Posts Tagged ‘Post-Punk’

Sunshine Blind – Scarred but Fearless

Posted: 9 September 2025 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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5th September 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

Bandcamp Friday may be a regular occurrence, but it is an event, and one which surpasses Records Store Day in terms of its tangible benefits – namely, that artists get paid. Who would have thought that this should have become such a topic for discussion? The sad fact is, artists haven’t been receiving fair recompense for a long time, but the Internet was supposed to herald the arrival of a new age of egalitarianism. But then the corporatisation of the Internet put paid to that. While the world was focussed on vilifying Napster and Soulseek and the like, streaming machines like Apple and Spotify erupted like Godzilla from the depths and created a new model whereby artists got paid, but by nowhere near enough, and only of they were already raking it in.

I’ve digressed already, but the flipside of Bandcamp Friday is that there are more releases in a day than I could listen to in a month, and my inbox is battered and overloaded with updates. Sometimes, I feel inclined to simply go and lie down rather than approach their contents.

But some releases remind me why I do, and it’s worth quoting here:

After much teasing and anticipation, US goth rock veterans Sunshine Blind at last release their first new songs in over twenty years: two driving goth rock bangers, ‘Ghost of You’ and the especially rousing anthem, ‘Unsinkable’. The new tracks are released together as the Scarred but Fearless single for Bandcamp Friday, 5 September 2025.

Twenty years. Twenty years! Time does, indeed, fly. People my age struggle to accept that the 90s were thirty years ago, or that when they were 21 was anything other than the definitive bygone era. Then again, Sunshine Blind’s sound was always very much rooted in the sound of 90s goth / post punk revival, when The Sisters of Mercy unleashed the altogether more rock-orientated Vision Thing, and acts like Sunshot were taking drum-machine driven gothy goodness in new and invigorating directions. It’s not just Caroline Bland’s vocals which invite favourable comparisons to Sunshot: Sunshine Blind’s catalogue is bursting with effervescent energy, and this new brace of tunes make a most welcome addition.

The janglesome intro to ‘Ghost of You’ calls to mind The Psychedelic Furs during their 80s pop phase, and there’s certainly a melodic accessibility to the song. However, it’s countered by a thunderous, driving bass sound and screeding feedback filling out the sound at the back, and captures the vibe of The March Violets, another classic act newly invigorated. What goes around comes around, and with certain parallels between now and the early 80s, it very much feels like this is the time for a goth revival, including crimped hair and hats. ‘Ghost of You’ brings the vibe, and well as guts and hooks in equal measure.

‘Unsinkable’ ups the rock leanings still further, with a brittle guitar chiming through the verses before going full tube crunch on the bold chorus, propelled by some sturdy drumming and another solid bassline. The sentiment is the perfect analogy for the band here, too. You can’t keep talent down, or buried forever.

With both songs of a standard, this is very much an AA-side single, making Scarred but Fearless a triumphant return.

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Cowgirl / The Bricks / Strange Pink – The Black Horse, York, 4th September 2025

Posted: 5 September 2025 in Live, Reviews
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Christopher Nosnibor

Pub gigs provided me with my first experiences of live music, back in the early 90s. Often, pubs with upstairs rooms would pop bands on, and other still would simply pack bands somewhere in the bar. At some point, there seemed to be a shift away from this, with pubs seeming to be only really interested in solo performers and acoustic duos. Gigs in pubs stopped being such a thing. But now, pubs are dying. And grassroots venues are dying. Let me be more blunt they’re not so much dying, as being killed off in the interest of capitalist greed.

As I wrote recently on the repurposing of working men’s clubs – also suffering from a severe decline – as gig venues, so the return of the pub gig seems to solve two problems at once, namely how to bring punters into pubs, and providing bands with a place to play. This certainly seems to be happening in York.

The Black Horse used to be a Tap and Spile, and has always been a solid Yorkshire boozer – real ale and bar snacks, and a weekly quiz. But clearing the top part of the room – more a raised area than a mezzanine per se – creates a fairly generous stage space, and not being a massive space, means a basic setup whereby the bands play straight through their amps with only the vocals going through the house PA, simplifying soundchecks and making switchovers straightforward.

When this show was first announced, Strange Pink were an unknown quantity, but the release of their debut EP changed that, and the Hull-based power-trio-cum-supergroup consisting of Sam Forrest (Nine Black Alps, Sewage Farm), Eddie Alan Logie, and Dom Smith (whose resume is a feature in itself) make for a cracking opening act. They manage to be loose but tight at the same time, and it suits their 90s slacker rock stylings. As the EP attests, their approach is varied, and so, accordingly, is their set. They seem to grow in confidence as the set progresses, the sound coming clearer and brighter, too, and by the end of the set, they’re on fire. They close with ‘Boys Club’, the lead single from EP. It’s a clear standout and possibly their best song, with a strong hook, making for the perfect way to leave the crowd with something to remember.

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Strange Pink

The Bricks have become Aural Aggravation staples, and are a band I will always go and see whenever possible, for two simple reason: they have great tunes, and they’re a great live band – always. During their brief soundcheck, I began to wonder if their run of infallibility might come to and end tonight, but I needn’t have worried, because they were firing on all cylinders from beginning to end. In fact, they seem incredibly at home in tiny venues such as this, and flame-haired Gemma cranks up the wild, eyes-wide, lung-busting intensity, as if relishing the proximity. By the end of a fierce set, her fringe is swept away and plastered to her forehead. The band play relentlessly hard, too, and I try to analyse what it is about them that’s so compelling, why they work so well. The songs are fairly simple, both structurally and in terms of musical complexity – simple lead parts, four-chord riffs, classic (post-)punk, built around solid rhythms, with most songs two or three minutes long and strong hooks. Simple proves effective, especially when played with precision and passion.

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The Bricks

This does mean that Cowgirl have a tough act to follow. But they’re super-seasoned professionals. Danny Barton (guitar and vocals) plays bass in Sewage Farm, previously played bass with White Firs with former Federals drummer James Holdstock (who’s also drummed with Cowgirl), and has, in short, played in more bands in and around York than I’ve had hot dinners, and the same is true of Sam Coates (also guitar and vocals), who’s been pretty much ubiquitous on the scene for years now.

Looking around the room – it’s standing room only, and there’s plenty of beer being drunk, and I bet they’ve not sold this much on a Thursday night in a long time – half the people here are in other bands, or are otherwise recognisable as gig-going regulars, highlighting what a close-knit scene the city has, but also that this lineup has brought people out on a night that’s not exactly a popular one for gigs or pubs. The free entry and donations bucket may be a factor (although a facility to take card donations would likely have seen more contributions), but still, it’s proof that a quality lineup is a definite draw, and the fact a small venue can be filled more easily creates a sense of buzz, which is definitely the case here.

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Cowgirl

Early on in their set, a friend remarked that they sound like Oasis. He’s completely wrong, but the comment got me thinking. Some of the elements are there… some of the jangle, a bit of the swagger, but with a keen American indie influence. Perhaps his opinion was influenced by the fact that their sound is decidedly more ‘rock’ on this occasion than previous times I’ve seen, them, likely on account of the backline / PA setup, resulting in a sound dominated by blistering guitars. But they have actual melodies and a psychedelic hue, and once again, it’s a set that builds in every way – confidence, cohesion, and volume. The final brace of songs is segued together to form a ten-minute melting wall of sound, an epic psych-wig out that’s nothing short of a brain-cleansing blast that leaves you dazed as the final strains of feedback taper away.

Everything about tonight feels like a win. I may have had one more than was wise – easily done when it’s hot because it’s packed and all hand-pulled beers are a fiver and there’s half a dozen to choose from – and I may be a touch emotional at having attended my last live music of my forties – but stepping into the night, I feel like I’ve experienced something life-affirming and positive in the bleakest of times.

Watch: ‘Hangman’s Daughter’ by Cold in Berlin

Posted: 5 September 2025 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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Wounds is the band’s long-awaited fifth album – their first in six years. As heavy as it is haunting, the record masterfully blends doom, post-punk, and driving krautrock in a dynamic, hypnotic maelstrom – pushing London’s most exciting cult band into intoxicating new territory.

“Wounds is a series of songs about the different ways people live with and process ‘the wounds’ of their lives,” explains vocalist Maya. “A strange celebration of that formative pain we have all experienced in some way. The loss and joy of survival – the celebration of finding others like us, the gift of knowing life comes after fire.”

First single ‘Hangman’s Daughter’ leads the charge and is available to stream and download from today. Opening with a hypnotic techno bassline, the song quickly gives way to post-punk guitars, huge choruses, and vocalist Maya’s magnetic storytelling.

“Hangman’s Daughter is an unrequited love song,” says Maya. “A woman was loved but could not love in return so she is drowned by the man who loves her. She is not lost though – she haunts the killer and he can’t escape her. The title hints at the past, but actually this is a very current issue for women today – how to literally survive when they can’t love a man who has decided he only wants her.”

Watch the video now:

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Wounds was recorded by Mike Bew, on location at Foel Studio. The band could be found working deep into the witching hours, experimenting with new sounds and filling the valleys with cantankerous wails of sound, bursting from amps borrowed from My Bloody Valentine.

"The Welsh countryside has a mystical quality to it," says guitarist Adam. "We recorded in a deep, dark valley; misty days and shooting stars at night. You could wander through nearby woods and stone circles during breaks. Foel Studios is woven into this setting with a transcendence of its own – its storied history includes sessions by Electric Wizard, Hawkwind and The Fall."

Synths on the album are arranged by Berlin-based Bow Church, an influential figure in the dark electronic scene and a long time collaborator of the band. His work weaves icy and atmospheric textures into the songs, layering complexity that demands repeat listens. The horns on 12 Crosses were recorded by a high profile jazz musician who appears anonymously due to label ties.

While meticulously crafted, Wounds captures the visceral energy of Cold In Berlin’s renowned live shows. The album’s arrangements and raucous sound remain true to the unrelenting intensity and atmosphere of their stage performances – every track retains the sweat, urgency, and immediacy of a band performing in the moment.

Wounds is the band’s first studio album since 2019’s Rituals Of Surrender, which Narc Magazine praised for its “crushing doom-laden riffs that assaulted the speakers with a steady pulse of noise”. It follows the 2024 EP The Body is The Wound, described by Metal Epidemic as featuring “hooky melodic songs” with a “swelling heavy intensity”.

Featuring free-jazz brass sections, off-beat structures, techno rhythms, and soaring synths, Wounds is the band’s most ambitious release yet.

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Photo: Rupert Hitchcox

SEXSOMNIA – Forbidden EP

Posted: 3 September 2025 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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25th August 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

SEXSOMNIA is a name which is both evocative and provocative. Sex certainly sells, but somnia is concerned with sleep-related conditions, including hypersomnia, insomnia, and apnoea, so the implication of combining the two is something to ponder while we pile into this EP from the Canadian darkwave / electro / post-punk hybrid act, joined here by special guest Marita Volodina of Poland’s Stridulum on vocals.

The title track kicks it off and does so in fine style, too, combining all the best elements of synth-oriented darkwave, brooding post punk, and goth, combining a shadowy atmosphere with a throbbing bass groove and pulsating beat that’s perfectly matched to the themes of seduction and desire, the dark allure of ‘forbidden love’. The instrumentation – and vocal delivery – on ‘Vapour’ is, fittingly, more ethereal, a piano snaking through the mix against a brush of an acoustic guitar, but the beats are straight-up stompers, and thoroughly relentless. The interplay between Philip Faith’s baritone croon and the sultry contributions of another guest vocalist, Isabelle Young, are key to the way it draws the listener in beyond the pounding dance percussion.

The ‘shadow mix’ of ‘Forbidden’, which they describe as ‘a deconstructed version of the original track, made for dancefloors’, was, in fact, released first, and it’s quite different. Fully twenty seconds longer, more overtly electronic, the vocals are louder and clearer in the mix, more lascivious-sounding, and paired with the rippling synths and pumping beats, it’s one to raise the pulse and work up a sweat to.

ATTRITION’s remix of ‘Nigrum Viduadm’, which featured on last year’s debut album, Transcendent is altogether sparser, darker, more ominous, more overtly gothic with what one might perhaps describe as vampiric overtones. It works well here because it showcases a very different side of the band, even if all of their sides are dark in intent.

This EP doesn’t break new ground, but does draw together the elements with a rare precision and panache, which sets SEXSOMNIA apart from their peers. As for the band’s name… there’s no danger of falling asleep while listening to their work, but you might just wake up feeling horny afterwards.

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Strange Pink – Out of Focus

Posted: 24 August 2025 in Singles and EPs
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8th August 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

Unlike Morrissey, I actually like it when my friends become successful, and when people I know – directly or otherwise – through music, go on to make new music that’s not only good, but gets the attention it deserves. And so it is that Strange Pink, an act consisting of local and regional musical luminaries Sam Forrest (formerly of Nine Black Alps, currently of Sewage Farm (who I covered way back in 2017), Eddie Alan Logie, and Dom Smith and, who’s previously played in Mary And The Ram (who have also appeared here), Creature Honey, (and let’s not forget the formidable Parasitic Twins), have been getting airplay from 6Music and Radio X with their first single, ‘Pencil Chewer’.

It’s not hard to grasp why this track has been picked up on: it’s kinda grungy, but also has that Britpop indie energy and a strong sense of melody, and I’m reminded of the time the first EP by Asylums landed on my doormat pretty much the day before they got a track played on Sunday Brunch. There’s no direct correlation or correspondence, of course, but it’s one of those songs that has a particular energy that makes you sit up, prick up your ears and grabs in an instant. It’s a rare event because while the format of pop has moved on to accommodate the era of the short attention span by essentially starting with the chorus and whittling songs down to two and a half minutes of little other than chorus, other genres still persist in incorporating things like intros and verses and bridges. ‘Pencil Chewer’ is a slice of classic 90s indie / alt rock, with hints of The Wedding Present and that fuzzy, lo-fi vibe of Dinosaur Jr circa You’re Living All Over Me or Bug but with breezy Ash-like melody dominating, and then things turn really Pavement in the final third. The delivery is lovely, boisterous, even, and it hits so sweetly as a summer smash that so nearly made it. It’s clear they’ve struck gold with this formula.

But Strange Pink clearly don’t do formula, as listening to this EP evidences this as fact: ‘Wonderland’ is Disintegration era Cure with vintage shoegaze vibes – think early Ride or Chapterhouse, but also The Charlatans at that time. It’s a slice of dreamy, wistful melancholia with a psychedelic hue, and it’s achingly magnificent. Joh n Peel would have been all over it. In contrast, ‘My Friend and You’ drives in hard with thumping drums, murky bass and squalling guitars, landing between The Jesus and Mary Chain and Nirvana. None of this is to say that it’s derivative, but it’s clear that they’re drawing on their influences here. Every band does to a certain extent, but Strange Pink balance appropriation with quality songwriting – and the latter counts for a lot.

‘Boy’s Club’ (also a single) is a killer slacker anthem, and absolutely nails one of the troubles of our time in the opening lines: ‘You don’t have to be such a dick / Just because your daddy thinks that he’s rich / Don’t have to be such a jerk / just because your daddy don’t have to work.’ It succinctly stabs a finger at entitlement and inherited wealth, and the shitty behaviour that almost invariably follows. Fuck that, and fuck that kind of people. But in the hands of Strange Pink, this is a magnificent anthem.

The seven-and-a-half minutes closer, ‘Nowhere’ is truly magnificent, and worthy of the term ‘epic’. It’s a soft, mellow, indie song, marking something of a departure… but departure is good. Strange Pink keep things evolutionary

In 1993 or 1994 this would have had critics frothing and fans clamouring. Now… sadly not so much, although amidst the nu-metal revival, they may be on the cusp of leading a cultural turn here, because ultimately, quality always rises, and it does seem that the long-threatened grunge revival may be happening after all. I hope so. This is the good shit. Get your lugs round it now.

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Watch: ‘Grind into the Shrine’ by Hello Cosmos

Posted: 23 August 2025 in Singles and EPs
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Sporting a new-look line up, a long-awaited second studio album, its lead single, and a smattering of rare live shows too, the universe of Hello Cosmos is thriving right now.

With Come Out Tonight slated for release this Autumn, the band’s ambitious sophomore album is confirmed to feature over a long list of collaborators, and takes influence from all corners of the globe with its studio recording sessions taking place in New York City, Los Angeles, Kampala, Leeds, Stockport and Manchester. Produced by Jamie Lockhert at Greenmount Studios in Leeds, who has produced all of their studio records to date, it arrives as Hello Cosmos’ first studio album proper in over 5 years, following their acclaimed debut Dream Harder in 2020. Of the upcoming record, frontman Ben Robinson teases:

“A lot of the upcoming record is about finding the strength to switch off digital screens and go out and live. It’s becoming more and more normalised to stay in, comatosed by ultraprocessed food and algorithms firing shallow dopamine hits, keeping us all hooked on a short wavelength, gradually becoming dumber, hopeless and unhealthy… We all need to wake each other up, get off the cool aid of digital apps, social media and algorithmic scrolling.”

Come Out Tonight is preceded by the single ‘Grind Into The Shrine’, an insurgent statement of searing post-punk and sneering lyricism that rails against the banality of imposed social structures.

“The single is about adulting, parenting and looking for those slim moments of paradise that take a lot of the daily grind to find. It’s about not letting the world get on top of you and finding the time to live, to get out of the house and celebrate life… Life can be so visceral if you get off your arse and go enjoy it. It’s literally there waiting for you. As with most my lyrics I’m telling myself this as much as anyone else” explains Robinson.

HELLO COSMOS – LIVE DATES

AUGUST

23 – Solfest (Main Stage), Cumbria

SEPTEMBER

13 – YES Pink Room, Manchester

OCTOBER

10 – Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds

11 – Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal (w/ special guests Seven Seals)

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Watch: ‘Frozen Charlotte’ by Papillon de Nuit

Posted: 18 August 2025 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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Papillon de Nuit’s latest single, ‘Frozen Charlotte’ recently got a straight-up rave review here on its release just over a week ago. They’ve since released a magical, haunting video to accompany it. Check it here:

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Frozen Charlotte artwork

Watch: ‘Another Day Another Abyss’ by Scorpion Milk

Posted: 27 July 2025 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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Recently signed to Peaceville, Scorpion Milk have shared their first new music today, alongside news of the debut album Slime Of The Times (out 19th September). The new single ‘Another Day Another Abyss’ arrives with a brand-new video, revealing Scorpion Milk’s darkly imaginative universe for the first time.

“It is about trying to stay upright under the daily flood of catastrophe, the headlines, the numbness, the helplessness. But there’s a double edge to it: the only way to get through the abyss is to become it. To move through the darkness, you have to carry some of it inside you.” – Mat McNerney

Watch the video here:

“I used AI to create the video because we’re living inside the very dystopia we fear the most. The song deals with the psychological weight of modern catastrophe, and AI as both a tool and a threat, mirrors that perfectly. A mirror can be humorous but also diabolical. It’s an aesthetic artistic choice, but also a commentary: our nightmares are now automated.” – Mat McNerney

Scorpion Milk is the new project from Mat McNerney; the founding creator of Beastmilk’s highly-revered Climax album and the subsequent three Grave Pleasures albums. Infused with elements of Beastmilk’s original DNA, debut album Slime of the Times marks the most direct, raw, and explosive evolution of his self-defined genre: Apocalyptic Post-Punk. An eclectic artist in his own right, McNerney’s roots are also firmly in the black metal underground of Finland and Norway, and continues to work in that genre (having formerly featured as vocalist for Dødheimsgard, among others), plus is also currently active with his band, Hexvessel.

Continuing the lineage of Mat’s cult post-punk and goth-metal hybrid music, Scorpion Milk draws from the decaying spiritual core of UK anarcho-punk and 80s post-punk with an opus ideal for fans of Killing Joke, Godflesh, Crass, Flux Of Pink Indians, Crisis, The Fall, and early Sisters of Mercy, yet also set to resonate with contemporary audiences into Health, Drab Majesty, Soft Kill, High Vis, Molchat Doma, Creeper, and Uniform.

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Photo: Andy Ford

GHXST – Cosmic

Posted: 21 July 2025 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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21st July 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

I’ve been digging GSXT for a whole decade now and shouting about it whenever the opportunity arises. I’m not sure how many people have been paying attention, but anyone who hasn’t has been missing out. They took their timing building up to their debut album, released in 2022, with half a dozen EPs preceding it. ‘Cosmic’ is the first material since Admire, three years ago, and this new single continues their trajectory of extending their repertoire, taking the form of a slow-building expansive brooder.

A cinematic piece of post-punk desert rock, and with hints of recent releases by Earth ‘Cosmic’ tones down the snarling overdrive that’s the duo’s signature sound in favour of something more hypnotic, in the vein of ‘Sonores’. It suits them well, as it happens: Shelly X’s voice drifts and aches through the bass-led verses, floating in a growing swirl of guitars in the chorus before a straight-up rock guitar solo swoops in.

To describe ‘Cosmic’ as commercial would be rather misleading, because it’s certainly no sell-out. But it does mark a significant step. What’s more, it’s absolutely huge, and immediately accessible, making it the cut which has the broadest appeal yet. Maybe now they’ll listen up, eh?

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Needlework / Divorce Finance / Speedreaders – The Crescent, York, 18th July 2025

Posted: 19 July 2025 in Live, Reviews
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Christopher Nosnibor

There was a time when there wasn’t really much doing in York, which was particularly disappointing for a city with two universities. But, despite grass roots venue disappearing at an alarming rate, right now, the city is offering up some exciting stuff on the grassroots scene. Tonight, there are three quality live music events on, and had I mastered cloning, I would have gone to all three. The Fulford Arms was serving up a night of top-notch goth and post-punk, while there was experimental and ambient work on offer at The Basement under the City Screen cinema. But I feel I made the right choice plumping for Needlework at The Crescent, not least of all because it transpired that this was to be their last show.

Needlework have only been around a couple of years, and only played a handful of shows, but they’ve made a serious impression, as tonight’s crowd shows. Sure, they’ve got plenty of their sixth-form / college mates down, but this is a band who had built a keen following in their own right. In a previous time, John Peel would have been all over them and they’d have achieved national cult status. Instead, because it’s 2025, they’re bowing out with only an EP (released today, but without mention) and a few shows to mark their existence. But I guess this is how it goes.

First up, it’s Speedreaders. They’re nothing if not consistent., and tonight’s set brings all of the things I’ve highlighted in my previous coverage. They’re tight, but slow and mellow. And this evening they’re slower than ever. After imparting his opinion on Fleetwood Mac being shite in a rare bit of between-song banter, singer David Mudie spent longer tuning his guitar for the next song than it actually took to play it. That’ll teach him to engage in conversation with the audience. My mate went to the bar and returned with two pints before he was done tuning. Still, when they’re back on track, they’re sounding good. It’s the harmonies which stand out in tonight’s clean, crisp set, with clear balanced sound.

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Speedreaders

Divorce Finance sound pretty much the same as they look…. meaning I can’t remember the last time I so wanted to punch a whole band. Actually, I lie: Sleuth Gang, who I witnessed in the same venue a few months ago emanated wankerdom from every pore. It must be something about bands who take their style cues from The Village People.

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Divorce Finance

It’s sort of tongue-in-cheek but not really rockabilly country hoedown hillbilly bollocks. There are people down the front getting down with some boisterous line-dancing moves, and there are plenty who are digging it, but I just can’t get on board with this is corny, gimmicky shit, and the fact they play it well doesn’t get them a pass. All the whooping and whelping is high-energy and perfectly executed, but… It’s just so much cheesy turd-polishing, and the singer’s smug, grinning, cheeky chappie, eye rolling delivery only makes everything so much worse. I found myself feeling not irritated, or annoyed, but – most unexpectedly – angry.

Needlework are simply something else, and what that something is is not easy to pin down. Their entire existence is constructed around a mass of contradictions and paradoxical premises, none of which are reconcilable or make any obvious sense – but this is precisely why they work, and why they exist in a league of their own. They’re really tight and together, but create the illusion of being lose, even a shade shambolic; front man Reuben Pugh is simultaneously intense and aloof. Each member of the band brings something different, stylistically, and in terms of personality – that goes for both their musical contributions and stage presence. Jagged, scratchy guitar work slices across rolling basslines, jittery drumming finds a counterpoint with soft, trilling woodwind and synths interwoven through the scenes as they unravel.

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Needlwork

They’re not really a ‘songs’ band in terms of conventional verse / chorus structures, either, instead exploring routes which take obtuse twists and turns, and they’re unafraid to do slow, wonky, spoken wordy, abstract narrative. They understand dynamics, and the power of jarring angularity. It’s post-punk, it’s jazz, it’s experimental, and it’s utterly spellbinding. Needlework are one of those rare bands that seem to suck you into a parallel universe while they play. Time hangs in suspension and you find yourself on another plane, utterly gripped while wondering what they’ll do next. During the time they’re on stage, something transformative takes place: it’s more than simply five people on stage making music. Needlework conjure aural pure alchemy.

Pugh takes his shirt off to substantial applause, and a big fella in the front row responds by whipping his T-shirt off and lobbing it on stage after helicoptering it above his head a few times. He asks for it back a song or two later, and the band duly oblige.

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Needlework

The set builds to a perfect climax, a monumental whirl of sonic chaos which is electric. And then, that’s it. Finished. Done. They leave us stunned, dazed by the magic we’ve witnessed. They certainly concluded on a high, and one suspects that this is a band which will be remembered, and talked about, for years to come.

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