The Cork-based four-piece are back with a new track that builds sounds on top of one another like seams of sediment in the earth. Layers of gauzy indie rock give way to each other, cresting and breaking as waves upon the shore. Borne onward by singer Fionnbharr Hickey’s gentle vocals, there’s a forward movement throughout the entire song that forces the gaze forward. Although the song is ostensibly about anxiety, sonically it’s more freeing than suffocating. Hickey’s vocals pair beautifully with co-vocalist Asha Egan McCutcheon’s, the two providing shades which melt into one another, oscillating between being both unhurried and urgent.

Making a name for themselves as a dynamic live act, too, Pebbledash have a stretch of live dates ahead of them in 2025, including seven nights on the So Young tour in September. With a catalogue that contains notes of shoegaze, folk, rock, and a host of other sounds, you’ll be straining to pick out the different tastes welded into their music.

Photo by Emily Cardona

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Coated in the dressing of discomfort that we’ve come to expect from Humour, ‘In the Paddies’ explores a reflective narrative of dead characters examining their now lived life. Rich with the dynamic Post-Rock instrumentation that Humour have perfected since their debut EP three years ago, ‘In the Paddies’ is fronted by a chaotic and alien-esque vocal performance from Andreas Christodolidis. ‘In the Paddies’ doesn’t rip through you like previous hits ‘Yeah, Mud!’ or lead single ‘Neighbours’, but Humour prove their versatility here packing ‘In the Paddies’ with the same level of technical ability and punch while also toning things down.

On the track the band add, “‘In the Paddies’ is from the point of view of a character who summons various members of the dead throughout history to rise in a muddy field and asks them what it would take to allow their souls to rest peacefully”.

Photo by Rosie Sco

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And debut single ‘D’Artagnan’ – named after Dumas’ Musketeer (because why not, I guess?) feels like the kind of all-or-nothing, cards-on-the-table statement that maybe all debut singles should aspire to. A cerebrum-collapsing post-hardcore waltz of zinging riffs, muddy spoken word, tantalising post-rock breakdowns and all-out, ‘get fucked’ abrasions, the world might end tomorrow but at least paper hats could say they gave it all.

Fitting alongside howling Crewe-based racket-mongers UNIVERSITY, it’s hard not to recall here too the furious dramas of early black midi too, in the tight tempestuous vibe-switches and acute sense of theatre, where you can’t help but pin your whole future on whatever the song might take you next

Photo by Richard Mukuze

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If ‘Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)’ and its predecessor ‘Elderberry Wine’ are anything to go by, Wednesday’s upcoming album ‘Bleeds’ will be another masterclass in what the band calls “Creek Rock”. Due in September of this year, the record follows their critically acclaimed 2023 album ‘Rat Saw God’, of which they’ve named ‘Bleeds’ a “spiritual successor”.

Frontwoman and primary writer Karly Hartzman shared that the titular line “I wound up here by holdin on” was pulled from her friend Evan Gray’s poetry book Thickets Swamped in a Fence-Coated Briars. Considering the line “pure genius”, Hartzman built an entire song around the phrase, borrowing stories and lived experiences from some of her closest friends to do so. The result stays true to her typical songwriting style, it zooms into the smallest and often grimiest details to convey entire scenes or feelings, whether that be a “pitbull puppy pissin’ off the balcony” or the “puffy” face of a recently drowned man – the imagery is exposing and lived-in.

‘Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)’ harks back to the dynamic instrumentation Wednesday are known for. It moves between catchy country-pop hooks and heavy alt rock, hitting you with sudden moments of noise, distortion, and time signature changes. It’s a balance they have perfected across their records and live dates, and a line they will undoubtedly continue to walk.

Photo by Graham Tolbert

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‘POLLYANNA’ continues where they left off, though, continuing their excellent form. And whilst their industrial shoegaze sound remains, it seems as if they’ve done some growing, sonically speaking, in those intervening years. The track takes inspiration from its relentlessly positive namesake, but its somewhat lighter sound hides a darker underbelly, one drawing on the toxic side of happiness.

Katie Ball’s ethereal vocals float above the swirling world of noise below, continuing ‘POLLYANNA’ as a track of contrast; playing off between the noise and the beauty, happiness and what else lingers on. It’s a brilliant return, and with a number of intimate shows having also been announced, hopefully there’s more to come.

Photo by Kate Lawlor

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On the lips of every indie music fan in the country, Westside Cowboy have become something of a cult phenomenon after the success of their blistering debut ‘I Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love, Until I Met You’, which bonded Americana influences with indie-rock nostalgia. Westside Cowboy aren’t afraid to change it up though, with ‘Alright Alright Alright’ feeding straight from a western as the lead guitar line and drums move together in a chase-scene rhythm, with additional siren guitar effects and screaming back up vocals to make sure that every second of potential is filled.

‘Alright Alright Alright’ coincides with the  announcement of the bands debut EP ‘This Better Be Something Great’ due on August 8th after what has been nothing short of a breakout year for the band. 

Photo by Joe Moss

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Issue Fifty-Five features Model/Actriz, YHWH Nailgun, The Orchestra (For Now), Westside Cowboy, Car Seat Headrest, Real Farmer, School Fair, Elias Rønnenfelt, feeble little horse, Kissing On Camera, Pooneh Ghana and Rhi Dancey.
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Following on from 2024’s EP ‘The Tw*t’s’, ‘Cowbella’ is a return to slacker rock form for the London trio. Blending a motorik Bloc Party drive with a fuzzed out vocal and guitar pairing, bar italia are bolder and weightier than ever. The shifting vocal lines between the trio keep things dynamic and fresh, with Nina Cristante’s equable tones contrasting to the wild exaggerations of Jezmi Tarik Fehmi. A sparkly and psych-inflected coda closes the track with a bright openness reminiscent of early 90s Sonic Youth – a highlight of the bar italia oeuvre.

Without reinventing the wheel, ‘Cowbella’ signifies bar italia returning with gusto and grit. Ahead of new music debuting at their upcoming sold out 93 Feet East show on Thursday, bar italia are set to confirm they are worthy of all hype typed out about them.

Photo by Rankin

So Young is a new music magazine and our new issue is out now. Buy in print here. Subscribe here.
Issue Fifty-Five features Model/Actriz, YHWH Nailgun, The Orchestra (For Now), Westside Cowboy, Car Seat Headrest, Real Farmer, School Fair, Elias Rønnenfelt, feeble little horse, Kissing On Camera, Pooneh Ghana and Rhi Dancey.
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A long-standing word-of-mouth favourite for those in the know among Manchester’s thriving band scene, a debut single from Shaking Hand has been a long time coming. But even still, as ‘Over The Coals’ meals out its first twangs and snare taps, we’re still made to wait. Four minutes of exquisite preamble later – itself a brooding poison of emotive slowcore and spidery American Football expansion – the ‘song’ then ‘begins’.

Delivering that wandering instrumental into dazzling new relief, George Hunter’s ghostly vocal skulks through the mist – “Life Not Linear. Life’s Not Linear” – and Shaking Hand break out from their chrysalis to butterfly into a proud and glorious shoegazing life. It’s a life that, as any witness to their gigs might attest, has plenty more tricks up its sleeve still to be revealed…

And alongside these self-determined ‘Modernist Post-Rock’ manoeuvers, the associated imagery of unused LA Architectural plans from the 1960s provides all the appropriate metaphors: Shaking Hand are a trio of clean lines, meticulous planning, and comprehensive visions, with one foot in the idealisms of lost fantasy, the other pitched in the gristle and grime of the post-industrial present.

So Young is a new music magazine and our new issue is out now. Buy in print here. Subscribe here.
Issue Fifty-Five features Model/Actriz, YHWH Nailgun, The Orchestra (For Now), Westside Cowboy, Car Seat Headrest, Real Farmer, School Fair, Elias Rønnenfelt, feeble little horse, Kissing On Camera, Pooneh Ghana and Rhi Dancey.
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The band’s latest release, ‘Cranes’, feels like their most emotionally potent yet. A soulful sax, shifting tempos and vocals that linger between spoken word and song demonstrate a raw experimentation. The track is a playful piece, encapsulating the band’s ability to express emotion with growing precision while expanding the boundaries of their sound. It’s a product of their youth, their love and the places that surround them.

There is an immediate tenderness in the fragile instrumentation of ‘Cranes’ as a repetitive piano arrangement oscillates up and down, resonating internally, flowing within you like a breath that rises and falls with your own. The piano is soon joined by a marching drumbeat and a saxophone that warbles an introduction to Peter Martin’s vocals, which stumble into the track with a Black Country, New Road theatricality. Containing tonal shifts and a certain flatness, the vocals seem to drift outside the rest of the song rather than blending with the other instruments, almost like a radio being played in another room, perhaps intentionally disturbing the serenity of the piano.

‘Cranes’ is a love song, or more accurately, a song that tries to define what love does. Its lyrics position it as something that is both foundational and risky, something that can rebuild and invigorate. Casual Smart liken its impact to towering cranes while also comparing it to the more chaotic experiences of “mosh pits” and “drugs”. The line, “I take you over mosh pits, I take you over drugs” does more than elevate love above these experiences, it becomes them.

The song’s finale crashes in with a fusion of instruments that express the intensity and emotion the lyrics suggest. A nifty guitar lick replaces the so far persistent piano riff, the saxophone wails, steadily gaining tempo before losing control in the current that drags it into a crescendo where the drums crash discordantly and the piano chords ring out of tune. The outro of the track slips into disorder, wading deep into unconventional form without, completely, losing its grip on structure.  

This controlled chaos doesn’t just define the climax of ‘Cranes’, it is a bold example of where Casual Smart might go next. Cut from the same cloth as their art-rock predecessors but sewn with their own stitches, Casual Smart offer a youthful and raw outlook on love, set against the urban lit backdrop of Cardiff’s nighttime cityscape. Their message: choose love not for romantic fantasy but for industrial reinvigoration. 

Photo by Tobias Lagos

So Young is a new music magazine and our new issue is out now. Buy in print here. Subscribe here.
Issue Fifty-Five features Model/Actriz, YHWH Nailgun, The Orchestra (For Now), Westside Cowboy, Car Seat Headrest, Real Farmer, School Fair, Elias Rønnenfelt, feeble little horse, Kissing On Camera, Pooneh Ghana and Rhi Dancey.Read the digital edition below.

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