The Levellers are one of those bands who’ve often kept themselves incredibly busy. Aside from the time spent off the road during the pandemic restrictions, they’ve toured constantly. When not on the road, the members can be found writing or in the studio recording. The band’s production wheel keeps turning in a way that suggests there’s a real love of what they do. Never was this more true than in 2018. Celebrating their 30th anniversary as a band, they released ‘We The Collective’, an album reworking old favourites acoustically, embarked on a twenty two date acoustic tour, played five festival dates, another two big shows arranged around their own “A Beautiful Day Out”, and almost thirty full electric shows. In between those, vocalist/guitarist Mark Chadwick found time to play seven solo gigs. In terms of work ethic, that’s a schedule probably only rivalled by Frank Turner, a man who seemingly never sleeps.
Tag Archives: indie
REDBUD – Long Night EP
Texan indie pop band Redbud began releasing music via Bandcamp during the lockdown of 2020, and it was immediately clear that their sound had something special. Their early digital singles ‘To The Moon’ and ‘Opal’ conveyed elements of retro dream pop and light psych-tinged Americana in a way that felt both familiar and fresh – an oxymoron if ever there were – and vocalist Katie Claghorn’s hazy and ethereal vocal style had an immediate appeal.
WEST WICKHAMS – Magenta EP
In May 2022, alternative rock duo West Wickhams released ‘She Will Have Her Way’, an excellent EP driven by very retro goth, dreampop and synthpop sounds. Their ‘Magenta’ EP (released in November the same year) finds the band recycling a lot of the same moods, yet at the same time, the material conveys a feeling of moving forward. It’s safe to say that those who enjoyed the previous release will glean a similar amount of enjoyment from this timely follow up.
THE SUBWAYS – Uncertain Joys
This 2023 release from UK indie rock favourites The Subways marks the end of a long period of silence from the band. It comes eight years after their self titled fourth LP, and marks the first long player for a new line up and a new record label. Drummer Josh Morgan left the band for the second time in 2020, and his replacement Camille Phillips (also of The Ramonas) does an absolutely terrific job throughout the album’s twelve songs, and at the record’s best, the sheer punch the “new” Subways give the material is especially confident.
DUNGEON OF SKELETONS – Patterns
Since 2010, singer songwriter Justin Kline’s on-off recording career has taken in various different aspects of melodic pop and rock. His early solo releases explored a classic power pop sound; as frontman with the short-lived Origami Hologram, he ventured into a very retro world of alternative rock, before his return to solo work occasionally took him in a Weezer-ly direction.