The School - All I Want From You Is Everything

As a great fan of all things twee and indie-pop, it's always a delight to come across a band in the genre that I hadn't heard of before. Up until last week, I hadn't heard of Cardiff based septet, The School, who to date have released two studio albums since forming in 2007. However, after hearing their new single, "All I Want From You Is Everything", it is fair to say that I was sold immediately.

The song is three minutes of indie-pop loveliness, which wraps itself around your ears like a comfort blanket of pure aural bliss. If you want a hearty slice of dreamy, uncynical jangly pop, you can't go far wrong than this.

"All I Want From You Is Everything" is taken from The School's upcoming 3rd album "Wasting Away and Wondering", which will be released later this year. It is also the lead track of an E.P of the same name, which is available to buy now as a limited edition 7" white vinyl*.



*I just want to take the time to note that if you do decide to buy the E.P, you're likely to receive it very quickly. I ordered my copy of the E.P on Thursday afternoon, and within 18 hours it had made the crossing across the Irish Sea and landed on my doorstep, which has to be some sort of record. It would have taken me longer to download it from iTunes, although that has more to do with how unstable that service has been recently. So bravo, up with this sort of thing, etc. 

All Tvvins - Thank You

All Tvvins* is the project of Conor Adams and Lar Kaye, who over the past few years have been individually involved in a number of Irish bands, the most prominent being The Cast of Cheers and Adebisi Shank. Following a year building up their reputation, including a slot supporting Arcade Fire, the band signed to Warner Music, dropped their first single on us a few weeks back, picking up a lot of love in the intervening period.

And if you've heard "Thank You", then it should come as no surprise, as it's an absolutely fantastic song. Channelling the '80s rock-but-updated' template that brought The War On Drugs to international success last year, "Thank You" is a driven, stadium ready anthem-in-waiting filled with more than enough hooks to please even the most masochistic Cenobite.

"Thank You" has all the hallmarks of the first sign of All Tvvins' inevitable super stardom. With major label backing, and more tunes in their arsenal like this, they are going to be an insatiable prospect over the next year.

"Thank You" is available to download/stream now.


*pronounced "All Twins", because as Alvvays taught us, w's are so post-Latin.

Silences - The Sea

Armagh based group Silences have been on our radar since way back in 2012, back when it was still the solo project of Conchúr White. Since then, we've seen Silences expand into a five-piece band whilst delivering some great music, with their "Nevernames" E.P and single "Sister Snow", all whilst quietly bubbling away, building up a solid ground beneath them as they move up to the next level of their career.

And move up they have done, at least if their new single "The Sea" is anything to go by. Although the band's songs to date have been quite accessible, this new single seems to have been written specifically to win over as many people as humanly possible, and there's no doubt that they've succeeded. The song is a wonderful example of 'emotional indie' in the style of Kodaline (which is a compliment, by the way), with the song building up slowly into a satisfying and powerful denouement.

Although this blog tries not to break into hyperbole and grand predictions (seriously), on this occasion, I am willing to go out on a limb and do just that - "The Sea" is going to be massive. Whether that means relatively massive (ie picks up a ridiculous amount of online love massive), or massive massive (i.e breaks into the charts massive) remains to be seen. But one thing is clear - "The Sea" is the moment that has made it impossible to ignore Silences. They are going places.

"The Sea" will be released digitally on May 7th.