LilyPetals Debut EP

One of many young indie bands which impressed me at Bradford Roots Festival, and proof there’s more than the name suggests at The Wiltshire Music Centre’s winter convention of local music, Bristol-based LilyPetals released their debut EP this week….

Firing on all cylinders, there’s five three minute heroes and one slightly longer tune on this impressive introduction to an equally-gendered and equally promising four-piece. Contemporary themes imploded by two fierce opening tracks, Currently Unavailable and, particularly, We Want More, arch a punk flavour of punk’s heyday; and I like that a lot! There’s wailing guitars, echoing chorus lines, and emotion pouring out.

If we’re talking emotion though, the tempo lessens for the third tune, That’s What You Said to Me, proving LilyPetals is no one trick pony. It’s a rolling ballad, with a euphoric element akin to a rock classic. If this tune will raise your eyebrow, note, Playwright reverbs with passion and fire, there’s almost shards of glam rock meeting gothic in there too. But LilyPetals have mastered the hook, leading to a bridge via a finger click, is clever and beguiling stuff.

The four minute tune is the penultimate one, and it just drives from the intro. Break Your Mind is perhaps a magnum opus to date for this band, though I highly suspect from the concentrated and tight compositions of all these tunes, we’re going to be moving onto even better stuff from them in the near future. In principle then, this is encouraging, and it feels like punk is saved for a new generation in their indie passion. This is to Bowling For Soup what Reef is to The Rolling Stones, but the potential for improvement is gapping in their hands; the canvas here is ripped and ready to rock!

It finishes with Spaceman, mate, check this out, the hook is a sinker, it has all the elements of a classic, and, as we’ve seen with bands like The Radio Makers, punk rock can evoke modern generations, and punk can live on through them. LilyPetals, arguably ironic namesake, yet the fervour is at a blossoming point, and this is a great and lengthy EP, verging on an album, and album worthy of your perusal.

LilyPetals LinkTree