The Story Is......

After three albums taking confident steps into an ever larger world, their fourth offering, The Story Is... (produced and mixed by Barny Barnicott - Arctic Monkeys, The Enemy, The Temper Trap) takes the tales of the everyday, the minutiae of our lives, and turns them into potent pop that rings oh so true.

The Story Is… finds fables in vastly contrasting true stories. Of an arsonist setting fire to the flat below Dan’s (‘Artist Arsonist’), of the sheer annoyance felt when accidentally filling a diesel van with unleaded (‘Diesel Vehicle’) - both songs laced with insight into everyone’s feelings. Even when the songs are outside of the band’s personal experience, they are still inspired by close connections. ‘38 Minutes’ came from a friend’s Facebook post about receiving the Hawaiian ballistic missile alert in early 2018, while ‘Stop & Breathe’ is a plea to everyone to take time out when they can, based on a good friend talking after a friend sadly departed due to suicide.

Musically, the band has also scoured volumes of texture and tone. Though songs like ‘Rattle & Roar’ and ‘Sometimes So It Goes’ will be familiar to anyone who’s loved the band’s three previous albums, Forge & Flagon, Down on Deptford Broadway and The Devil, the Heart & the Fight, the band has explored a lexicon of their tastes. ‘The Shining’ takes on Blondie’s new wave disco, giving Lorna Thomas (vocals) the spotlight. Lorna takes the reins on two of the most energising songs – ‘My Life, My Architecture’ and ‘My Distraction’ – and brings her unmistakable vitality to the album. ‘38 Minutes’ spins like a top with the urgency of an impending doom, backing ‘ooohs’ like sirens, and an electric pace as if they’re outrunning the clock. They’ve turned every melodic instinct up and, along with the hooks and lyrical reality Dan has drawn, it’s a deep dip into the band’s encyclopaedic sound.