Impressive debut from Stoke's new supergroup
Stoke on Trent. Birthplace of such luminaries of the entertainment industry as Anthea Turner, Bruno Brooks and Robbie Williams and home the famous potteries: Stoke hasn’t had much to shout out loud about over the years.
Although home to a couple of notable punk rock bands • the soon to be no more, Shermer and the equally amazing, The Leif Ericsson • musically the area hasn’t seen anything exciting rise up through the ranks, with the exception of the former bands. But are things on the up for Stoke? With even ex Pavement singer, Steven Malkmus mentioning the place on his debut solo album, times could be a changing, my friends.
Here’s to the Atom Bomb are fairly ‘indie’ in sound with influences ranging from Joy Division (which seep through the vocals on Ghosts in Daylight) with hints of Tindersticks and The National. Musically making full use of guitar pedals much in the same way fellow Staffordshire band, Editors apply them so liberally they create a lovely, developed swirling sound then using them to lift the music delicately to an impressive crescendo on every track. This is some pretty skilled stuff.
With their ages ranging between a tender 19 to a sheer enviable 22 and having been a unit since 2004, this is an impressive effort for such a young band. Although, this isn’t re-writing the rule books, this is a solid effort and in a couple of years, these boys could be batting in the major leagues