thistle. – Backflip EP

It doesn’t seem that long since I was first discovering the sonic attack of thistle. I had heard them via a pal over on the ‘gram, clicked through to it’s nice to see you, stranger, and very quickly ended up in that glorious mess of fuzz, grunge scuff and heavy gaze weight. Now they return with Backflip and it feels like the next page of the same slightly battered notebook.

If thistle is a new name to you, let me get you caught up. The band are Cameron Godfrey, Carey Judwyn Rushton and Lewis O’Grady. Based in Northampton they met in school and have been getting their sound out there via home recording, full time work, life stuff, and that very particular young band madness. Their sound has drawn comparisons with shoegaze, indie rock, hardcore, Pavement, Polachek, Ovlov, DIIV and a whole load of noise loving oddness. Backflip sounds like a band still moving and finding their sound among the noise.

Let’s drop the needle and explore this new EP.

‘pieces’ opens the EP with impact. The guitars arrive with grit under the fingernails, all rough edges and pressure, while the rhythm section gives the whole thing a restless forward shove. They utilise the loud quite loud dynamic really well here. With acoustic guitar deployed on verses to give that contrast. It’s a hooky number for sure but is still off kilter enough to keep you paying attention. You can check this track out on my June DKFM Shoegaze Radio Show.

‘pylon’ tightens the frame and lets the band’s angular side come forward. You can hear the live band brain at work here, with the parts locking together in a way that suggests they have recorded this one live in one take. The vocal tone carries that familiar mix of bruised melody and deadpan nerve, while the drums keep the track snapping at your heels. It feels compact, wired, and full of little jolts.

The tiny title piece ‘backflip in slow motion’ sits right in the middle of the EP like a strange little memory fragment. It could’ve been a throwaway in less interesting hands, but not these guys. These wee nuggets I love.

Previous single ‘tied’ comes in with the feeling of a song that has been wound up too tightly and released at exactly the right moment. The frantic clarity is refreshing, with guitars pushing against the vocal line and the drums driving the whole thing on relentlessly. I’ve loved this one since I was lucky enough to grab a copy on seven-inch. It’s the perfect punk gaze single and will have you coming back for repeated listens.

‘mean eye’ delves into their Sonic Youth influence and kit fair suits them. The guitars feel more needling here, less like a wall of sound and more like something picking away at the edge of your attention. The rhythm section gives it a wiry bounce, which brings that Pavement leaning indie thread closer to the front without sanding down the heavier instinct’s underneath. It’s the slacker vocal approach that really pays dividends. This is a band happy to experiment.

By the time ‘city, name’ arrives, Backflip has already shown you a lot of different angles, and the closing track pulls those angles into something that feels more reflective. This is a fun new direction for them. The almost dreampop verses soon evolve from the punctuating bass and guitar harmonics into the sonic sweep of wild guitars and doomy bass. The length and breadth of this band’s creativity is amazing.

Backflip feels like another step forward from a band who sounded ready to grow the last time I wrote about them. It keeps the heavy gaze weight, the low fidelity grit, the hardcore aftertaste and the indie rock wonk, then folds them into a shorter, stranger, more concentrated set of songs. What I like most is that thistle. still sound like three friends who are totally on the same page as each other. You can hear the scrapes, the odd turns, the sudden flashes of melody, and the refusal to make everything too neat. For a band this young, they already understand that the rough parts can carry just as much feeling as the pretty parts. Backflip lands with both feet on the floor, then immediately looks tempted to try the move again.

Backflip is out now via Rex Recs. You can check it out over on the thistle. Bandcamp page.

You can follow thistle. on social media here

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• Bandcamp

Photo Credit

Lisa Ooijevaar