the
dazzling
display rather
seriously,
standing in
the midst of
the arms-aloft
elation that
their iconic
offerings
evoke.
By the time
the festival’s
final day gets
under way, the
site is packed
with attendees
sporting
one of two
different
kinds of band
merch; that of
either Muse,
or Nine Inch
Nails. First,
though, it’s up
to Dunboyne
princess
CMAT to ease
us into the
day. Much like
her acclaimed
Glastonbury
performance,
personality is
JUSTICE
a top priority for her (and her Very Sexy CMAT Band)
today, and she delivers it in droves: at one point, she
even stops the show to retrieve a pastel de nata from
a willing crowd member, only to chomp it down in a
couple of bites. It’s her full, no-holds-barred package
that’s so endlessly charming and brilliant.
With the event’s final day leaning more towards the
heavier end of the spectrum, it’s little surprise to
discover that Amyl and the Sniffers have packed
out the Heineken stage, with onlookers vying to get a
glimpse from outside the tent. By the time that Muse
take to the stage this evening, the crowd gathered in
front of Palco NOS is arguably the biggest it has been
all weekend - an unexpected coup, considering that
the trio were originally drafted in to replace Kings of
Leon, who pulled out back in May. You’d never guess
that this wasn’t always the plan when Matt Bellamy
et al take to the stage, such is the heft of their show
and presence. After opening with their newest single
‘Unravelling’, they waste little time in warming up,
quickly plunging into a stand-out run of ‘Interlude’,
‘Hysteria’ and ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ (all lifted from
2003’s ‘Absolution’). Offering up something from
each of their weird and wonderful eras so far, it’s
the likes of ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ and ‘Knights
of Cydonia’ that cause the biggest ruckus, with the
tracks sounding as huge as ever, 19 years on from
their original release. Even amongst the grand light
show and otherworldly stage production, there’s still
an innately human moment in amongst it all: bassist
Chris Wolstenholme takes to the stage in a Portuguese
football shirt sporting Diego Jota’s name, in tribute to
the footballer who passed away earlier this month. It’s
an apt nod to the country that undoubtedly wins Muse
even more dedication from their Portuguese
fans.
Having already received rave reviews for
previous shows on this latest Peel It Back
touring run, the anticipation for Nine Inch
Nails’ headlining turn tonight is high - and
these expectations are more than met. Having
last taken to the stage at NOS Alive seven
years ago, tonight Trent Reznor’s outfit once
again showcase their ability to create a show
that’s both starkly powerful and intimately
immersive. Trent, front and centre, is still an
indomitable force - dressed head-to-toe in
black, combat boots and all - over 35 years
into his career, and the punishing heft of their
live show is staggering. ‘Something Damaged’
bursts into hedonistic life, while ‘March of the
Pigs’ is a frantic sonic assault; then, their set
swerves in an entirely more ambient direction
courtesy of ‘Less Than’ and a cover of David
Bowie’s ‘I’m Afraid of Americans’. It’s an
immense, magnetic note to close out NOS
Alive’s three eclectic but electrifying days.
Sarah Jamieson
Tomi Cornio, Hugo Macedo, Matilde Fieschi

LIVE
OPEN’ER
Gdynia-Kosakowo Airport
Photos: Burak Cingi
Open’er is Poland’s biggest festival by
far, renowned for putting together
diverse, heavyweight line-ups across
rock, pop, hip hop and more. Over
100,000 revellers from across Poland
and beyond head to the festival each
year, although it feels deceptively intimate thanks to
the site being based around the compact airstrip at
Kosakowo. This year, for its 18th edition at its current
home, conditions could not be better on the opening
Wednesday, with glorious sunshine beaming down on
the early evening crowd who gather at the main stage
for a typically polished set by Raye, who on more than
one occasion assures the crowd that she is hard at
work on her second album.
Such is the broad remit
of Open’er’s booking
policy, you can often find
yourself experiencing
a little bit of stylistic
whiplash, and we go
from Raye to something
considerably stormier
and more outwardlooking
in Wednesday
night headliners
Massive Attack. The
Bristol trip-hop titans
are now of over three
decades’ vintage, but
have they ever felt quite this vital? Their blistering
audiovisual show works in a number of scenes from
films by their old collaborator, Adam Curtis, which
feels fitting given the musically chaotic and politically
pointed nature of the set. This is a soundtrack for
a world aflame, as Robert Del Naja leads the band
through a set by turns brooding (‘Inertia Creeps’,
‘Angel’), dramatic (‘Girl I Love You’, ‘Unfinished
Sympathy’) and, at times, profoundly moving,
especially when Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins
joins them for deeply atmospheric takes on ‘Song to
the Siren’ and ‘Teardrop’. Affecting, too, is the
band’s demand for a free Palestine,
especially here in the
Tricity
region, an area no stranger to solidarity.
Afterwards, Jorja Smith lights up the
Tent stage with a perfectly-pitched latenight
slot that imbues the kaleidoscopic
range of her recorded material with a real
intensity. Tying everything together is not
just her fabulously versatile voice, but her
irrepressible charisma; few artists, across
the weekend, appear to be enjoying
themselves quite this much.
The festival’s aforementioned penchant
for unlikely double bills is in evidence
again on Thursday; after a fun, buoyant,
if slightly one-note turn by South African
megastar
Tyla, there is
ST VINCENT
the prospect
of industrial
metal
mainstays
Nine Inch
Nails. No
word quite
FKA TWIGS
sums this
band - and
indeed its apparently
ageless frontman, Trent
Reznor - quite like
‘intensity’, and it’s clear
from the moment they
open with a roaring ‘Somewhat Damaged’ that the fact
the band have no new material to promote is not going
to slow them down. This European run, dubbed the
Peel It Back tour, takes its name from a line in ‘March
of the Pigs’, a key cut from 1994’s ’The Downward
Spiral’, so it’s no surprise to see that masterwork of
spiralling self-loathing dominate the setlist, from the
febrile ‘Closer’ to the seething ‘Heresy’.
Friday at the festival feels like something of a British
invasion. An admirable element of Open’er’s approach
is that they’re quite happy to put the big hitters on
early, which means we get to see Little Simz on
the main stage before the sun’s so much as begun
to set (and, as an aside, the sunsets at Open’er are
stunning, although you’d have to ask
a meteorologist what it is about the
Baltic coast that makes them so
gorgeous). Buoyed by the release
last month of sixth album ’Lotus’,
Simz’s star power is absolutely
undeniable across a hit-packed
set, and the consensus among
the British journalists on-site
is that there’s something
genuinely moving about
seeing this North London
girl hold crowds in the
palm her hand so far
from home.
the
Speaking of
Londoners,
day’s
outstanding
performance
comes not
from Simz but
FKA twigs; she brings
her ’Eusexua’
show to
WOLF ALICE
Open’er in all its sweaty, writhing glory. The record,
and its accompanying live show, were inspired by
the warehouse raves she would lose herself in whole
filming The Crow out in Prague, and she genuinely
succeeds in making the Tent stage feel like Berghain,
with an astonishingly well-choreographed - and
entirely uncompromising - three-act show. By the time
she reaches the hits, it’s almost a jolt to the system
to be reminded of her pop credentials; you feel as if
you’ve just watched her reinvent dance music.
Nobody is likely to accuse tonight’s headliners, Muse,
of reinventing anything any time soon; they remain on
the same carousel of daft riffs and even dafter political
musings. Their set is reliably bombastic if thematically
asinine - being lectured on how we are all servile
lackeys of the military-industrial oligarchy is a difficult
pill to swallow when it comes from Matt Bellamy, a
multi-millionaire who lives in Los Angeles in a mansion
he bought from Pete Sampras. Still, the bangers
still bang and the trio rip through them with gusto; if
they’re bored of playing them, you’d never know.
The final day of the festival sees Linkin Park headline,
sounding remarkably reliable for a band who have a
new lead singer; Emily Armstrong’s voice sounds like
it was tailor-made in a lab for the old songs, even if
the new ones drag. Before that, though, there’s some
terrific local talent on show; rapper Hubert owns the
Alter stage with his winning stage presence, taking his
evocative, thoughtful brand of rap and reinventing it
for the live arena - ‘kobayashi’ is a particular standout.
The outstanding Polish set of the weekend comes on
the same stage, later; experimental rockers Trupa
Trupa are sensational.
What feels like Sunday’s headline set comes over
on the Tent stage. Wolf Alice were a late booking,
as one of only a clutch of shows they’re playing
before fourth record ’The Clearing’. On this evidence,
when they return, it’ll be to headline proper. The only
constant in what is a wonderfully varied set is that
they sound absolutely massive; they have all bases
covered, including scintillating punk (‘Yuk Foo’, ‘Play
the Greatest Hits’), lighter-waving anthems (‘How Can I
Make It OK?’, ‘The Last Man on Earth’) and audacious
art rock (‘Bloom Baby Bloom’, ‘Giant Peach’). On
tonight’s evidence, they’re clearly more than ready for
their arena shows later this year, and
feel like a perfect note to end on
- a forward-thinking band for
a forward-thinking festival.
Joe Goggins

LIVE
ROCK WERCHTER
Festivalpark Werchter
GREEN DAY
It’s early July in Belgium on a
scorching day. The sun is beating
down ferociously on a few
waning faces, but others clutch
their water bottles and soldier
on, hauling tents and bulging
backpacks down a muddy footpath
towards a distant thumping bass. The
truth is the heat can’t stop anyone from
reaching this year’s Rock Werchter for
its venerable 50th anniversary.
LOLA YOUNG
Wandering in during the early evening
of the first day, the area is swept with
fans queuing to catch a glimpse of
Jacob Collier at the Barn stage. He’s
emanating the exact amount of feverish
energy needed to kick-start a festival
with a few spirited renditions of ‘All
I Need’ and ‘Over You’. Meanwhile,
across the field on the Main Stage,
Deftones are serving up quite the
opposite platter to a curious crowd which is growing
by the minute, crawling through moody palettecleanser
‘Beware’ and nudging the tempo up with
every song as the set swells towards its end. Lead
singer Chino Moreno is drenched in sweat by the time
they’re done (with the amount of times he thrashes
his head to Stephen Carpenter’s fierce riffs, it’s no
wonder) and it’s all the perfect tease towards the
evening’s headline act: Linkin Park.
For many, this will be the first time seeing Linkin Park
with new lead singer Emily Armstrong, who joined the
band last year after its seven-year hiatus following
Chester Bennington’s untimely death. It would be
pretty fair if they’re nervous to perform, but there’s a
riotous hour and a half in store as Mike Shinoda drinks
in a millisecond of the crowd’s bubbling screams
before yelling, “Let’s go!”, launching the band into a
blizzard of noise for opening number ‘Somewhere
I Belong’. Emily wastes no time finding her feet,
delivering harsh, stentorian vocals relentlessly through
‘Numb’, ‘Heavy Is the Crown’ and ‘The Emptiness
Machine’ in a hurricane performance that demands
time aside afterwards to process.
After a comfy night’s sleep at the festival’s Hive Resort,
it’s time for San Diego outfit Thee Sacred Souls. It’s a
velvety set delivered by this suave trio, drifting through
fan favourites ‘Can I Call
You Rose?’, ‘Will I See You
Again?’ and ‘Easier Said
Than Done’ with such
charm you can feel the
crowd swoon, magnetised
by Josh Lane’s every lyric.
Then it’s the turn of Isle
of Wight duo Wet Leg,
whose second album
‘moisturizer’ is on the
brink of release. It’s a fact
that’s on Rhian Teasdale’s
mind as she struts on
stage and dives into ‘Wet
Dream’ with all the vigour
and drama of a seasoned
pro. But it’s mid afternoon,
so the crowd needs a
bit more excitement to
find their squeals. “How
do you guys feel about
screaming?” yells Rhian, “Are you ready to rage?” And
just like that, they’re screeching “What?” back at the
band as they thrash through ‘Chaise Longue’.
Rock Werchter is then spoiled for choice on who to
see next - Lola Young might be the most anticipated
up-and-comer on this year’s lineup, which is
RAYE
obvious when The Barn fills up in minutes before her
arrival. She may have played Wembley at Capital’s
Summertime Ball just days before, but she’s still visibly
shocked at the number of onlookers before she taps
into her newest hit, ‘One Thing’. However there’s then
just the not-so-small-matter of Green Day and Raye.
It’s not every day when the bratty ‘American Idiot’
riff blasts out to a midnight crowd stretching a mile
back, screaming themselves hoarse - but it’s made
all the more stupendous given that it’s also 4th July.
Billie Joe Armstrong can barely hear himself speak
through the racket, but makes a conscious effort to
give his bandmates Tré Cool and Mike Dirnt time in the
spotlight before they roar through ‘Jesus of Suburbia’,
‘Holiday’ and ‘Basket Case’. From the sobbing fan
invited onstage to an incredible field-wide “Fuck
Donald Trump!” chant, it’s a moment etched in history.
And if anyone can make a festival headline show feel
like an intimate gig, it’s Raye. Between her polished,
vocally-mind-bending ‘Worth It’ and ‘Oscar Winning
Tears’, she also makes time to get raw with the
poignant ‘Ice Cream Man’, shedding tears in disbelief
at the crowd’s response. In one set, she wraps her
arms around tens of thousands of people in front
of her, and invites them to dance, sing and cry with
her. Rock Werchter’s 50th anniversary has been one
celebrated with pride. Sophie McVinnie
Ben Houdijk, Rob Walbers

ADAM BUXTON
HEADLINER: TALKING HEADS, CIRCA 1983
I think it would be Talking Heads, and it would be Talking Heads in 1983.
It would be around the time that they filmed Stop Making Sense, which I
think they did in late 1983. So it’s that big, expanded lineup, with maybe
nine players; all these brilliant percussionists and vocalists that they added
to the band and Adrian Belew, the amazing guitarist who used to play for
Frank Zappa, and then, famously, David Bowie poached him. Frank Zappa
was very pissed off and once met David Bowie, or they were at dinner or
something like that and Frank Zappa kept on calling David Bowie Captain
Tom, instead of Major Tom, and it was because he was so
angry that Bowie had poached Adrian Belew! But
anyway, good that he did because he’s amazing,
and I think that was part of the reason that he
ended up playing on ‘Remain in Light’, which is
my favourite Talking Heads album.
So, he’s part of that band with people like
Alex Weir and Steve Scales and Lynn
Mabry; I sort of love all the people in that
film. I’ve seen it so many times and it brings
back so many happy memories and they
just seem to be having such a good time,
they’re smiling and they’re in the zone. That’s
the thing I envy most of all, is to be that good
at music and to be able to inhabit that space.
SUPPORTS: BOOKER T & THE
MG’S AND OTIS REDDING
This is counterintuitive and maybe some people
would consider it disrespectful to the
genius of the artists, but I would have
Booker T & The MG’s, and Otis
Redding. Obviously those [acts]
are headline status, but for me, I
love Talking Heads; I loved every
single thing they did. I also really
love Otis Redding and Booker
T and the MGs, but I just think I
could handle less of them.
Maybe Otis could come on and sing
something with Talking Heads - that
would be amazing. We can have Booker T
and the MGs added to that expanded Talking Heads
lineup, and then at the end, Otis Redding turns up
and they do ‘Take Me to the River’, even though
that was Wilson Pickett. That would be pretty
fucking great.
VENUE: AMPHITHEATRE
OF NÎMES
I would have it at Nîmes Amphitheatre
in southern France. It’s a beautiful
Roman amphitheatre. It would
be outdoors on a balmy summer
evening with the sun going down,
and the sky above. It’s so beautiful
and the acoustics are great. You sit on
the stone benches; it’s the most beautiful
place. I’ve seen a couple of shows there; I saw
Radiohead there in 2012 which was really good, and
I also saw Arctic Monkeys in 2007, supporting Arcade
Fire, and Arctic Monkeys were amazing, just amazing.
WHO ARE YOU GOING WITH?
I’m gonna take my beautiful wife, she’s got to come along. We’d go with
our friends Garth and Louise, they’re our kind of best music buddies. My
friend Garth and I worked on some stuff with Radiohead in 2007, and he’s
a director; he directed the Sing films and I was an angry monkey dance
teacher in Sing 2. He’s my music pal and we have a lot of the same music
taste, and we’re all just very old friends and we all get on and love each
other, and we always have a good time when we go out.
PRE-GIG ACTIVITY?
I think we are gonna go out beforehand. We’re gonna eat early, because
we’re all of a certain age now and the later you eat, the more you pay for it
in the night time. So I think we want to eat at 6pm at the latest. I think
it’d be nice to eat somewhere nice and light, maybe Ottolenghi or
somewhere like that.
WHAT ARE YOU DRINKING?
I think at the show we’re just going to have a gin and tonic, but - I
dunno if I can say this or not - but my dream would be… I’m no
longer a drug taker, but my dream would be to take some drugs but
they would be drugs that I could switch off. I’d be able to click my
fingers or press a button on my Apple watch or whatever - not that I
have an Apple watch, but if I did, it would be a special Apple drug watch.
It’s only a matter of time for this; wearable biotech where you download
the drug experience you want. As I’m describing it, I’m thinking that
this is good stuff! You download the drug you want, specify the
duration and you pay, but it’s a little bit like WiFi. If you pay a
certain amount, it will suddenly stop, or you can pay a little
extra for it to wear off gradually. The main
thing is that you can stop it, because
that’s the big problem with drugs as
far as I can tell. I was never a big
drug taker, but on the occasions I
tried, it instantly made me feel ill
and I didn’t like it. But there was
always a little glimpse of, ‘Oh, I get
why people like this’. I had a handful
of amazing moments but overall, you’d
have to get through so much not feeling
very well. That’s what I would have.
That’s me in a nutshell basically. I’m such
a coward that the whole point of an
experience like that is to give yourself
over to it, but I’m such a massive control
freak that I want to maintain control
and switch it off whenever I want!
IS THERE AN
AFTERPARTY?
I think we’re all staying in a nice
boutique hotel somewhere, so we
go back, have a mint tea and a
post-show debrief and then turn
in.
ANY ADDITIONAL
EXTRAS?
Maybe my drug watch is the additional
extra. That’s the dream!
‘Buckle Up’ is out now via Decca. D
Olivia Hemingway , Jordan Cronenweth / Courtesy of A24, Nîmes Office de Tourisme / O. Maynard
66 D

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