Julia Mason has our weekly lowdown on the best new indie music and brings us her reviews of two London bands - Legss and headboy.
Artist: headboy indie music review one
Track: Reservoir
London’s headboy will be releasing their debut EP Was It What You Thought on 9 June via Blitzcat Records. Ahead of its release the trio have shared new single Reservoir. Quirky and off beat, the track has a hypnotic vibe particularly with that captivating beat at the beginning. But the combined vocals add an edgy urgent element with their impassioned delivery.
Lyrically Reservoir tells a story of passion, intimacy and connection in the disorientating aftermath of a breakup, and then venturing into single life. Hence the shifting emotions within the track. To learn this began as a demo lyricist Mars West (guitarist/bassist and vocalist) recorded at 3am after a night out makes total sense. You can hear the angst.
Speaking on the lyrical inspiration behind the track, lyricist Mars expands: "This song is about what you think this song is about. Or maybe not. You are over the breakup and now desperately trying to work out if your crush is crushing on you too. Small smoke signals of attraction. Sustained eye contact. Microscopic hand movements. The back and forth - a stilted game of tennis. Are you really ready to begin all this again?"
headboy’s creativity shows no bounds as the video for Reservoir was directed by Mars. On its creation and themes, they said: "Shot in 24 hours around our hometown of London, the video draws on themes of connection and tension. It serves as an eerie but in some ways softer counterpoint to the track. New connections can make us feel alien; walking the line between excitement and fear. An ode to London nights, dive in deep."
Of the debut EP, written and recorded during 2022 and recorded over that summer at Hackney Studios in East London, Jess Collins (guitarist/bassist and vocalist) shared: "We pretty much condensed every emotion we’ve felt in the past two years into 14 minutes. There are moments of anger, fear, and sadness, but also moments of joy, or acceptance, at least". With drummer Oli Birbeck completing the trio, looking forward to hearing more from headboy.
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Artist: Legss ew indie music review two
Track: Fester
London art-rock quartet Legss have signed to The state51 Conspiracy home to amongst others, Hotel Lux, Grove and Memorials. In addition the band have announced their new EP Fester set for release on 9 June and have shared the title track as a single.
Expanding on this and the formative impact it had on their new era, the band say: “Fester was the first song we wrote for the EP and it’s probably still the best. It was sort of like a stepping stone: writing it enabled us to write the rest. It’s a lot more vulnerable than anything we’ve done before, and it opened us up to melody in a way we’ve previously tried to avoid."
"The lyrics were written in the summer, when you’re sun-drunk and romantic, and the buses look like they’re kissing as they cross each other, and everyone’s got a cold sore. But beneath all the sunny games there’s a bittersweet desire to be someone or something else, which was how we felt musically at the time. Everything’s different now though, of course.”
Legss produce songs which take you on a journey, full of ebbs and flows they paint vivid pictures. The soundscape is full of unexpected twists and turns and so it is with Fester. What begins with vocalist Ned Green’s quiet descriptive tones becomes edgy blasts of static adding to the tension and subsequent build-up of drama. The emotion is so passionate as the track progresses with the instrumentation taking over and the noise creating a thrilling ending.
On the striking video, the band say: "The video, filmed and edited by The Reids, follows this same desire for melody and abstraction. We’re trying to think less and feel more, which visually and musically feels like a departure from what we’ve done before.”
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