Love Century

The Cindys began as an exercise in simplicity. Lead songwriter Jack Ogborne had spent years making challenging, uncompromising music as Bingo Fury, earning praise from The Guardian, The Quietus and DIY alongside regular support from BBC 6 Music. But as the impulse to keep pushing further into experimentation began to lose its pull, he returned to an old love of 80s indie, from C86 and Flying Nun to Sarah Records, and the directness of straightforward hooks and melodies.

Rooted in the DIY mythology of 80s indie, Love Century takes its cues from a particular kind of record: the major label debut. From R.E.M.’s Murmur to The Replacements’ Tim, albums that held pop sensibility and tape aesthetic in near perfect tension. For The Cindys, the idea was to make a “major label debut, without the major label”. What emerged is something much more than a love letter to the period: nine tracks that filter bright hooks, close harmonies and immediacy through an endless vault of indie myths and fables.

Backed by Breakfast Records, the band headed to Rockfield Studios and started to record a set of songs road-tested throughout 2025, including on support tours with Shame and Getdown Services. Recording straight to tape with long-time collaborator and co-producer Joe Jones (Teenage Fanclub, Aldous Harding, The Cure), they sought to retain the energy of those shows while bringing their increasingly intricate melodies and harmonies to the fore.

When The Cindys formed, Ogborne spoke simply about wanting to be in a band: to travel, play shows and experience something he felt he had missed in the more arcane world of Bingo Fury. Love Century is that idea realised — a record about the enduring thrill of melody, friendship and rock and roll, and the transformative power of stripping everything back to find the signal in the noise.