The Indie Scene

  Following up from their debut single, Carmen Jones , released last year and accumulating just over 1,600 streams, the Bristol rockers have shaken up the system with their latest release Memorial , a cacophony of orchestral sounds mixed with progressive influence. Photo: Amia Watling With a sound reminiscent of Slint and a hint of Nine Inch Nails , HAAL is a band that wouldn’t sound out of place soundtracking a David Fincher m ovie . Memorial is a track that creeps up on you and rewards you for your patience. Even more rewarding is the wall of distortion in the climax of the song, ending the song in beautiful grandness.  There is evidence of the band's knowledge of music theory in their clever usage of dissonance, a complex time signature, and a complex structure so tasteful that if it was plated up in the Masterchef final, it would be more tear-jerking than getting a 7 from Anthony Fantano. The math-rock influence is unmistakable; beginning with the introduction of the drums wh

The well-versed indie veterans, who have been earning their stripes for the best part of a decade, premiered their latest offering on Annie Mac's Radio 1 show. For Wolf Alice fans alike - or anybody who has missed them just as much - it's been a three year wait (we're not counting Ellie's feature on Mura Masa's Teenage Headache Dreams ) that has felt drastically long, no thanks to the current pandemic.  PHOTO: JORDAN HEMINGWAY To no surprise at all, Ellie Rowsell once again proves how astounding she is when it comes to writing in such an effortlessly confessional and intimate way; giving a glimpse into her diary per se. Not to mention the accompanying sublime sounds of strings and the backtracking of Joel and Ellie's vocals layered to sound like a choir, The Last Man On Earth is an endearingly beautiful and harmonic introduction to a new era for the London rockers.  As if today couldn't get any more exciting, the announcement of a third album, Blue Wee

  Black Country, New Road start off their highly anticipated debut album with an instrumental that sets the tone for the rest of the songs. The track is nothing but effortless; alike puff pastry with its copious layers you’re left struggling to count, and sounding like something soundtracking a Damien Chazelle film.  For the first time , the newest offering from a promising young band (with 7 very good, very talented members), is bound to be divisive — I mean, you can’t please everyone . With the band being compared to acts who don’t fit into any given genre, thus being packed into a box together to form some sort of ‘odd one out’ sound, such as the likes of Squid , black midi , and Girl Band , they’ve become the genre most would describe as simply ‘weird’. What else do you use to describe a band who seamlessly blur the lines between the genres they’re being told they belong to? Sure, they’re a fusion of post-punk and whatever else people brand them as but, for me, they’re a mixture