Inspiral Carpets: Chinnerys, Southend

Manchester icons Inspiral Carpets played Southend’s iconic seafront venue Chinnerys last week to a sold-out Indie Cult Club crowd. Last time in Southend, the Inspirals were supporting the Happy Mondays at Cliffs Pavillion. They stole the show that night, this time out, they were after souls.

Image Credits: Gas & Shutter. Courtesy of Indie Cult Club

‘Two Worlds Collide’ gave the set a euphoric crowning glory, the kind that people will talk about for years to come. With every passing year, it carries more weight and emotional heft. Lost lives, lovers, and chances of redemption flood the senses as Stephen Holt’s divine soul vocal causes eyes to close and hearts to open. Pin. Drop. Moment!

The poignancy continued to flow from the band on ‘Beast Inside.’ As Holt decreed, “guess a man is no man / If he doesn’t have the beast inside,” the band and crowd united in a powerful moment of self-reflection.

When they stepped on the power, punk’s riotous energy coursed through them. A thunderous rendition of ‘Joe’ bordered on insanity as chaotic drums and Boons iconic organ riff locked horns. ‘I Want You’ was at it’s destructive best, flailing into the ether like a lost soul with nothing to lose. Devastatingly good.

Three decades after their debut, the Inspirals have found a vein of form that hit dangerous levels of intoxication at Chinnerys. Mooooooooooooooooooooo.

Electric Sheep Inc. - Blesstival, Camden

Rhyl’s Electric Sheep Inc. played the inaugural Blesstival at Camden’s iconic Elephant’s Head this past Sunday.

Frontman Christian Pimley dedicated the set to the recent passing of The Alarm’s Mike Peters. His impassioned speech about local icon status led into the groove-laden ‘Moosha Mosh’, where wayward Happy Mondays-style guitars set the stage for Pimley’s star to rise.

Resplendent in a charcoal Fred Perry t-shirt, Pimley strutted and danced with magnetic appeal. Eyes front and centre, his diminutive figure delivered a colossal lyrical assault. The ambition of Ian Brown and the poetry of Shaun Ryder collided to herald the UK’s next cultural icon:

“I’m a poet, I’m a liar, I’m a military coup”

On their latest single, ‘Cough Syrup’, the pace drops slightly, allowing Cameron Kelly and Jack Jones to ring out through this intimate setting as if it were Brixton Academy. Josh Jones’ basslines crunched with raw sex appeal, while Pimley’s angelic “oooo oooos” cut through the bombast with near-divine power.

The lyrical flow, the storytelling, and their full-bodied dive into the rock ’n’ roll aesthetics of Ecko and Bless were a joy to behold. Camden briefly reclaimed its soul. Guitars felt cool again - more than that, they felt vital.

The North – Trainspotting

Leeds outfit The North recently released ‘Trainspotting’, the last single from their upcoming debut EP.

It’s been seven months since they released their scene-shifting debut single ‘Soundtrack Your Soul’. It seems fitting that they open this with a grunge-tinged vocal howl of “nostalgia”, leading to climatic roars of “soundtrack your soul” in the close.

Memphis and lead guitarist Kobi Griggs’ guitars tonally tap into the poignancy of early Coldplay and the forlorn joyfulness of Electric Soft Parade. These, alongside introspective lyrics, could easily have allowed classic indie morbidity to unfurl. However, buoyancy and directness at play have the hallmarks of a great coming-of-age story.

The guitars punch with a knowingness that it’s now or never. Where ‘How Soon Is Now?’ swelled with angst and failure, ‘Trainspotting’ balloons with hope and promise of what is yet to come. Lyrically, Memphis tempers this with the protagonist searching for their place in the world a la Egg in This Life:

“nothing you can do boy / feels slightly blue ‘cos / you can’t go back in time”

The North’s debut EP ‘Blood Orange’ is out now and is not to be missed.

Good Health, Good Wealth ft Fredwave - You Don't Know Me

London’s Good Health, Good Wealth returned last week with their new single ‘You Don’t Know Me’ featuring additional vocals from Fredwave.

*banner image courtesy of Alan Wells Photography.

‘You Don’t Know Me’ was written after a fake festival promoter ripped off the duo. The duo was due to play a festival alongside Tinchy Stryder and Toploader just off the A13. A rare chance for a new act to step out in front of an older, more eclectic crowd to win hearts and minds. In reality, they played to 12 people and some burger vans. Scams have come a long way since the Prince of Nigeria emails.

Single artwork courtesy of Fear PR

Sonically, it’s their sleekest moment to date. Chic in sound, bleak in nature. Vocalist Bruce Breakey is bedding between Rich Archer (Hard-Fi) and Simon Franks (Audio Bullys). The gritty nodes lend the lyrics a weight of despair that would drag most under!

The grit and charm of The Streets, Audio Bullys, and Burial spelt out an alternate reality to reside in in the 00s. They painted pictures of subcultures, clubs, and post-rave squalor, but hope and optimism were never out of sight. Their characters, rich in the game of chance, taught lessons in drugs, nights out, and love from the position of the underdog.

Good Health Good Wealth tap into that sonic but reflect the stark futility of life in 2025 for anyone under thirty. Work doesn’t pay, and the housing market is a cruel joke. Despite this, they, like others, persevere with their passion projects, knowing there are no record deals or life-changing publishing advances, which were once a way out of towns and cities with integrity intact.

Good Health, Good Wealth merges the promoter's lies, the lack of opportunity, and their fallibility (“flying off the handle down the local on a school night”) to further push their sense of being the underdog. Hope that was tangible twenty years ago is now merely a twinkle in their eye, and for that, they are a triumph of the human spirit!

The Bracknall: Lower Third,London

Essex outfit The Bracknall headlined London’s Lower Third for Teenage Cancer Trust last week. It follows the release of their stunning second album ‘Falling Out of View’.

*all images courtesy of Gary Walker

There’s an aura growing around The Bracknall post-release. After ten years of hard graft, everything appears to have fallen into place. The tour supports with The Enemy, plus the Isle of Wight, and By The Sea festival slots have come to a band the guitar scene is desperate to see triumph.

Said desperation was in full voice at the Lower Third. Unsigned bands never used to walk on stage, and have their name bellowed back. As the band rightly said on stage, “What are radio stations fucking playing at” in not playing them and the support bands Rolla and The Slates. The popularity and talent are there, and so, sadly, are a bunch of 90s has-beens with no vision beyond the drudgery of Dave Grohl and reunion tours in charge.

As on the new album, ‘Get Better’ flows into ‘Everything I’ve Ever Known’. The former sends the ultras into a frenzy as frontman Jack Dacey’s vocals hit a fever point that he never ceased from. Then, on ‘Everything I’ve Ever Known’, Kasabian’s early volatility and Noel’s key change magnificence ooze from the soul of the band into the hearts and minds of a sold-out crowd. Every time Dacey melts into ‘I don’t need your permission / I said I’d never listen’, tears filled eyes, and hearts burst forth as the realisation that bands still fucking matter becomes tangible in the room. The guts, the glory, and the utter desperation of it all was a striking moment for anyone lost and downtrodden. Never. Give. Up!

‘Getting Up Again’ and ‘Falling Out Of View’, conjured a great sense of drama. The former soaring and tumbling with heightened anguish, rock ‘n’ roll’s disgrace, and a defiant bravado that legions would line up behind to defend. On ‘Falling Out Of View’, they made the ethereal sound like working-class sublimity. Its potency sucked the audience into their heads, putting their financial worries, relationship woes, and hopes for their kids in full view of their eyelids. Then, the singalong choruses, and the sumptuous licks offered the escapism to blow them away.

Such was the emotive power of the new album in the set; you’d be forgiven for thinking that nothing from their debut cut. ‘Good to the Bone’ and ‘Going Nowhere Fast’ were greeted like old friends, and ‘I Don’t Understand It’ was merged into a devastating performance of ‘Baba O Reilly’.

Nothing encapsulated the evening quite like , ‘I Don’t Understand It’:

“It ain’t the life I'm living / but it’s the one I'm chasing after”.

The industry might have pulled the ladders up for rock ‘n’ roll types in the past fifteen years, but there are other routes to success now. Frank Turner, Shed Seven, and Gerry Cinnamon, among others, have forged paths through the barriers to play massive gigs. May The Bracknall be the next!

The Cases – Where Is It (That You Wanna Go)

Preston outfit The Cases recently released their latest single, ‘Where Is It (That You Wanna Go)’. It follows last September’s eye-catching ‘Just Like You’. Can it maintain the momentum?

*banner image credit Izzy Scott

Where ‘Just Like You’ was indebted to current indie darlings Lock-In, ‘Where Is It (That You Wanna Go)’s soul belongs to the 00s greats! The achingly infectious licks evoke the carefree abandon of The Maccabees beginnings. They summon the humble glory of Battle and the raucous collectivism of Kubichek on this ode to self-discovery.

00s revivalism. It’s been done, right?

The cascading guitars and angelic vocals are a divine combination, making those sweat-filled nights at Frog and the decadence of Club NME at Koko pertinent once again.

It’s a single blessed with the effortlessness of youth, which only The Goa Express has achieved recently. They conjure images of friendships bonded by intense love. Every generation needs great coming-of-age stories. The class of ’25 has it’s first!

All The Young: Chinnerys, Southend

Stoke’s All The Young made their second appearance at Southend’s Indie Cult Club this past week, supporting My Life Story at Chinnerys.

Their unexpected return in 2022 threw up questions from fans. Where had they been? Why are they not massive? When they released the long-awaited second album ‘Tales of Grandeur’, it was as though they’d never been away. Back came the euphoric anthems. Back came hope!

With the heavyweight power of ‘The Horizon’ making Chinnerys feel like Wembley Stadium, that hope was not misplaced. The stomping glory of ‘Another Miracle’ put Ryan Dooley back a pedestal with the greats as his vocal yelps with emotion and digs in with rock ‘n’ roll’s defiance.

New single ‘Demons’ cut through their archetypal hedonism with DMA’s pop sensibilities and the kind of masculine self-reflection the world has been craving in the wake of Jack Throne and Stephen Graham’s masterpiece ‘Adolescence’. Few can say they wrote a good single thirteen years into their careers, ATY can boast a great one and Southend knew it.

On ‘The First Time’, if anyone was in doubt, ATY reminded Southend they have the perfect live anthem in their repertoire. Guttural emotion and explosive guitars washed over the room to set souls free.

All The Young complete their tour tonight at the iconic Sugarmill in Stoke. Roll on the next one!

The Slates – Fiesta

Yorkshire’s The Slates are back after twelve months with their latest single ‘Fiesta’.

* Banner image credit: Tom Oxley. Courtesy of This Feeling

Last time out, the band was in an anthemic yet reflective mood on ‘What Have You Done’. Upon return, the internal scrutiny has been altered for living in the moment on this ode to the journey, not the destination.

Through the riotous mod-cum-rock ‘n’ roll of Twisted Wheel and the debauched euphoria of The K’s, The Slates have fired themselves out of a cannon into 2025. This is nothing short of the joyride across a town destined to be escaped for sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll a ragged-out Fiesta deserves!

Louis Barnes’ vocals have taken on an urgency, an almost vicious tone that allows the guitars to breed the now-or-never sonic. This is a vital record that deserves to be rammed into the consciousness of those who care, and especially for those who don’t!

It’s easy to see on this form why Radio X icon John Kennedy is giving them a spin.

Rolla – The Dome, London

Manchester’s Rolla celebrated the release of their new EP ‘We Owe You Nothing’ supporting their home city peers Pastel at The Dome in London.

*Banner image credit: Gary Walker

Image credit: Gary Walker

Rolla’s appeal is an immediate one. Visceral explosions of sound have come easy to them. In 2023, they released their debut EP ‘Nothing Less Than Everything’, and they broadened their sonic universe to include the work The Verve, Stone Roses and BRMC. On record, it gave them a counterpoint to their archetypal snarling sound.

At The Dome, both sides of their arsenal came of age. The likes of ‘We Owe You Nothing’ and ‘What Kid’ retained their intensity, but their dabbling in more sonic exploration has allowed them to provide space for everything land. What was once a good right hook has become a flurry of heavyweight punches. Violent basslines, crushing drums, and psychedelic licks came the London crowd in a joyously brutal wave of destruction.  

On the EP, ‘A Beautiful Lie’ is a welcomed break from the chaotic storm they create elsewhere. On stage, it becomes another animal—an intricate and delicate psychedelic exploration mixed with angelic lullaby moments that hold crowds in awe.

Every time Rolla goes away, they come back with better songs. This time was no different, except live, where the progress is so vast it’s almost unimaginable. Pastel has opened the door for bands that thrive on all-or-nothing tropes; Rolla is the next through the door, and the world is infinitely better for it.

Yon Mon - Warmongers

Yon Mon recently returned with his third solo single, ‘Warmongers. ’ It follows ‘Shine On’ and ‘Picture This.’ Can the former Shed Project frontman maintain his run of form?

*images courtesy of Yon Mon.

Yon Mon, aka Roy Fletcher, has found a brooding intensity in this dark tale of our times. The cataclysmic drums and Doves-esque guitars make their way to the mind's dark corners.

The single is lit up with the devilish psyche guitar solo. Huge in sound and demonic in stature, Yon Mon’s sonic has been set to destroy. Where ‘Shine On’ and ‘Picture This’ were bursting with the joy of a young Tim Burgess, ‘Warmongers’ delves into a tank of despair and is a fine counterpoint in the Yon Mon cannon.

Three singles deep and Yon Mon’s underdog status is beginning to steadily rise to contender status.

Pastel: The Dome, London

Manchester’s Pastel finished their UK tour at London’s Dome in Tuffnel Park last Saturday. It’s their first tour since their critically acclaimed debut album ‘Souls In Motion’ was released.

*Banner image credit: Gary Walker

Last time headlining in London at the Garage, the band crossed over. A magical performance blessed with a spellbinding psyche that enticed a crowd into a unifying moment of escapism.

Image credit: Gary Walker

With the album not charting as well as they might have hoped, could they cope with the pressure? Could the band do it again?

Form is temporary. Class is permanent.

In the past, their gigs have been a display of talent—of a band with the songs and attitude to define a generation. Pastel is now toying with its crowd like master performers. The adrenaline rush of ‘Gone Too Fast’ is dipped into the Verve-eseque soul of ‘Leave A Light On’.

From then on, everything was beguiling, seemingly slight of hand as the Mancunians ascended to their throne as the band of the moment. The atmosphere hit a fever pitch amidst lysergic fog emanating from James Yates and Joe Anderson’s guitars. The guttural anthemia of ‘Heroes Blood’ and the rolling majesty ‘Deeper Than Holy’ spiral into the sweet release of ‘Isaiah’. It lands the band in a realm of glory, of a world where bands don’t have to serve up wet-fisted indie and half-baked Arctic Monkeys lyrics. In Pastel Land, bands are great, and they strive for more!

‘Souls In Motion’ may not have graced the heights of the album charts it deserved, but the people know. They have spoken. Loudly, in numbers, and with arms aloft, they ushered in their new heroes.

Image credit: Gary Walker

MOSES - Skin

London’s MOSES returned at the end of February with their latest single, ‘Skin’. Recorded at Magic Garden Studio, they again hooked up with legendary producer Gavin Monaghan (The Blinders / Ocean Colour Scene / Rosa Caleum)

*image credit Mike Rădulescu. Courtesy of Artbeat Promo

Artwork credit: JJ Eringa

The early days of MOSES were a rabid animal. Ferocious guitars which fizzed with fire and brimstone alongside frontman Victor Moses’ frenetic vocals. As they approach album number three, the power remains, but they are older and wiser, and things are more measured.

Victor is barely at jogging pace in the verses, allowing the New York-enthused basslines and measured guitar snarl to wrap around this ode to love. The choral backing vocals build the track to a breaking point via a scintillating Bloc Party meets The Strokes solo.

MOSES third album is due out this autumn and is shaping to be a real contender.

Dogs – Olby’s Soul Café and Pioneer Club

“When something’s good  / It’s never gone.”

Fourteen years have passed since we last saw Dogs on stage at Dingwalls. Earlier this year, a shock post from their social media account announced they would support The Rifles at Olby’s Soul Café in Margate and the Pioneer Club in St. Albans. We were at both to witness their comeback.

It may have been The Rifles’ name up in lights in Margate, but night one belonged to the prodigal sons Johnny Cooke and Kevin Iverson. War stories from 100 Club gigs were swapped with the glee usually reserved for kids going to bed on Christmas Eve.

Chants of “We are the dogs” went up every few minutes. The atmosphere built with the electricity that diehard fans thought would never return. If this was supposed to be a bit of fun for Cooke and Iversen, it was anything but for the crowd.

Images courtesy of Sean Kelly.

The fourteen years of hurt never stopped us dreaming.

Cooke, visibly nervous, introduced himself with a whisper. The fallen icon riddled with self-doubt was eased back into things by Iversen’s divine version of ‘Turn Against This Land’. Step forward Dogs’ loyal fanbase. ‘Tarred and Feathered’ followed to unleash an outpouring of love, grief, regret, pain, angst, joy, and ecstasy.

I know that was then, but it could be again!

Cooke may have entered nervous, but he left victorious. He found his snarl on ‘This Stone Is a Bullet’ and ‘London Bridge’. His poetic cadence oozed its rhythmic flow on ‘By The River’, and on the classic ‘Tuned To A Different Station’, he found the voice that, for some, was one of its generation!

In the ode to Orwell’s ‘1984’ ‘Winston Smith’, the crowd is sent into a spin of emotion. The melodic uplift at “Because I know there's something / I just can't get to it” soared, releasing the torment of what might have been, what should have been for this eloquently powerful beast. A mini stage invasion ensued on ‘Dirty Little Shop’, sending memories of the 1234 Festival’s glorious chaos to the fore.

On night two in St. Albans, Cooke and Iverson were a different animal. The nerves banished, Cooke stepped into his role of performer, and their harmonies were enriching. It was less emotional, a more typical support slot of winning people over, and win they did.

It’s too soon to say if we have our band back, but we’re out of this jail and will be dreaming for now!

Rolla - We Owe You Nothing

Manchester’s Rolla are set to release their second EP ‘We Owe You Nothing’ on Friday 7th March via Run On Records.

Artwork & image courtesy of Fear PR and Mamucium Design

On their debut EP ‘Nothing Less Than Everything’, Rolla largely shed their love of early Kasabian sonically and began to venture into the expansive world of The Verve. ‘We Owe You Nothing’ witnesses a stylistic return to their early singles ‘Thinking of Tomorrow’ and ‘Sweet Lullaby’.

The EP is bookended by ‘We Owe You Nothing’ (title track) and ‘The Slide’. It's less a return to this singles and more a cataclysmic earth-shattering display of how far they’ve come as a band. The former is beset with intoxicating violence via Luke Gilmore’s destructive basslines. The nods to ‘Fuckin’ in the Bushes’ and ‘666 Conducer’ give this chaotic joyride a sense of chest-beating glory that is impossible to ignore.

Gilmore doubles down on this hypothesis ‘The Slide’. His opening bass lines alongside the backwards guitars fade into the febrile psychedelia like a dystopian nightmare induced by speed. Dank and vicious landscapes emerge around the snarling roar of frontman James Gilmore which cause unnerving wall of sound.

Elsewhere, ‘It Ain’t Easy’ continues the mayhem with basslines menacingly funking like Mani era Primal Scream and on ‘Beautify Lie’, they mercifully change track with a more simplistic Richard Ashcroft crafted melody.

Rolla are currently on tour with Pastel. Do not arrive late!

The Crooks – Carry On

Chesterfield’s The Crooks return This Friday with their new single ‘Carry On’ produced by Embrace’s Richard McNamara.

*image and artwork courtesy of the band.

Photos taken for cover by @Buncity_ on Instagram

It’s a marked difference for the band sonically but a natural one for them. Through the vocals and primordial drums, the nomadic spirituality of Stone Roses’ ‘Your Star Will Shine’ and ‘Tightrope’ emerge alongside their inclination for rock ‘n’ roll’s bombast.

The guitars during the build flicker with the grandiose stature of ‘Champagne Supernova’ and howl with heaviness as life comes on top. It’s through Duncan Couch’s lyrics and Jacko’s defiant vocal that light finds a way in:

“My heart kickstarted up again, and beat so hard It shattered all my chest / But I still breathe.”

Modders’ guitars in the closing stages, whilst huge and deafening, are beautifully understated. His connection to songwriter Couch’s lyrics brings an integrity and humble reflection of the times we endure.

Pre-Covid, the band was unleashing lights up fist aloft singalong anthems. Upon return, they nailed the noise and confusion of the psychedelic banger. This was enough to make their debut album one of the hottest prospects. In ‘Carry On’ they’ve strayed into the explorative world of Pastel and The Verve and opened up their future cannon. Key to its success is the gradual step. They’ve retained their sense of death or glory amid the new nodes of shoegaze and psyche. The anticipation of the debut album has now skyrocketed.

Click the image below for tickets to their upcoming shows:

The Utopiates – Evanescent

London-based groove machine The Utopiates return this Friday with their first release of 2025. Their new single ‘Evanescent’ was produced by Pigeon Detectives and Maximo Park cohort Andy Hawkins. It will be released via V2 Records.

Image & artwork courtesy of the band.

Previous singles ‘Neighbourhood’ and ‘Reputation’ have been privileged to lift 00s NYC indie-electro back to the fore. As it turns out, they’ve been the perfect bridge to ‘Evanescent’ where the band, arguably, step out alone sonically for the first time.

Frontman Dan Popplewell adopts the poetic fire of Skint & Demoralised in the verses, allowing the songs’ discourse of time passing you by to swell. His newly adopted spoken word delivery comes after years of post-punk bands doing the same. It is a testament to his venomous clarion call speeches that it sounds fresh, a lone wolf in a bloated crowd of intolerable bores.  

Josh Redding’s punchy riff condenses Art Brut and TV On The Radio into a slick, angular moment of aggression. Not since Stone Cold kicked to the gut pre-stunner has something so jarring been this enjoyable! Its brutal impact allows the looping synths and Popplewell’s angelic chorus to melt away life’s ills.

Live, The Utopiates have always had an air of defiance that hasn’t shone through on the records. It hasn’t needed to; such was the beauty of the debut album. On stage, though, their humanity shines through, and they’re band desperate to prove to the world they’re worthy of attention. On ‘Evanescent’, they’ve allowed this sentiment to seep in, and it’s freed them up to take creative risks, and it’s paid off.

Click the image below for tickets to their upcoming tour:

THIS IS WAR - Lucifer’s Party

Liverpool’s THIS IS WAR returned at the end of January with two new tracks, ‘Lucifier’s Party’ and ‘Talkin Blues’ featuring Sterlin.

‘Lucifer’s Party’ comes rip-roaring 2025 with their archetypal sound in full flow. The relentlessness of The Jam is injected with the muscular riffage of Pete Townsend.

There are few finer things in this world than seeing frontman Paul Carden attack a vocal like this. Aggressive yet soulful, his cadence distils a purity that allows you to make sense of our times.

Lyrically, he doubles down on this spirit as he attacks the casualness with which the world has lurched to dictators, fascists and oligarchs. The disbelief they conjure at a world of Trump, Putin apologists, and Reform on the march is the righteous angst-ridden tonic we’ve all been unable to wrench from despairing souls.

Countering this is ‘Talkin Blues’, featuring Midland’s artist Sterlin, a self-described electro-punk-rap performer. Sterlin’s introduction to THIS IS WAR is a match made in heaven—his wry and inciteful polemic fizzes with excitement around the NYC-enthused basslines. Jonny Roberts’ guitars fire like an early Bloc Party or Rapture single. Destined for sticky dancefloors in underground sweat-filled indie clubs, ‘Talkin Blues’ broods with the erstwhile menace of The Streets and the understated volatility of a Jagz Kooner remix. Long may this collaboration continue!

The North – Blood Orange

Leeds four-piece The North are back with their new single ‘Blood Orange’.

Soundtrack Your Soul put 2025 on notice with its electrifying guitars and raucous attitude. ‘Blood Orange’ is the antithesis of this. It is measured, downbeat, but no less evocative. At the heart of this creative expansion is Billy Memphis’ vocal. He pivots from Kele Okereke’s hushed indie soul to the early laconic drawl of Jonny Borrell, allowing the agonising confusion of the lyrics to swell.

Memphis’ guitars overlap each other with a masterful precision. As he sings, “I go round and round and round...” his licks howl in every direction, searching for a way out of the mental torture they emanated from.

Memphis and Co have displayed songwriting ability way beyond their years here. Two singles deep and they’ve shown they cut loose and turn inwards. The future is bright; the future is blood orange.

Sonnet – Changeover

Aberdeen band Sonnet released their first single of 2025 at the end of January. It follows the breakthrough EP  ‘Wishful Thinking’ released last summer.

*banner image credit: DMCaptures

To date, Sonnet have been a whirlwind of punk and rock ‘n’ roll. This time out, with unrequited love and isolation dominating the discourse, Sonnet finds themselves more introspective.

The opening line, “Life moves faster, but I don’t know where it goes,” set a melancholic tone as yet untravelled for the band. The guitars, tinged with The Cure's gothic psychedelia, elevate the vocal to a frightening level of vulnerability.

The vocal strays from angelic to unhinged without notice, making this single rise from downtrodden to euphoric, one of great intrigue at all points. The sense that it all could fall apart at any point is tangible. Nevertheless, Sonnet finds a way through the mire to release a scintillating solo into the ether to enrich souls and save lives!

The Bracknall – Falling Out Of View

The Bracknall released their second album ‘Falling Out of View’ last Friday via Beat Lab Records. In 2022, their debut album ‘Going Nowhere Fast’ announced the band as contenders to rock n roll’s throne. Will they ascend?

You wait five years for a great guitar record to come along, and then two come at once. First up was Pastel’s ‘Souls In Motion’, and now, The Bracknall have followed suit. In 1994, Noel Gallagher’s songwriting gave a downtrodden nation the seedlings of hope. In 2025, after fifteen years of racing to the bottom, The Bracknall’s brand of Gallagher songwriting and their penchant for soulful rock ‘n’ roll seems set to save us all once again.

Noel’s influence has a beautiful foothold on this record. Frontman and lead guitarist Jack Dacey’s vocals and lyrics on ‘Get Better’ tap into the Burnage soul that yearned to break free. Lyrically, an earthiness leads you into the band’s struggle with the same authentic ease as ‘Definitely Maybe’. Rather than adopt angst-ridden guitars, Jack, brother Harry, and Ed Smith’s guitars land you in the swirling hysteria of ‘I Hope I Think I Know’ and ‘My Big Mouth’ (minus the gak). It’ll land you in the gutter but arm-in-arm with a nation of guitar-loving brothers and sisters.

‘Say You Won’t Be Gone’ leans into the acoustic guitars and heaven-sent production that made Gallagher Senior a national treasure. It is, though, the windswept majesty of Soundtracks of Our Lives that underpins this track's magic. Dacey’s vocal glides between Ashcroft's melodic snarl and Mattias Bärjed's soulful romanticism on this ode to romance.

The album is bookended by two clarion calls in Make It Happen’ and ‘Giving Up Again’. The former flies across the horizon with the debauched grace of All The Young at their peak. Blessed with fingernails in the dirt desperation, it confronts it’s fears with the air of violence that early Kasabian roared onto the scene with. Dacey sings, ‘I could make it happen’ with such unflinching self-belief that mortgages will be wagered on it.

‘Giving Up Again’ sonically storms the gates with its bullish guitars. This relentless assault of the senses is accompanied by a lyrical nugget of gold:

“I’m tired of giving up again”

The euphoria that Dacey delivers in this line is sensational. The Bracknall, a band of over a decade, conveys the agony and ecstasy of band life with sensational euphoria. When otherworldly psyche chimes, it allows for a brief moment of peace and, thus, all of the band’s toil and rejection flood the senses before they come roaring back with tear-inducing power.

This is an album of blessed guitar solos. However, it has its crowning glory on ‘Everything I’ve Ever Known’ and the title track. If Kasabian nudged Oasis forwards in 2004 sonically, The Bracknall have appropriated their best bits and forced rock n roll’s wheel to begin rolling again. The progressive snarl of Liam and Tom Meighan and the rapturous key changes of Noel are injected with the blissed-out sunsets of Soundtracks of Our Lives and the joyfulness of My Morning Jacket. In an era of increasingly spiteful men, The Bracknall have given a generation a chance to hug their best mate and tell them they love them with a pint in hand and a tongue in their ear!  If ‘Everything I’ve Ever Known’ is coming up, then ‘Falling Out Of View’ is the sweet hours of love that follow. Images of the lights going up in Brixton Academy emerge in the wake of this powerful yet ethereal brilliance. Thousands simply must sway in unison as the band walks off triumphantly at the end of their working week.

For many, having Oasis back this summer is a great thing. It’s nothing compared to the guts and glory of The Bracknall slogging their guts out for a decade and unearthing this album-of-the-year contender. Sonically, stylistically, and lyrically, they’ve reimagined what Oasis, Soundtrack of Our Lives for the modern age. In an era that doesn’t give bands a shot, they should be lauded as working-class heroes, for The Bracknall have reminded us all it’s something to be!