Towards the end of 2025, Welsh indie band Martyrs released the ‘Halloween Dream’ EP, a release that incorporated bits of 70s rock, light psychedelia and a host of drum loops that conveyed more of an influence from electronica. This created a cornucopia of sound that appeared to never settle, and in that respect – and especially with the presence of a lax vocal – the material showed influence from fellow Welsh band Super Furry Animals. If that somehow got missed on the band’s self-penned numbers, a trippy cover of ‘The Man Don’t Give A Fuck’ was on hand to make it very clear. Although short, ‘Halloween Dream’ was a release that more than suggested Martyrs would share more great music in the future.

Their follow up, ‘Church Street’ – delivered just six months later – makes good on such a promise. The title track drops into some great indie sounds with a twist. The shimmering guitar lines and soaring vocals come straight out of a melodic, very 90s mindset, and the 90s feel comes through even more solidly on a chorus that flaunts a very baggy-centric rhythm. In true Martyrs style, though, it’s this track’s other elements that are more interesting: firstly, there’s a riff that feels a little more 60s, which fits with the slightly fey vocal, but even outshining that, comes a harmonic guitar interlude that suggests rockier things could be at stake, and a jazz toned bassline that dances across everything with a real confidence. In many ways, it’s that bass part that acts as the musical glue here; wherever the music goes, it’s there, beavering away in a manner you possibly wouldn’t expect to experience on an indie based workout. Naturally, such a complex approach doesn’t really lend itself to immediacy, but for those willing to invest the time needed for each of these musical elements to stick, this will eventually become a favourite.

Scaling things back just a little, ‘He Breaks Horses’ settles into an indie jangle complimented by another great bassline. The flow of the main melody is perfectly suited to a honeyed vocal which brings a genuine richness to a slow-ish arrangement, before Martyrs step things up a gear by introducing a few mechanical beats and a reverbed guitar part that sounds as if it’s on loan from a 60s film score. Unlike the previous number, it’s actually the vocal that catches the ear the most; throughout the track, its smooth sound pulls in the listener, allowing this to feel rather user friendly. It certainly breathes a more melodic and commercial feel into a track concerning “the experiences of the Welsh working classes in 1811”, but it still isn’t as accessible as the brilliant ‘Twist The Cap’, a number which appears to fuse the ballad-oriented material from the early Suede catalogue with the dreaminess of older, trippy prog rock melodies. It even comes with a dense synth line that owes more to Krautrock than Britpop, and features a plummy vocal tone that seems to be an overspill from Caravan records, creating a mood that, eventually, could be considered “pure Martyrs”. [An alternate version of the track, exclusive to the Bandcamp version of this release, makes a feature of a really bright sounding synth. Although this doesn’t change the performance drastically, it certainly lends everything a bit more of an “alternative 80s” edge, without pulling away from the original cut’s atmospherics.]

Changing gear once more, ‘You’ve Been Here Before’ opens with a synth fanfare that sounds like the musical sting for an old film company logo in the days of VHS rentals. This turns out to be deliberate, as one of the sampled voices that appears over a vaporwave-esque backdrop asks if you “remember every movie ever made” before another booming voice name-checks the “local video store”. The first half of the track doesn’t break free of its synthetic blanket of sound, but despite doing very little, it’s never dull. Then, at the point where you feel things might be pulling towards an inevitable fade, in true Martyrs tradition, it’s all change, and the band shift into rock mode, replaying the previous ambient melody with a full compliment of instruments. This, naturally, makes good on the hints of prog during the previous track. It probably wouldn’t be fair to call this the EP’s highlight, especially since so much work has gone into the “proper” songs, but for those old enough to remember the 80s with a genuine clarity, this recording promises a whole world of fun. Then, just when you think Martyrs couldn’t offer any more musical twists, ‘Having The Window Open Helps’ exploits a synth and guitar based melody that comes straight from a Tangerine Dream soundtrack and couples that with a spoken word performance that takes the band further into the realms of art rock.

This is brilliant, but it won’t be for everyone. There are tracks here that sound like the work of two completely separate bands, but strangely, that doesn’t harm the overall feel of this EP. When Martyrs hit the mark, they prove that the worlds of indie and rock still have interesting landscapes to explore, and by mixing influences, it’s still possible to create something where the old feels new again. For the more adventurous listener, this will be one of the standout releases of 2026.

April 2026