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“Glasgow, you’re always on the right side of history”: The Murder Capital Light Up St. Luke’s

Words: Josh Parsonage


On a Saturday night in Glasgow, The Murder Capital transformed the church of St. Luke’s into a temple of rock and roll gumption.


The Irish punk outfit brought their dramatic collection of heavy-hitting, emotionally charged music to a crafted culmination, directing it into the hearts and souls of the crowd. The set was characterised by its deliverance, with frontman James McGovern creating intense moments of connection between band and audience. At times, it felt as th...
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Sunday Works’ Dreamy ‘Turned To Gloss’ Holds Listeners In Trance

Words: Josh Parsonage


With a dream-like sound, Sunday Works channel a meditative emotional mantra– soft, immersive, and hauntingly intimate.  


The track drifts into the stillness and peace of love, evoking a serene emotional space. The New York pop duo craft a bright soundscape, layering it with imagery that echoes the chorus’ proclamation of ‘devotion’. 


‘Turned To Gloss’ opens with a demand of the listener: “Your attention, your attention”. An importance is placed on the song’s messag...
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Stanleys Ignite Glasgow With A Raw Indie Swagger

Words: Josh Parsonage


On a buzzing Saturday in Glasgow, Stanleys served up a feast of unfiltered electricity to a Poetry Club starving for sound.


The Wigan indie-four piece delivered a high-octane performance that only reinforced BBC Radio Manchester’s claim that they are “well on the way to something great”. 


Having formed in their high school days, Stanleys wear their 90s Britpop influences proudly, yet there’s nothing obnoxiously derivative about their sound. Whilst they no doubt cha...
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Pulp Launch Their New Era With Theatrical ‘Spike Island’

Words: Josh Parsonage


Twelve years on from the release of ‘After You’, Pulp are back. And yes, Jarvis Cocker’s witty self-awareness is still gloriously intact.


Pulp have been back on tour since 2023, with fans patiently awaiting any sign of new music. That was until the band announced a new deal with Rough Trade. Now, the Yorkshire pop icons have revealed their eighth album ‘More’ and dropped its rhythmic lead single, ‘Spike Island’. 


‘Spike Island’ stays true to Pulp’s glam-infused DNA...
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Lilo Entrance With A Staggering Authenticity On Their First Visit To Glasgow: Live Review

Words: Josh Parsonage


The London indie-folk duo held The Poetry Club in rapt attention with their harmonious acoustic melodies delivered in heartfelt a manner. 


Christie Gardner and Helen Dixon, accompanied by their exceptionally talented band, cast a captivation upon the Glasgow crowd with their slow-burning opening track, ‘Crash The Car’. The song reels you in before dropping the audience into a spiralling, messy melody that showcases the vast emotional range of the band’s music and the...
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Five Standout Tracks From 2025’s First Quarter

Words: Josh Parsonage


As we hit April fools day, we also mark the end of 2025’s first quarter– a stretch that has already delivered some incredible music. With a new Sam Fender album, a surprise single from Fontaines D.C., and plenty of new kids on the block, the year is off to a thrilling start. Here are five standout releases you need to hear.


‘Extraordinary Wings’ – Heartworms


Jojo Orme, known as Heartworms, has brought an artful intensity to the modern post-punk revival. The hauntin...
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Between Passion And Peril: The Music Of Sound ‘Love Me’ Review

Words: Josh Parsonage


Embodying both allure and danger, Music of Sound are back with mesmerising pop hit ‘Love Me’.


Following the streaming success of their previous effort ‘Cold Weather Man,’ Indian-Welsh pop trio Music of Sound have been busy putting together ‘Love Me’, an energetic yet hypnotic tale of lace and wreckage.


The track unfolds from the perspective of someone deeply loving and devoted: “I can be your sweetest angel / I’ll never break your sweet heart.” Yet, the repeated pl...
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Alexandra Savior Goes From Strength To Strength In Fiery Comeback – ‘Unforgivable’ Review

Words: Josh Parsonage


Scathing imagery hinged upon synths steeped in melancholy weaving a story of betrayal – ladies and gentlemen, Alexandra Savior is back.


It’s been five years since genre-bending Portland-based singer-songwriter Alexandra Savior released her critically acclaimed noir-pop LP ‘The Archer’,  but the wait for new music is finally over. On Friday, she unveiled ‘Unforgivable’, a jazz-influenced track that tells a tale of treachery turned self-empowerment.


‘Unforgivable’ ma...
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A Shift In Tone For Chatten: Fontaines D.C – ‘It’s Amazing To Be Young’ Review

Words: Josh Parsonage


The latest Fontaines D.C. effort ‘It’s Amazing To Be Young’ presents a shift in tone for Grian Chatten but carries the band’s usual gritty underbite alongside it. The Dublin quintet are at their peak, and their exponential growth has showed no sign of losing pace. With the ability to transcend between sound, style, and message Fontaines D.C. Are constantly reinventing themselves in a way which stays true to both their musical vision and worldview.


This latest shift se...
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The Atmospherics of Mania: L’Objectif – ‘Goth Kids’ Review

Words: Josh Parsonage


In a world full of ever-intensifying social conflict, existential doubt is inevitable. This innate human characteristic is poignantly conveyed in ‘Goth Kids’, the new track from Leeds outfit L’objectif.


The song is frontman Saul Kane’s most emotionally complex account yet, and harnesses his internal distress, vocalising it through the music. The band successfully create a disturbed atmospheric around these lyrics, and it feels compulsive to dance along. ‘Goth Kids’ us...
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Unashamedly Political: Chloe Slater – ‘Love Me Please’ Review

Words: Josh Parsonage


‘Love Me Please’ toils with a superficial era of music corporatism and a perceived inadequacy perpetuated through its deep patriarchal core.


Chloe Slater was propelled into exponential fame with 2024 single ’24 Hours’, a track which took aim at the Molly-Mae associated ignorance toward the struggle of working teens. Her pop-infused indie-rock carries an explosive quality that hits home her increasingly relevant political messaging, making her a musical spokesperson fo...
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Riotous Fun: The Libertines Live At The Barrowlands Review

Words: Josh Parsonage


The Libertines hold what can be described as a cult hero status in the UK rock scene, and bygod do they deserve it. The Albion quartet had a Friday night Barrowlands on its knees andpraying for more with their ability to effortlessly create a sense of intimacy being ideal fortheir religiously dedicated following.


There are some bands which can guarantee you a good time, and The Libertines are one ofthem. With a discography that spans from the garage rock stormer of gr...
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Thriving amidst stardom: The Last Dinner Party live in Glasgow Review

Words: Josh Parsonage


There is a collection of rockstars who have within them the ability to completely take ownership of a room, and when The Last Dinner Party performed ‘Beautiful Boy’ in Glasgow, Abigail Morris put herself amongst them.


As a mirrorball illuminated the former theatre, its starstruck attendees collapsed into a collective silence. Morris, standing tall, appeared as if she could’ve been commanding the lightworks into motion as she flawlessly delivered the type of musical s...
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A Harrowing, Yet Cinematic Experience: Fontaines D.C – ‘In The Modern World’ Review

Words: Josh Parsonage


‘In The Modern World’ could soundtrack epics. The encapsulating and spherical nature of the way in which the synths harmonize Conor Deegan’s harrowing backing vocals would be a fitting close to Solaris (1972). Frontman Grian Chatten’s agonising introspection into his own emotional dispositions make for a track which leaves the listener with a whole new personal outlook.


Fontaines D.C. are only days away from the release of their fourth studio album, ‘Romance’. The lea...
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A Beacon Of Light For Scottish Music: Brooke Combe – ‘Dancing At The Edge Of The World’ Review

Words: Josh Parsonage


It is all too often that artists have their creative freedom restricted by major labels who want to force them down paths they see as ‘more marketable’,and escaping this situation can be incredibly difficult.  Brooke Combe’s latest release ‘Dancing At The Edge Of The World’ makes use of her flawlessly balanced vocals to beautifully guide the listener along the knives edge of her own personal experience in this.


The Scottish rockstar radiates a degree of swagger from h...
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Chatten’s Most Deeply Personal Account Yet: Fontaines D.C – ‘Favourite’ Review

Words: Josh Parsonage


Fontaines D.C.’s latest effort is Grian Chatten’s most deeply personal account yet. The track is musically layered in such a way that drives you in circles around Chatten’s youth growing up in County Dublin and the many tales of childhood that have shaped his life and his person, with a clear picture of the emotional scars left visible to the listener.


Chatten opens ‘Favourite’ with a strikingly complex remark: ‘Did you know I could claim the dreamer from the dream?/M...
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Agitating People Into Action: Declan Welsh and The Decadent West – ‘Walk A Mile In Gaza’ Review

Words: Josh Parsonage


Seeking to educate and agitate its listener into action on Palestine, ‘Walk A Mile in Gaza’ takes you by the hand and drags you through the blood soaked soil of Israeli apartheid, leaving you a different person on the other side. The track is the first of two from Declan Welsh and The Decadent West which aims at raising money for medical aid in Gaza, and a tune of such a quality will have no trouble doing so.


‘Walk A Mile in Gaza’ opens with its chorus riff, a light b...
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An Album Of The Year Contender: Kneecap – ‘Fine Art’ Review

Words: Josh Parsonage


Having formed 7 years ago, Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap’s long awaited debut album ‘Fine Art’ is nothing less than what it says on the tin. The record violently throws you from track to track, yet is meticulously put together in a way that recreates the feeling of bouncing from pub-to-pub and club-to-club, helped by superbly witty interludes.


To call Kneecap controversial would be an understatement, the three Irishmen’s politically charged music has found them in troubl...
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The Power of Ordinary People, And of Music: The Serve Solidarity Gig

Words: Josh Parsonage


From Live Aid to Jacksonville ‘64 music has shown itself to be one hell of apowerful tool throughout time, and on the night of June 3 rd St Luke’s became abeacon of solidarity as over 600 gathered for an evening of politically chargedperformance which carried (and succeeded in) an end goal of sending asurgeon from Glasgow to Gaza.


The Serve Solidarity gig was organised by Unite Hospitality in Glasgow (andsupported by other organisations, such as Islamic Relief), who’s...
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Fast Paced Indie Rock Met With Impressive Depth – Hazy Sundays ‘Give Me Some Dopamine’ Review

Words: Josh Parsonage


Less than two years on from their coming together, Glasgow indie rock ‘n’ rolloutfit Hazy Sundays’ high energy debut EP is a solid first effort, with a fewtracks which set them out as ones to watch.


With early experience in supporting Reverend and The Makers, and havingperformed alongside Chris Helme of The Seahorses, Hazy Sundays haveclearly drawn themselves attention from within the industry, and this doesn’tcome for no good reason.


The opening track on the EP is...
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‘Sink Ya Teeth’ By The Mysterines Is A Brutal Exploration Into The Reality Of Love.

Words: Josh Parsonage


Whether it’s the potently groaned vocals, the guitar parts you could make a murder weapon of, or the macabre story-telling, The Mysterines have an ability to make their listener feels as though they’ve been cast as the protagonist in a horror-romance film, and ‘Sink Ya Teeth’ successfully follows down that great, but dark path. 


The second single from their upcoming album ‘Afraid of Tomorrows’ ispainstakingly danceable with a baseline that commands your neck joints in...
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‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ Review

Words: Josh Parsonage


‘All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade’ carries an extra decade of maturity since The Libertines last record was released, but at times the band find themselves giving in to their indie roots which leaves the album struggling to find its own definitive character. In classic Pete Doherty style ‘… Eastern Esplanade’ casts out a collection of character driven stories which seek to romantically navigate the uglier aspects of life in Britain, but this thematic effort betrays its...
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Yard Act Need Not Search For Utopia Anymore, Because They’ve Just Brought It To Glasgow.

Words: Josh Parsonage


Still fresh from the release of their sophomore album ‘Where’s My Utopia?’, Yard Act have been injecting post-punk with a second lease of life ever since they burst onto the scene in 2021, and an aroused Friday night Glasgow headline set stands as living proof of that.


An early challenge was set upon the Glasgow crowd by frontman James Smith, daring the audience to one-up the band’s “second best show ever” in the same city in 2023. Although the subject wasn’t revisite...
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‘Oh Shit’ The Libertines Are Back!

Words: Josh Parsonage


The Libertines are a band never short of a story to tell, and ‘Oh Shit’ does just that when traversing the complications of a muddy relationship stained by addiction and desperation in a way that, despite the brutal nature of the story at hand, has you wanting to dance.


The darker substance of the lyrics may seem originally in contrast to the upbeat indie riff you’re faced with, but the sense of rush given through the rhythm only adds to the story with not a second to...