Issue Fifty-Six arrives as we all take a big deep breath before stepping into festival season. June has also seen us announce the very first So Young Tour and it’s our headliners, Cardinals who are on the cover.
Ahead of big support dates with Fontaines D.C. and Wunderhorse, the Cork five-piece, Cardinals, have shared new single ‘Big Empty Heart’. The band talk to us about their debut album, which we’re told we can expect in 2026, as well as the disheartening fetishization of Irish culture.
We’ve been speaking with Squid for years and it’s a pleasure to chat again. Ahead of their upcoming return to End of the Road Festival, an event close to Ollie Judge’s heart, we catch up on their latest record, ‘Cowards’ and their recent tour of the US. Another band heading to Dorset for End of the Road is LA’s The Sophs. The shiny new signing to Rough Trade Records are proud of bucking the Tik Tok discovery trend and they tell us of howsome cold emails, not exclusive to their new label home, sparked a whole new future for the band.
Now signed with Domino, These New Puritans have a new album out titled ‘Crooked Wing’. Our conversation delves into the long process behind this record, working with Caroline Polachek and their obsession with field recordings.
One of our favourite new bands is Silver Gore. After blowing us away at The Great Escape and with new music on the horizon, we caught up with duo Ava Gore and Ethan P. Flynn to dig into their love for each other and their “resources war” origin story. Chicago’s Lifeguard have finally released their debut album. According to them, ‘Ripped and Torn’ isn’t meant to be overanalysed, its just another album. But they hope you like it.
Three new artists on our pages for the first time are noisy welsh band, MORN, Iceland’s great hopes, Spacestation and Third Man’s new singings, Die Spitz. And on the theme of Third Man, it’s with pleasure that we welcome back Hotline TNT. Ahead of the new record, on which they are now formally ‘a band’, we discuss the change from a solo project, the sacrifices swallowed in that process, and their rejection of the shoegaze label.
We are pleased to bring back the Who Are You? section of So Young. Across two pages you’ll find quick fire questions with some of our most recent discoveries. This time around we introduce pollyfromthedirt, Spanish Horses, Uncle Junior, bathing suits, SLAG, Restlesstaxis and wing!.
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