There is something about The Attic Movement’s songs that connect with me on a deeply personal and emotional level. ‘Truth Be Told’ has left me emotionally wrung out every time I’ve listened to it. Like ‘Leave The Car’ this song brings back memories of a particular time in my life. A time that, while it may have been decades ago, has left a deep and virtually indelible mark on me.

I’ll leave it to Matt to explain what the song is about ‘If you’ve ever wanted to just up and leave then you’ll relate to the tragedy of the song’s lyrics. A voice of desperation, longing for new pastures and experiences. The song is both melancholy and uplifting in the same breath and, much like the emotional turbulence of its lyrics, is something of a rollercoaster’. The thing that this leaves unsaid is that it’s when you want to leave, you know you have to leave, but just can’t.

So while I connect with it because of my own personal experience, that experience is not unique to me, and that makes the song universally true. And even if you’ve not had the experiences the song describes, the situation it describes, the words and music communicate it so clearly you’ll relate to it on a human level.

As with all of The Attic Movement’s songs this a perfect combination of words and music, the words fit the music and the music reflects the words. The two work together to convey the story, the emotions perfectly.

The song starts with simply plucked guitar, quiet tired sounding vocals that reflect the words, a wash of atmospheric sound. It builds, strangely fairground organ comes in, it builds again to a soaring yet desperately desperate level, there is anguish, there is frankly beautiful piano. And finally there is quiet realisation that there just isn’t anything there, and it’s time to move on.

Matt’s vocals are a thing of beauty – he conveys the story, the emotions, without reaching for anything overblown, and they are all the better for that.

Musically this song is huge, there is a richness in the sounds, the layers of instruments, the vocals but the music never overwhelms the words, and this is a good thing, a very good thing, because the words are important.

This song is beautiful on many levels – lyrically, musically, and finally. but most importantly, on an emotional level.

I’ve seen Two Pound (or 2£ or £2) play exactly once and that was supporting Persian Rug Sale at Northern Quarter in Huddersfield. At first they confused me – they just seemed to play all sorts of things, the things they wrote songs about were peculiar and one song took me longer to describe in my notes than the song itself – but then I pushed that ‘music reviewer’ attitude to the back of my head and just enjoyed it. Because whatever they play, they play it with a kind of casual brilliance.

The same could be said of ‘Shower Beer’, it comes at you from a place you just couldn’t have guessed at all, unless you’ve seen them play I guess. It’s a kind of mad jazzy blues song – there are horns, there is an absolutely amazing female backing vocal, there is the most incredible guitar.

It starts with just bass, then vocals come in. And then there is guitar and horns, plus that rather lovely backing vocal. There is a lovely light blues guitar solo. And then it goes absolutely fucking crazy people, it’s a riot of sound.

How you may be thinking ‘should I be taking this seriously, given the strange subject for a song, the rather madcap band bio, the rather strange choice of musical style?’ but I’m going to ask, to beg you, to put aside any preconceived ideas you may have developed while reading the review so far. Because this is brilliant. It’s brilliant musically. The lyrics are a blast of joy. You just have to remember that music is meant to be something we enjoy, not get all snobbish about.

Two Pound are a band treading their own wonderful path, a path that is going to take us through delights we can only start to imagine. This is a sign of the delights to come. It’s a joy, a bloody marvellous joy.

The info

The band say

hi we are two pound we are from Huddersfield our debut single shower beer is due to be released across all platforms on May 8th. consider the shower beer, you are warm, he is cold. your heart beats freely, he wallows within the confines of a cylindrical prison. welcome him into your home and he will repay you with kindness untold. this is but a dumpling in the pot of songbroth to come, a solitary sup from our chalice. we linger, confined to our grease pit, and stir and season. a bowl for every beautiful soul that does grace our path of pilgrimage. we bask in your glory, eyes milkwhite and clouded, consumed in your benevolence. turn your ear to our hymns and heed our message. you shine bright. love is real and you are great and wondrous.

https://www.facebook.com/twopoundtheband/

I’ve been hugely impressed by the first two releases from Scenius – ‘Glass Rain’ and ‘Wild & Wooly’ – this new track doesn’t in any way disappoint, it surprises.

‘Held’ is more of an atmospheric sound piece than a song, it’s brooding, moody and dark. Washes of sound, pulses of synth, vocal sounds rather than lyrical vocals. It sounds like something you’d expect to hear in a dystopian film – I got a vision of this being part of the soundtrack to the first Blade Runner film. It has that both melodic and atmospheric thing going on.

It is both incredibly musically sophisticated and simple at the same time – sparse layers of sounds overlay and weave slowly around each other – it’s compelling.

It’s a piece you can listen to again and again, it takes you to a calm place, a place where you are held and safe.

‘Held’ is beautiful, it’s that simple.

‘Candy Thief’ comes hot on the heels of Cold Culprits debut release ‘We Will Bleed’ (read our review). This release shows another side of Cold Culprits, it’s rawer, harder. Yep it does that mixing of guitar and synth that that ‘We Will Bleed’ does but in a much dirtier way.

It is at its heart a sneery kind New York New Wave thing but the synths add another layer, a different slant to that. And not, I must say, in a kinda Suicide way. It’s dirty but not like that. It reminds me of something I’m finding hard to pin down. The synths are sort of 80s but then again the synth sounds used are more electronic post-punk, so not 80s at all, more 70s.

I think you can tell that I’m finding it to get an exact handle on this. It mixes lots of stuff up. So let’s stop trying to do that.

The thing is that this track rocks people, it races along at a pace that thrills, guitars roar and snarl in the background, the most basic of drums keep the beat (and this isn’t a criticism, they work OK). The vocals sneer in a wonderful way. It makes you want to dance madly and who can ask for anything more.

Oh, and by the way, after listening to this again and again, I’ve realised what it kind of reminds me of. Bear with me here, this may sound strange, but it reminds me of a faster and dirtier version of ‘Kids in America’ as played by Devo. Or perhaps XTC in some way I can’t explain. Or perhaps not. Just saying OK?

Cold Culprits continue to impress hugely. What they do is make something that is very much their own, while giving us hints of things that help us get a musical handle on their sound, that’s a clever and good thing.

I saw Ghostwriters supporting Fudge. at the Lending Room some time back. They intrigued and then impressed me with their sound which takes rap, punk, hints of metal and post-punk, and mixes them into something great, something unique, a sound all of their own. A sound that even the band refuses to define as any sort of genre.

The thing about this EP is that it benefits from being as loud as you fucking dare, so let’s turn it up and dive in.

The opening track ‘Follow’ mixes up all that I’ve said, but also throws in a surprisingly melodic thing. And you can hear the words – something I missed seeing them live – and the words of these songs are worth listening to. Guitars roar, drums pound. It never stands still, there’s a variety of tempos going on – from almost slow to almost too fast. There are some punky sounding backing vocals in there too. This, people, is a blast. Mosh time.

‘Soft’ is rather misleadingly titled, the last thing this is soft, It’s harder musically. It has a kind of post-hardcore thing going on. The guitars are angular. There are layers of vocals. And it has the most wonderful bass drop-out section, where guitar gradually comes in, it’s a building thing, that builds to a shouted vocal – ‘One, Two, Fuck you’ – and then it grinds out a riff so heavy it could break down wals.

The intriguing title ‘D.S.T.M.’ starts off all moody and bassy, before it explodes into grinding guitar. It does that alt-rock quiet/loud thing but this is no alt-rock track. It rocks, it grinds. But it’s also soft and melodic with some rather sweet vocals. The female backing vocals return – they rather bizarrely remind me of Dr. and The Medics.

‘Highlife’ mixes it up even further. It’s a kinda rap song, it sounds almost poppy in places BUT, and it’s a big but, it also has bits that rock hard. It throws in all sorts of things – vaguely eastern sounding guitar, a huge chorus.

‘Acid Baby’ starts out quiet and almost lullaby like before it fucking explodes into life. This thing roars along like a heavy goods train on speed. It’s a joy, it makes you want to destroy mindlessly.

This, my friends, showcases what Ghostwriters do. But it also showcases that there’s lyrical sublty in what they do – the words of these songs rock – and this is something that wasn’t so apparent to me seeing them live. This means that you could listen to the tracks in two ways – you could throw yourself around the room to them in joyous mindlessness or sit down and listen to them. The choice is yours

This release from Leeds band Sea Legs left me speechless the first time I listened to it, and that’s never gone away, it still does that every time I listen to it.

It is a big – no, a huge – alternative rock song in a kind of big ballad style. But Sea Legs have very much their own take on alternative rock. They add in hints of indie rock, and – and I don’t think the band are going to thank me for this – progressive rock. I’ll come back to that.

It starts sounding like, and I swear this is true, sounding like a folk rock track, and then shifts into something that has a hint of Pink Floyd (that’s the ‘Wish You Were Here’ period) – light and airy vocals, clever touches of guitar, lovely piano, swelling to a huge choral sounding section.

And then it drops out to an intricate choppy guitar section that builds to full on guitar freakout.

But what left me speechless is the way the song moves through these sections, the way it builds to the full on guitar ending. That build is compelling – it draws you in, it takes you to a fantastic place. You know the heavy bit is coming but it doesn’t come quite when you think it’s going to. The intricate guitar section falls exactly where you kind of think the heavy section is going to come. That still surprises me even though I know it’s going to happen.

And this song has a melody to die for, it changes through the song but each change is almost a variation on the original. And the words are great, they’re words that deserve you listening to properly.

Look it almost goes without saying that the band couldn’t pull this off if they couldn’t play, I mean really play, and they can. The vocals are a thing of beauty. The way it’s put together is a joy, you can hear everything, everything is given its own space.

This is an incredible track that everyone, and I mean everyone, should be listening to . Go do that right now.

Back in the Summer of 2019 (wow that feels so long ago now) I reviewed crush’s single ‘Glue’. I adored it, it was a lovely shoegazey song. I adore ‘All My Plants Are Dead’ just as much, possibly even more. On second thoughts, definitely more.

The thing this track still has that dreamy shoegazey thing going on, but it’s more dreamy. And it’s more complex. It starts all dreamy and slow and quiet before building to something fuzzy and oh so lovely, before it drops out and there’s something that is at once both jazzy and dreamy shoegaze. It still does that off-kilter thing but with added weird guitar sounds that stab in and thrill. And Amber’s vocals just shine. Oh, and in the jazzy bit there’s a spoken vocal section that is unexpected and wonderful.

This track is loaded with so many reasons to love it. It’s both joyful and poppy, and has musical depth.

If you’re, like me, a fan of The Seamonsters then this is going to be for you, it has an indie edge to it as well as all that other goodness. If you, again like me, really like The Orielles then you’ll love this.

And if you need another reason to love this, any band that says in the description bit of the Soundcloud preview ‘have you ever stabbed a cactus to death?’ has to be a band you must listen to.

Go get on it, friends.

Although I’ve been aware of Peace Frog for a while this is the first of their releases I’ve reviewed. I think I’ve been missing out big time.

While ‘Body Language’ is an indie song, it’s so full of twists and turns that it’s way different from the average indie song. It goes from choppy to smooth, has sections of pretty raucous guitar and sections that are pure smooth poppy goodness. It even has this section that sounds a bit like the Trevor Horn produced Yes, although I don’t think the band would thank me for that. And while it changes and changes, it never loses a sense of being a great pop song with a fantastic tune.

And I’m especially impressed with the playing on this track – intricate and clever guitar, drumming that shifts from poppy to rock to downright funky. The vocals are way cool. And the way it’s put together is fantastic, it’s full of little touches of sounds that help to take it way above the average.

So that’s the ‘technical stuff’ out of the way. The thing about this track is that it’s a great good time song, that you can bust some moves to, that makes you feel happy and smiley, it’s a song to add to your summer playlists.

If you’re up for some fantastic poppy indie, this is a song for you.

The info

‘Body Language’ is a song about communication and the breakdown of emotional interaction that can happen in a relationship. The verses shows the inner monologue of someone failing to read the other person’s emotions and the lonely feeling this evokes. Ultimately the message of the song is one of coming together through openness with our emotions.

Peace Frog, are a four piece indie band formed at Leeds Beckett University in 2016. Drawing influence from artists such as Paul Simon, Little Comets and Bombay Bicycle Club, their unique and colourful sound has created a buzz in the local and national scene over the past few years.

Peace Frog are:

Liam Dickman
Nathan Gooch
Johnny Wilkinson
Adam Hidle

https://www.facebook.com/PeaceFrogUK/
https://www.instagram.com/peacefroguk/