FEATURE:
Off to a Flying Start
IN THIS PHOTO: Tyla/PHOTO CREDIT: Jeremy Soma
Ten Remarkable 2024 Debut Albums
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ALTHOUGH we take…
IN THIS PHOTO: Rachel Chinouriri/PHOTO CREDIT: Lauren Harris
a lot of time this time of year to recognise the very best albums, there are not as many features about the finest debut albums. Fewer to choose from granted, though it is important that we acknowledge the brilliant flying starts from artists. The debut album is so hard to get right. Everything leads up to that moment, so it is all the more impressive when you get a first album that sounds so complete, assured and uncracked. I am going to go on to highlight ten awesome debut albums from 2024. Those that you need to have a listen to. I want to give honourable mentions to Nia Archives’s Silence Is Loud, Kate Hudson’s Glorious and GloRilla’s Glorious. From some terrific solo artists to band-made debut wonders, these are the best and brightest from this year. Here are ten albums that show these artists got it spot on…
RIGHT from the start.
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The Last Dinner Party – Prelude to Ecstasy
Release Date: 2nd February
Label: Island
Producer: James Ford
Review:
“If you were looking to understand the appeal of The Last Dinner Party, you could alight on the world which they conjure in their beguiling songs: a cocktail of gothic romance and sparkling opulence. Having been mainstays on the London live circuit following the pandemic, the five-piece swiftly landed a major label deal and have since continued to align their image and artistry, bringing silken ball gowns and a raucous energy to stages the world over. It’s as though they figured where they were going long before they got there.
In the months leading up to their debut LP ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’, their name has echoed around late night chat shows and festival lineups; yet the speed with which the band broke through has led to online discourse around their credentials, not too dissimilar to the conversations that were previously directed towards the rapid arrival of Wet Leg. Arguably, there is now an element of smoke and mirrors around a band whose mission appears to be fairly straightforward: “We imagined the kind of joyful act we’d want to see when we go out, and created our own ‘dream band’ from that,” vocalist Abigail Morris told NME last year.
It’s almost easy to forget that we’re here, primarily, because of one endlessly catchy single. ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ arrives nearly a year on from ‘Nothing Matters’, the track that launched the band on their dizzying trajectory; in terms of its Roxy Music-like stomp and fatalist lyrics, it serves as their own dark, escapist fantasy. “And you can hold me like he held her / And I will fuck you like nothing matters,” so goes the chorus.
Rendered in strings, groove-flecked guitar passages and twinkling keys, the album’s recurring themes continue to ooze out of every verse: girlhood, regret, intimacy, unsatisfying relationships. It swoops from a cavernous torch song (‘On Your Side’) to visions of hysteria via a plaintive ballad (‘Caesar On The TV Screen’). Slickly arranged as though these tracks are – with James Ford [Arctic Monkeys, Jessie Ware] on production duties – they offer a type of melodrama that doesn’t crop up often in modern mainstream pop.
In fact, when the band dial things down, like on ‘Beautiful Boy’ which peaks almost instantly with a panpipe section, the energy shift is noticeable. ‘Gjuha’, an Albanian-language call to home sung by keyboardist Aurora Nishevci, contains some beautiful, contrasting falsettos but feels out of place within the album’s clear vision. These more muted moments aren’t a slight on ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’ as a whole; if anything, they go to show that the band manage to cram a surplus of ideas into the majority of the material here.
Even at its most overwrought – the rhythmic attack of ‘My Lady Of Mercy’; a chunk of wallowing reverb in ‘Burn Alive’, presumably to evoke misery and displacement – there’s a melodic confidence throughout that’s a rare find in a debut. The Last Dinner Party may have some reverence for their art-rock forebears (think: early Julia Holter or St Vincent), but also enough self-belief and magnetism to set them apart from what’s come before” – NME
Standout Tracks: Caesar on a TV Screen/Sinner/Nothing Matters
Key Cut: The Feminine Urge
English Teacher – This Could Be Texas
Release Date: 12th April
Label: Island
Producer: Marta Salogni
Review:
“The album opens with the swooping sentimentality of Albatross – a masterful display of tension and release, feathery piano and guitar work gliding gracefully across the track before it descends into a whirlpool of hypnotic syncopation. The World’s Biggest Paving Slab follows – a seemingly mundane but actually brilliant claiming of personal abundance, in which Lily Fontaine puts their hometown of Colne on the map, delivering lines pertaining to Lancashire lore: 'I am the Bank of Dave, Golden Postbox / And the festival of R&B / And I'm not the terrorist of Talbot Street / But I have apocalyptic dreams'.
The band flip the central sentiment of Beyoncé’s most recent single on its head with title track This Could Be Texas, favouring chipper ivories and hopeful brass over scratchy acoustic guitar and a driving hoedown kick drum. Other highlights include the arcade machine intro and critique of ridiculous billionaire hobbies on Not Everybody Gets To Go To Space; the fragmented time signature and snapshot lyricism of Broken Biscuits; and the drunken drumwork and extraterrestrial soundscape of Sideboob. This debut LP sees English Teacher beginning to consolidate and take the already-delicious sounds introduced on their Polyawkward EP to even greater heights” – The Skinny
Standout Tracks: The World’s Biggest Paving Slab/Broken Biscuits/Nearly Daffodils
Key Cut: Albert Road
FLO – Access All Areas
Release Date: 15th November
Label: Island
Producers: Various
Review:
“While many of their solo contemporaries understandably fixate on shady exes, FLO also lift up the good dudes. Explicitly starry-eyed tracks like the sweet, kinda crunk “Check”—which runs down an inventory of a partner’s desirable traits (“Is he faithful? Check…”) over sweaty trap 808s—and the doting “Bending My Rules” celebrate steady, dependable men. On lead single “Walk Like This,” with its stiletto-clicking beat, they sing about the aftershocks of great sex—wobbly knees and emotions—while the Dreamgirls-inspired title track, “AAA,” is a whispered invitation to foreplay over a suite of go-go snares and showy hi-hats. These songs might feel traditionalist in some ways, but FLO’s idea of partnership is reciprocal and well-earned. “If I give you everything, it better mean everything, not just anything,” they clarify on “AAA.” Later, they wonder, “How does it feel to know I could have anyone but you the one that I want?”
Just when the vibe starts to get too coddling, they balance it with a little venom, threatening to key cars on the cautionary tale “Caught Up,” a femme-fatale callback to the millennial aloofness of Blu Cantrell. This course correction happened intentionally in the midst of recording. Douglas told Dazed this past September, “We were able to see that we had four songs that were, like, ‘I love my man,’ and four songs that were [all] ‘I’m a Bad Bitch,’ but where were the songs about ourselves?” One of their self-love gems, “In My Bag,” features a bullish GloRilla guest verse and a speedy beat switch-up made for Peloton rides while FLO boast about being their own biggest fans: “What I got is manifested/I don’t even gotta try.” It’s an aspirational level of self-possession in the lineage of TLC. Even the icy breakup anthem “IWH2BMX” (“I Would Hate to Be My Ex”) exudes glow-up energy: “I’m a pop star like Rihanna,” they gloat.
What makes these songs particularly striking is FLO’s vocal chemistry and equity. Their primary collaborator, British producer-songwriter MNEK (whose credits include Beyoncé, Little Mix, Kylie Minogue, and Dua Lipa), keeps the group’s tones warm and precise as the album winds down to dreamier slow-burners like the pillowy “Soft” and “On and On,” a blushing ballad that feels like a soothing spa soak. As a collective, FLO and MNEK are keyed in on the exact sweet-and-salty frequency that makes a girl group pop. Impressively, none of these tracks feel like filler, and even some of the less immediate standouts take a charming or surprising turn, whether it’s the lush, slightly maudlin Dynasty-style strings on “Shoulda Woulda Coulda” or the rock-leaning closer “I’m Just a Girl,” a rallying cry about facing industry pushback. While out of place tonally and potentially polarizing (“This song ain’t for everybody,” they acknowledge at one point), it still shows FLO’s willingness to experiment.
Perfection isn’t just the goal for the average girl group—it’s gospel, and FLO are shamelessly invested. The quest isn’t literal, of course (nobody’s flawless), but about following the examples set by their forebears: clean vocals, tight harmonies, and choreography with something meaningful behind it. Quaresma told Teen Vogue, “I think we feel like we’re in good company with the girl groups that have come before because we know that we can work hard enough to be seen as one of them one day.” You can tell they’ve studied not just their influences’ lyrics, enunciations, and double-time flows but all the intangibles, too (they’ve sung on treadmills for practice like Destiny’s Child). And they’ve used that knowledge to craft a debut that’s neither overly formulaic nor purely decorative, one that comes from a youthful, self-actualized lens. Acesss All Areas makes a case that their pursuit of a more perfect union is within reach” – Pitchfork
Standout Tracks: AAA/In My Bag/Shoulda Woulda Coulda
Key Cut: Walk Like This
Rachel Chinouriri – What a Devastating Turn of Events
Release Date: 3rd May
Label: Parlophone
Producers: Various
Review:
“Rachel Chinouriri has always been far from a predictable artist (her 2019 EP ‘Mama’s Boy’ offered up a slice of soulful pop, while 2021 project ‘Four° In Winter’ leaned more into electronic influences), but it’s on this, her long-awaited debut full-length, that she fully steps into her considerable potential as one of indie pop’s most interesting, vital voices. Very much an album of two halves, ‘What A Devastating Turn Of Events’ utterly rejects the notion that chart-friendly music need be thematically or emotionally beige. On its A-side, Rachel explores concepts of homesickness and heartsickness with candour, sass, and wry self-awareness; though this first section largely deals in affairs of the heart, she manages to bring new dimension to the well-worn ‘boy mistreats girl’ lyrical trope by swapping between nostalgia-tinged intimacy (‘All I Ever Asked’) and affirming, anthemic choruses (‘Never Need Me’).
As we pass the record’s halfway point, however, there’s a significant tonal shift: gone are the meta, tongue-in-cheek additions of matey voice notes (‘It Is What It Is’) and humorous radio links (‘Dumb Bitch Juice’), and in their place is the title track – an instrumentally understated yet thematically hard-hitting hairpin turn left, detailing the eponymous narrative that led to a relative of Rachel’s taking her own life. It’s a sucker-punch statement that aims to emulate the speed with which circumstances can change, and indeed begins a run of poignantly beautiful tracks that variously touch on disordered eating and body image (‘I Hate Myself’); familial tragedy (‘Robbed’); and generational trauma (‘My Blood’).
What’s remarkable about ‘What A Devastating Turn Of Events’, though, is that the gravitas of this weightier material isn’t cheapened by the sudden contrast, just as the LP’s initial buoyancy somehow doesn’t become retrospectively flippant. Instead, the album honours that life’s lightness isn’t contradicted by the dark moments, but rather co-exists alongside them; a reminder that everything – and everyone – contains multitudes” – DIY
Standout Tracks: The Hills/All I Ever Asked/What a Devastating Turn of Events
Key Cut: Never Need Me
SPRINTS – Letter to Self
Release Date: 5th January
Label: City Slang
Producer: Daniel Fox
Review:
“Dublin four-piece Sprints signed to City Slang in 2023, and blast into the New Year with debut album ‘Letter To Self’. Opening with the brooding beats of ‘Ticking’, the vocals of Karla Chubb begin low, full of foreboding. Questioning and self-doubt are apparent from the very beginning, an uncertainty about oneself. The instrumentation builds into an all-encompassing soundscape – a thrilling start which sets the scene for what is to follow. And to hear lyrics in German, the guttural nature of the language fitting perfectly with the atmosphere of the track. Although born in Dublin, Karla Chubb spent part of her early childhood in Germany, initially turning to music as a consequence of feeling out-of-step with the world.
It’s then straight into the scuzzy static-fuelled guitars of ‘Heavy’. The external questions continue: “Do you ever feel like the room is heavy?” they ask. The energy and passion evoked here are raw and true. The lyrics build, eventually exploding in an air of frustration “watching the world go around the window”.
‘Cathedral’ is in a similar vein. There is a darkness here; “Maybe living’s easy / Maybe dying’s the same.” The emotional intensity continues to seep through the music. The combination of Sam McCann’s bass and the guitars of Chubb and Colm O’Reilly combine to create a cacophony of sound, fast and furious.
‘Shaking Their Hands’ takes us to a different place, with its weariness with life. More contemplative, witnesses Chubb deliver a softer vocal. The theme is more thoughtful with the singer “counting the minutes until the clock strikes six” – a sentiment most can connect with. However it’s an intriguing song as the question is inevitably “whose hands?”. ‘Adore, Adore, Adore’ was released as a single and projects the idea of being judged with its question “Do you adore me?” The pace rattles along and its chorus of “they never call me beautiful, they only call me insane” suggests a desire to fit in, to be accepted.
‘Shadow Of A Doubt’ has an eerie start with its haunting plucking guitar chords. Again there is a atmosphere of foreboding, a lack of belonging. The repetition of “I am lost” is gut-wrenching and Chubb builds the tension until the frustration boils over “can you hear me calling?” The sentiment is heart-breaking as it seems to be a call for help, and that wavering guitar chord perfectly evokes the anxiety. Likewise with ‘Can’t Get Enough Of It’, the agitation remains. The inevitable ear-worm of the repeating “This is a living nightmare” is breath-taking, as it combines with the soaring soundscape. The mid-track key change takes the listener by surprise as it punches at the very core with its emotional impact. Perhaps there is a sense here of not being able to be oneself, a lack of self-belief, of security in ones own self-worth. And goodness do those guitar parts add to the overall sense of anxiety.
The sign of a great song is that it still elicits an emotional response long after its initial release. And so it is with the 2022 single ‘Literary Mind’. Re-recorded for ‘Letter To Self’, Sprints have shared that this track has evolved over time. It is pacier than the original single version and is all the better for it. A love song, it relieves the tension felt so far on the album. It’s a song to belt out at the top of your voice, and is thus cathartic for us all. And just listen to McCann’s vocal on the outro, you know Sprints love playing this track. ‘A Wreck (A Mess)’ opens with electrifying guitar riffs and the percussive beats of Jack Callan. The lighter tone set by ‘Literary Mind’ continues. Again lyrically reflective ‘A Wreck (A Mess)’ is delivered with wild abandon, all scuzzy guitars and thunderous drums. The ebb and flow of the pace keeps the listener on their toes, plus lyrics that will live long in the memory including: “is everyone a wreck, is everyone stressed?”
Latest single ‘Up And Comer’ reached the dizzy heights of the 6Music A-list. The opening guitar riffs stops the listener in their tracks every time. And then the full force of ‘Up And Comer’ kicks in and once it reaches top speed you just know it’s not stopping with its full-frontal assault. The chorus is simply electrifying.
The title track closes out ‘Letter To Self’ and it takes a stand against the internal turmoil. “I’ll give as good as I get”. Here there is defiance. The expression is one of hope, of possibility, of coming out from under the weight of expectation, of fighting back. It sees the journey through the album reach its conclusion. Now the lyrics question those who criticise, those whose behaviour is inappropriate. ‘Letter To Self’ states confidently “I am alive” compared to the questioning “am I alive?” from opener ‘Ticking’. It’s a thunderous end, the theme of the track completely different from the rest of the album.
With ‘Letter To Self’ Sprints have produced an album brutally honest and personal. They have not been afraid to express the feeling of being an outsider, of looking for validation, of attempting to overcome self-doubt. The human condition and thus society is complex and difficult to navigate but Sprints have not been afraid to express uncertainty and vulnerability. And all the while they have enveloped these themes in the most glorious noise for us all to find comfort and lose ourselves in.
Is it possible to have an album of the year contender on only the first week in? Of course it is” – CLASH
Standout Tracks: Heavy/Shadow of a Doubt/Literary Mind
Key Cut: Up and Comer
NewDad - MADRA
Release Date: 26th January
Labels: Fair Youth/Atlantic
Producer: Chris W Ryan
Review:
“The thing about looking into a polished surface is that your reflection will always be a smudge in its sheen. On ‘Madra’, NewDad find seams of doubt, uncertainty and frustration staring back at them from beneath an otherwise serene shoegaze-pop exterior.
There is a point a few songs into the London-via-Galway quartet’s debut album when their past and present meet, with the roiling emotions of young adulthood contained in Julie Dawson’s lyrics cutting through the glistening, propulsive sound the band have fashioned into a protective cocoon since the release of their promising-if-half-formed early EPs. “I don’t know where I go, I don’t know where I go,” Dawson repeats on ‘Where I Go’, her sense of dislocation growing with each additional syllable.
But while her words portray someone casting about for an anchor, NewDad’s circumstances are altogether more concrete. With major label backing and enough hype on their side to power Kevin Shields’ amplifier skyline, they are neatly placed in the slipstream of the shoegaze moment being enjoyed by reunited OG bands such as Slowdive and Ride, along with more seasoned next-gen acts in Nothing or Spirit Of The Beehive.
This weight of expectation sits easily on the broad shoulders of the LP’s best tracks, though, which are all could-be singles characterised by a keen appreciation of melody that continues to elude many of NewDad’s peers. ‘Where I Go’ leads off a killer run at the heart of ‘Madra’ where the band – completed by guitarist Sean O’Dowd, bassist Cara Joshi and drummer Fiachra Parslow – set fresh benchmarks in quick succession.
‘In My Head’ and ‘Dream Of Me’ are dream-pop gems with some lovely, nerdy guitar stuff set off to each side in the mix, while ‘Let Go’ is a hulking, riffy beast. The central hook behind ‘Change My Mind’, meanwhile, is a real flex, taking on an immediately classic feel as Dawson’s voice twists in the air.
Its few prosaic moments – including the oddly-sequenced opening pair of ‘Angel’ and ‘Sickly Sweet’ – are at the very least stylish and delivered with muscular flair as Joshi’s bass does much of the heavy lifting. Equally, while NewDad might not be as structurally inventive as the power-pop-indebted Hotline TNT or as heavy as the nu-gaze-leaning Fleshwater, they are perhaps more streamlined and together, which counts for plenty” – NME
Standout Tracks: In My Head/Nosebleed/Nightmares
Key Cut: Dream of Me
Normani - Dopamine
Release Date: 14th June
Label: RCA
Producers: Various
Review:
“The first track you hear on Normani’s solo debut album encapsulates the deceptive charm at the heart of it. Over subliminal bass pangs, synthetic horns and an interlocking groove, ‘Big Boy’ is a sensorial mood setter. It’s not an emphatic introduction but it does usher in the slow reveal of ‘Dopamine’, heralding Normani’s arrival in precise, deliberate steps.
‘Dopamine’ would always be judged against its long, faltering road to completion, documented industriously by a fan-fuelled online engine which builds up stars just to watch them descend into the abyss. Evidently, it has been a long wait. Normani first teased her girl-group breakaway in 2019, with the bubble-gum performance piece ‘Motivation’, a song that wore past influences on its graffitied sleeves; a hit that’s quietly endured but one Normani has since distanced herself from. In the interim period, she released the Cardi B-assisted ‘Wild Side’: the final track on ‘Dopamine’ paid tribute to Timbaland’s twitchy, hyperkinetic drum programming, interpolating Aaliyah’s ‘One in a Million’. Once again it was reliant on past trends and signifiers, which fed into criticism of the singer as risk-averse and too sterile.
A few years on, the Houston singer is the most famous she’s ever been but still crippled by the weight of expectation and personal anguish. It’s been revealed both of Normani’s parents were cancer-stricken, and personnel changes within her management team played a part in delaying the release. ‘Dopamine’ is in essence a survivor’s account; a paean to playing the long game. Track number two, ‘Still’, captures that quiet resistance and hardened resolve, with Normani intoning her Houston roots over a glazed trap beat that screws and grinds to a halt in its closing moments.
Throughout its forty-minute runtime, ‘Dopamine’ pays tribute to ’00s-stylized RnB deep cuts, covertly repurposing and reworking the iconography, spirit and form of her spiritual predecessors – making just enough tweaks and modifications so as to not duplicate what came to define that era. Brandy’s progressive RnB rhapsody ‘Afrodisiac’ is an obvious reference on ‘Dopamine’, and her woozy harmonic presence on torch song, ‘Insomnia’, is a luminous testimony to the union and exhange between progenitors and their students.
Normani lets loose with innuendo-laced bedroom commands. ‘Lights On’ is the quiet storm sex pinnacle, where silky-smooth, low-slung vocals meet a litany of demands. It’s forthright but not without nuance as Normani moves between submissiveness and power player, echoed on the creaky, spacious canvas ‘Grip’, allowing the singer to assume default vocal mode: pliable, steady, cool, gently bending time as she glissades across and stretches her syllables.
Normani counters the momentum lapse spoiling recent marquee pop releases with two of the best tracks positioned towards the end: ‘Tantrums’, featuring a revived ‘Overgrown’-era James Blake vocal flip, puts the two in opposition – one crystalline, one weighty – echoing the volatile memory of a tumultuous love affair; ‘Little Secrets’ plays out the aftermath, the singer in contention with her old flame’s new conquest, her superior prowess confirmed over a shrill, deconstructed RnB-rock escapade.
Normani’s storytelling isn’t revelatory on ‘Dopamine’. She hews closely to the algorithm of RnB reveries; clipped, catchy soundbites that compress raw emotions in real time. ‘Dopamine’ isn’t a raw confessional either but a balanced, art-directed exercise. It’s a debut that hits the programmed sweet spot, conversant with contemporary trends and greater RnB and soul traditions. It’s the sound of Normani calibrating her affinity for homage whilst subtly establishing her own presence as a star to bank on” – CLASH
Standout Tracks: All Yours/Insomnia/Wild Side
Key Cut: Lights On
Tyla - TYLA
Release Date: 22nd March
Labels: FAX/Epic
Producers: Various
Review:
“The mononymous South African singer first rose to international fame in 2023 with her single “Water”, which has been used on TikTok 1.5 million times. TYLA is her debut album, but to say she already has a captive audience would be an understatement.
Tyla’s edge is that she has all the trappings of a real Popstar, with a capital P – last year, videos of her dancing expertly in her shows started to emerge online, sparking interest in audiences accustomed to artists of the “go girl give us nothing” variety. Her stage presence, choreography, and vocal prowess have only grown with her fame. Even under intense public scrutiny, fighting the uphill battle of an African artist trying to break into a western music scene, Tyla has never faltered, breaking new ground with confidence at only 21 years old.
Critics have called Tyla’s take on afrobeats “westernized”, but she’s one step ahead of them, stating, “My album fuses amapiano, afrobeats, pop and R&B into a completely new sound.” These diverse influences are legible but expertly blended into every song of her debut album, resulting in a record that is above all cohesive, in an age of pop albums that can feel like amalgamations of caricatures. She bridges African and western pop traditions, which has resulted in her becoming the highest-charting African female solo artist ever on the Hot 100 chart. TYLA’S four singles, already verifiable hits, are all present on the album, giving it the feel of a victory lap even as a debut.
This celebratory mood is pervasive across the record, which only features one true ballad. TYLA is turned up to 11 – there is little emotional or energetic dynamism on the album, but every song is club-ready, danceable and infectious. As audiences emerge from winter into spring, Tyla presents them with 14 songs of the summer, perfectly timed to take the world by storm” – The Line of Best Fit
Standout Tracks: Water/Butterflies/Jump
Key Cut: Truth or Dare
Tems - Born in the Wild
Release Date: 7th June
Labels: RCA/Since '93
Producers: Tems/GuiltyBeatz/Sarz/Spax/P2J/London/DameDame
Review:
“Temilade Openiyi’s three-year rise from Lagos buzz to international contender has been vertiginous. The vocalist/producer has already scored one Grammy, plus further Grammy and Oscar nominations for her work with Future, Beyoncé and Rihanna.
After two well-received EPs, Tems’s debut album drops with 18-track swagger and a tiny handful of guests (Asake and J Cole). Born in the Wild runs a little long, but it makes good on Tems’s early promise as a thoughtful writer who retains her voice and Nigerian aesthetic – alté, Afrobeats – while feeling right at home in US soul/R&B.
The album is divided between songs about relationships and tracks about making her way in the world. We hear pep talks from her mother and managers (two interludes), and wry or righteous takedowns of partners who have not made the grade (Unfortunate, the stripped-back Boy O Boy). The bangers, though, are even better. Following on from the previously released Me & U and Love Me Je Je, Wickedest is a flex that prominently samples the pan-African 1999 hit Magic System’s 1er Gaou. The assured Turn Me Up feels like a single-in-waiting, and not an unreasonable instruction from an artist levelling up in style” – The Guardian
Standout Tracks: Born in the Wild/Burning/Love Me JeJe
Key Cut: Hold On
Crawlers – The Mess We Seem to Make
Release Date: 16th February
Label: Polydor
Producer: Pete Robertson
Review:
“Anyone after evidence of Crawlers’ growth, from buzzy Merseyside newcomers pre-pandemic to genuine rock contenders as we hit 2024 can find it in ‘Come Over (Again)’. The version featured here on debut ‘The Mess We Seem To Make’ sits in direct constrast, sonically, to its 2019 outing on the quartet’s self-titled EP. It helps, of course, that the song itself was an impeccably-formed one to begin with, but where, before, its push-and-pull came largely in contrast to the ferociousness it sat alongside, its new iteration is expanded, the chorus transformed to a big hitter, vocalist Holly Minto pushing themselves further to convey every bit of emotion expressed in their lyrics.
And for all this is a sonically rich, musically accomplished record - and it truly is - it’s Holly’s enviably dextrous voice that can’t help but take centre stage. They can belt with the best of them: the rock stomp of ‘Hit It Again’ has it reaching a metallic roar, the chorus of the decidedly Weezer-indebted ‘What I Know Is What I Love’ has them belting out as if their life depended on it, ‘Better If I Just Pretend’ invokes ‘90s grunge ennui via their low-key delivery, while piano ballad and literal centrepiece ‘Golden Bridge’ flips the script entirely, with a turn that’s soft, subtle and jazzy; the wistfulness of Ellie Rowsell can be heard, the sadness of Billie Eilish’s whisper, even (dare we say it) the soar of Adele.
Through this, the snapshot of life Crawlers provide across the record is a vivid one, the heart-on-sleeve lyrics sometimes stark: “Am I just your pornography / A quick fix and some company” asks opener ‘Meaningless Sex’, a track which uses glitchy guitars and stop-start percussion alongisde Holly’s voice at full pelt to create a satisfying cresendo as the song fully kicks in. “I say I’m not addicted,” confesses ‘Hit It Again’, “‘Cause I only ask for one.” Closer ‘Nighttime Affair’ meanwhile, may offer no wholesome conclusion (“Everyone can see the way you look at me / When she’s not looking”) but there’s something so utterly pleasing about its use of ‘50s Hollywood style strings and classic pop chord changes to evoke romance - and sympathy. Crawlers’ buzz has been simmering for some time now. ‘The Mess We Seem To Make’ should see it fully explode” – DIY
Standout Tracks: Would You Come to My Funeral/Golden Bridge/Call It Love
Key Cut: Meaningless Sex