Edge of Arcady

Andrew Cushin – You Don’t Belong EP

Masterful songwriting is a skill sometimes bluffed in the world of melodic indie rock but Newcastle’s Andrew Cushin has authentic composition talent in spades and exhibits it proudly on his debut ‘You Don’t Belong’ EP, an assemblage of tunes so accomplished he even has the famously cynical ears of Noel Gallagher pricked up.

Feasting on a profusion of influences from Oasis to The Coral to The La’s, Cushin’s heroes are clearly audible in his music, building on what’s been written before and turning it into his own gold – which in this case ends up being four confidently solid, surging, mod-rock gems, infused with more depth and emotion than your average singer-songwriter.

‘You Don’t Belong’, ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah’ and ‘Catch Me If You Can’ are pristine quality, guitar wielding, radio-ready singles steeped in love, loss and romanticism but Cushin’s expertise shines ever brighter on the bare and profound piano-led ballad ‘Runaway’, recalling lump-in-your-throat innocence lost, drug abuse and redemption: “And though the world keeps spinning round/It’s just forgotten you right now/It’s got you down”. The kind of tune Paolo Nutini would sacrifice a vital organ for.

The ‘You Don’t Belong’ EP was released on Friday 22nd April 2022 through Strap Originals records with a physical vinyl release believed to be revealed shortly.

You can see the brand new emotive video for ‘Runaway’ below:

As Loud As A Mouse – Cat Gone Dog

On debut single ‘Cat Gone Dog’, Reading DIY duo As Loud As A Mouse make a massive noise for just two men. It’s a nutty punk noise, a bizarro math rock noise, an at times anarchic shouty noise and a damn catchy single with enough tempo changes to give you a small nose bleed, an uncomplicated chorus that’ll hook in your noggin and lyrics that fall just on the right side of questionably gibbering savant. After a few minutes of rapid, gratifying tuneage the song descends into a mire of backward guitar, so we’re just going to press this here backward arrow and start it all over again from scratch.

As Loud As A Mouse are signed to London’s Big Richard Records who have built a healthy roster of authentic independent artists and put on a load of club nights around England’s capital in the past two years – check out our previous review of labelmate Kipper Gillespie’s ‘K (Be Funny) EP’. ‘Cat Gone Dog’ was released on 25th March 2022.

Find a Spotify link for ‘Cat Gone Dog’ below and check out a live video of the single below that:

Opus Kink – The Unrepentant Soldier

What happens when a Brightonian punk band fully embrace cuban jazz? You get a unique, conquering sound like the one Opus Kink make and on ‘The Unrepentant Soldier’, the latest release from OK’s forthcoming debut EP, the six-piece use flamboyant trombone, guitar and throaty vocals to dissect the stubborn thoughts of a regretless mercenary as they succumb to a self-righteous death, surrounded by a fabulous cacophony of Latino noise.

‘The Unrepentant Soldier’ was released on 21st March 2022 through the mighty Nice Swan records, also home to English Teacher, Jaws The Shark, Sprints, Fur and Pip Blom.

The group are playing London’s 100 Club for Dork’s night out x The Great Escape on 21st April (so that’s two nights time from now) along with Malady and L’Objectif. Tickets are still available!
Check out their bandcamp for upcoming shows in Sheffield, Brighton, Birkenhead, Bedford, Blackpool and Milton Keynes.

Hear the all important actual song on Spotify below or wherever else you stream your tunes:

Rats-Tails – Spines

Today’s review is of this curious, fragile tune by the wholly independent South East London duo who go by the moniker ‘Rats-Tails’. They are singer/songwriter Courtney McMahon and guitarist Chris Bull, and describe their music as Mystic Folk & Dream Pop, a succinct and accurate description indeed.

Barely over-running the two minute mark, their melancholy psalm strays little further than a beautifully spaced out and sparse guitar strum with exposed drums, with vocalist Courtney remembering a bleakly honest, emotional scene, candidly deliberating suicidal feelings through the poignant imagery of tugging hair from a hairbrush and being captivated with the naked spines revealed underneath.

Rats-Tails’ debut single ‘Spines’ was released on 2nd March 2022. Rats-Tails have the following gig in London coming up:

27th April 2022 – The Shacklewell Arms, Dalston, London

Check out their bandcamp to hear the single or find the Spotify link below.

The Mysterines – Reeling

You may have missed it when The Mysterines creeped quietly onto the scene in 2018 with small fanfare and you would also be forgiven if you overlooked the stream of fast paced and filthy indie blues tracks the Liverpool group have spent the past four years drip feeding the world, but there’s absolutely no ignoring the demon they’ve evolved with the release of debut album ‘Reeling’.

Paying their dues on the indie circuit has done them well and in the process their song writing has transformed from neat three minute long fast paced tunes to cruel, dark and sprawling rock atmospherics with a twisted sense of humour. The record launches with would-be-single with too much swearing grunge pop, live for the moment assault ‘Life’s A Bitch (But I Like It So Much)’, a high bar set, followed by an album of doom-laden, cruel and sexy rock’n’roll that tries not to take itself too seriously, shuffling between slinky and slow numbers like title track ‘Reeling’, spooky and obsessive blues (‘In My Head’) and turbo charged punk (‘Hung Up’).

In amongst the gothic blackness the group bend the mood into some unpredicable stylings, ‘Old Friends/Die Hard’ jokingly (we hope) explains what frontwoman Lia Metcalfe does to men who attempt to manipulate her (spoiler: she destroys them and apparently kills their friends), ‘Under Your Skin’ sounds like a fucked up sea shanty of infatuation, ‘On The Run’ takes in the college rock Americana of Smashing Pumpkins or Hole and ‘Means To Bleed’ is a massive, dark rock’n’roll riot with a humongous riff. The album shows cracks of light on ‘All These Things’, a lighter, breezier ode to lost innocence that skulks close to packing a singalong chorus and ‘Still Call You Home’ signals that there may be a sentimental heart beating amongst the atmospheric, acoustic strum, but ‘The Confession Song’ reassures us that too much blood has surged under the bridge for anything but madness, lust and darkness to swamp The Mysterines world right now. Albeit a darkness that can still crack a joke or two and knows how to write a fucking great rock song.

‘Reeling’ was released on 11th March 2022 and is available to buy in all of the formats.
The Mysterines are touring the US, Canada and the UK throughout 2022 and you may be able to snatch up some tickets over on their website.

Have a squiz at the video for ‘Life’s a Bitch (But I Like It So Much)’ below:

Soccer Mommy – Shotgun

We’re not sure if ‘Shotgun’ was written about a nightmare, toxic relationship situation or if it’s an infatuated love song. Either way, it’s steeped deep with emotion, whether or not it’s joy or pain. And such is the magnificence of Soccer Mommy Sophie Allison’s song writing skill, a record exerting the lyrical prowess of poetic observational lines like “cold beer and ice cream”, “coffee and menthol on your breath”, “your blue eyes like the stars” over tension-building production, uneasy guitar chords and a catchy chorus that won’t stop nagging away in your brain for days.

‘Shotgun’ was dropped alongside the announcement of Soccer Mommy’s third album ‘Sometimes, Forever’ – due out of 24^th June 2022 on Loma Vista recordings. Take a peek at the tracklisting below:

Bones
With U
Unholy Affliction
Shotgun
Newdemo
Darkness Forever
Don’t Ask Me
Fire in the Driveway
Following Eyes
Feel It All The Time
Still

Soccer Mommy is also on a UK and Europe-wide tour, starting at Bloomington, Indiana, USA on 7th April 2022 and ending up in Glasgow UK on 24th September 2022. Check out the full tour dates and ticket availability by tapping here.

Take a look at the video for ‘Shotgun’ below:

Krush Puppies – Why

The second instalment of South London four-piece Krush Puppies’ ‘Love Kills The Demons’ EP is a ponderously lilting affair covered in heavenly keyboards and slow, droning fuzz-guitar effects, succeeding in sounding heavy and somehow delicate all at once, repeatedly attempting to fathom from the memory of a past relationship: “And I keep on asking why you’re in my life?”. It’s a question that reverberates throughout the song but eventually finds an answer in the spoken word bridge and a final cathartic primal scream.

This EP is shaping up to be a stunner. We reviewed title track ‘Love Kills The Demons’ just a couple of weeks ago and the full thing will be released on 6th May 2022. Tap to pre-order.

The band have just announced an EP release show at London’s Moth Club on June 15th, if you’re eager to experience the record live. Tickets are available now!

Check out the video for ‘Why’ below:

Beabadoobee – Talk

A paradisiac concoction of sugar sweet pop and Pavement inspired slacker college rock, London singer-songwriter extraordinaire Beabadoobee has delivered a brand new single, ‘Talk’, to introduce us to forthcoming album ‘Beatopia’, the follow up to her 2020 debut ‘Fake It Flowers’.

The dream mix ture of bubblegum and indie, ‘Talk’ uses squalling guitar effects and a pristine, bouyant melody, as well as borrowing an Avril Lavigne lyric or two, to consider the merits of going out, getting off with a randomer and losing your mates on a Tuesday night.

Take a look at the video for ‘Talk’ below:

‘Beatopia’ is due to be released through Dirty Hit on 15th July 2022 with a whole host of CD, vinyl, cassette and t-shirt bundles available. The tracklisting is below:

Beatopia Cultsong
10:36
Sunny Day
See You Soon
Ripples
The Perfect Pair
Broken CD
Talk
Lovesong
Pictures Of Us
Fairy Song
Don’t Get The Deal
Tinkerbell Is Overrated
You’re Here That’s The Thing

If you like what you hear, Beabadoobee is also out on a world tour beginning in the States on 18th April 2022, stopping off in the UK, Australia, Europe… pretty much, everywhere. Check out her website for full listings and tickets.

The Publics – Marathon In Heels

Feeling a little late to the shindig here, but we’ve just stumbled across the latest single from Nottingham five piece The Publics ‘Marathon In Heels’ and it’s a bit of a show-stopper. Soaring, full gusted indie rock, like Courteeners if they were from a little further south, the track is both a tribute to girls who possess superhuman levels of endurance on nights out and the rundown of a boisterous night turned sour.

Post keyboard break, the song kicks it up a notch, approaching anthemic territory, with male and female band members alike providing backing vocals for a sing-a-long of the chorus that’s going to sound absolutely phenomenal getting belted back by a crowd of Publics zealots at their next gig.

The Publics have a few live shows coming up with tickets still available. Check out the dates below:

Friday 8th April – Sheffield, Between The Lines festival
Saturday 9th April – Newcastle, Head of Steam (HEADLINING)
Sunday 1st May – Nottingham, Rough Trade (HEADLINING)
Saturday 16th July – Stoke-On-Trent, The Sugarmill (supporting Marquis Drive)
Sunday 30th July – Sheffield, Sidney & Matilda (supporting The Thieves)

‘Marathon In Heels’ was released on 25/02/2022 (told you we’re a bit late to this one) and you can find it on all the usual streaming outlets. If you wanna listen on Spotify, you can find it below:

PS. If, like me, you were squinting at the band photo trying to work out why you recognise The Publics drummer, James, you’ve completely given away the fact that you watch Channel 4’s ‘Teen First Dates’. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, obviously all the best people do! Loving your work, James.

Andrew Cushin – Catch Me If You Can

The latest instalment from Newcastle’s most touted’s forthcoming debut EP ‘You Don’t Belong’, due out on April 22^nd, is sauntering strut of a single ‘Catch Me If You Can’. Andrew Cushin’s inimitable, wordly vocals recount his fascination with “the girl without intentions” – “she showed me things I never should have seen, yeah she’s broken into my mind and stolen my dreams” alongside a forceful, impelling rhythm and rapturous backing ‘ahh’s.

The singer-songwriter is telling us: either about a girl he fleetingly met, a sense of expansive foreboding, or the 2022 equivalent of whoever Ian Brown had in mind when writing “She Bangs The Drums”.

‘Catch Me If You Can’ was released last Friday 25th March and you can hear it now on all the usual streaming places. The ‘You Don’t Belong’ EP is out on April 22nd through Strap Originals records.

Andrew Cushin has also announced a bunch of live dates. If you want to catch him live you can find the full list of dates and sale link, along with the video for ‘Catch Me If You Can’ below:

Tickets are available here.