It's hard to believe it's already the end of April, where does time go? 

This month was quite eventful when it comes to music - a lot of bands have come back, announced new material and tours, and teased new things to come.

This month, we're opening with The Maine's fifth full length record, Lovely, Little, Lonely. I'll just go ahead and say it the way I feel it : it's a wonderful album that perfectly encompasses what The Maine are all about. Some of the themes favoured by the American five piece are brought back - nostalgia, loneliness, sadness, growing up, and balancing all those feelings with a life that wants to be lived fully and in the here and now. Lovely, Little, Lonely feels like a reminder of the fact that despite growing old, despite growing up, despite the passing of time, there's still fun to be had, there's still new things to experience and there are still nights to spend drunk with a girl in the back of a taxi or in a bar. (Would it be an album written by The Maine if there wasn't a tale of inebriated boy meets inebriated girl?) This album is incredibly positive and uplifting, it's full of optimism and comfort, especially with closer How Do You Feel, a reassuring, feel-good track about how we all have our moments of heartbreak, some of us are depressed, but we're never alone about how we feel. Lovely, Little, Lonely is the logical, perfect follow-up to American Candy with its indie-rock sound, its perfect pop moments and the themes it talks about, but where American Candy could leave you feeling blue and was dark at times, Lovely, Little, Lonely has more light and is a incredibly positive album, and I'd go as far as saying that with it, The Maine have signed one of the best, finest albums we'll hear in 2017.

If you start your album with a gritty, unique voice and a line that goes "She yelled 'Tell Jesus he's a fucking loser'", you have a shot at getting my attention. Add to that the catchiest tunes from their side of Australia and the ability to make me feel like I NEED to see you live from the first song, and you probably have my attention for as long as you need. From the first notes of Forrest until the end of the stunning, nostalgic and delicate closer Laughing (Or Pretending to Laugh), The Smith Street Band and their newest record, More Scared of You Than You Are of Me, have grabbed my undivided attention, which is not too shabby considering I had never listened to them before. I think I found in there everything I could possibly want from an album. It has a rare, extraordinary potential for singalong and, in that regard, it feels larger than life, and at the same time, the themes dealt with in most of the songs are bittersweet to say the least. Death to the Lads is about growing up and owning up to your mistakes, 25 is about ageing and comparing yourself to everyone else (don't we all), and, sooner rather than later, you realise that More Scared of You Than You Are of Me is the kind of album that will, ultimately, make you feel less alone with your growing pains. It's a record full of beautiful moments - the intimate beginning of Passiona ; the intense vocal layering in Run Into the World ; the bridge in Shine ; the general songwriting, which concentrates more on storytelling and included long words or adverbs that you wouldn't find in most songs of that genre. I feel like there was a metaphore in the abrupt ending. I'm not too sure. I just know I adored this record, and I've already checked their social media for future gigs I could attend.


Earlier this year, Sheffield natives While She Sleeps announced they would self-produce their third full length record, You Are We, and that it would be funded by their fans through a Pledge campaign. From this moment on until the release of said album, the excitement was growing amongst the fans and in my own person - I had absolutely adored Brainwashed and I was more than eager to listen to its follow-up. Needless to say I have not been disappointed. I have been furiously blown away, song after song, and by the end of it, I was genuinely annoyed at the fact that one single band, one single group of humans can produce something THAT good. You Are We is a true metal record at its finest. It's been tailored for the moshpits, it's made to be played live and it sounds its best as loud as you possibly can. It's the kind of record that makes you want to headbang, to mosh, to crowdsurf, and moments like the bridge in Hurricane, the breakdown in Empire of Silence or the guitar solo in Silence Speaks are bigger than anything that has been made this year so far. What makes You Are We stand out the way it does, though, goes beyond its metal elements, and lies in the fact that it has genuine, ginormous pop choruses. Huge choruses, gang vocals and singalongs have always been While She Sleeps' trademark, and their ability to make them has been pushed further in this third record. (And, by now, you now my love of choruses and singing along, you know I'm a hundred percent on board with that). Lyrically, You Are We denounces the evils of our world and points out the disillusionment and the disappointment most of us feel with the world around us, and with our governments. There is still a beacon of hope, somewhere, out there, because we all feel that way, and from that was built a sense of community that is more present in While She Sleeps' music and career than it is with any other band. On Friday, it's been announced that You Are We ended up number eight in the official charts, and for a metal album that has been self produced, fan funded and recorded in a studio built by the band themselves, I'd say that's pretty damn impressive, and entirely deserved.


New Found Glory came back with their ninth full length record, and if I had liked Happy Being Miserable, I found myself slightly underwhelmed by Makes Me Sick as a whole. It's an alright album, don't get me wrong. It's your traditional early noughties sounding pop-punk record, with a regular mix of catchy tunes and cringeworthy lyrics (Party on Apocalypse, Call Me Anti-Social), and it does its job well. By all means, really, it's okay, it has some decent tunes, and there's a nice little key change in Call Me Anti-Social, but... It's a pretty forgettable record, and I don't think it'll go down in history as New Found Glory's best.


I couldn't exactly tell you how I came across New Yorkers Charly Bliss, but I could tell you their album Guppy is one of the reasons why they are becoming one of the best bands I have discovered this year. The best way to discover Charly Bliss is perfect pop with a whole lot of nineties influence, sugary sweet 90s garage rock with a twist, and maybe the band tiny me who was obsessed with every sitcom's battle of the bands episode would have loved to be a part of. Every song is extremely catchy and feels like the soundtrack to a film I'd love to be the heroine of, and from start to finish, Guppy is a delight to listen to. Underneath the bubbly exterior, the catchy music and the fuzzy guitars, still, you'll find darker lyrics, break-up songs (Black Hole), words about frontwoman Eva Hendricks' therapist (Ruby) and about those times when, in a relationship, you feel jealous and insecure (DQ). The album's closer, Julia, the least poppy track of the record, is bittersweet and deals with Hendricks' boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, and it makes you realise how sad that record can be in places. Guppy is the perfect balance between sugary sweet and darkly relatable, and if I can give you one tiny piece of advice, it's maybe, just maybe listen to it. Now would be a great time.


I've talked several times about how much I love The Winter Passing, and April has given me another reason to, in the form of their newest EP, the lovely Double Exposure. I have a feeling everything this band does is a joy to listen to and a joy to experience, and Double Exposure is no exception. The opening track, Paper Rabbit, is very catchy, and the harmony between Kate Flynn's and Rob Flynn's vocals is as wonderful as ever. Slower, more intimate tracks Like Flowers Ache for Spring and Escapism delicately touch upon the subject of mental health, with the latter being a tender, sweet, yet haunting love song dedicated to a significant other who has stuck around through thick and thin. Overall, Double Exposure brilliantly embodies The Winter Passing's spirit and what this band is all about.


Last but not least, Brighton based Evertim and Fruitcake have recently released a split EP, and both sides of things are excellent. Evertim's two tracks, Knots and The Shots You're Missing (Bed & Brexit), are somewhere in between pop punk and emo, and mostly ridiculously catchy. Fruitcake also qualify as ridiculously catchy, and their fuzzy guitars give them an alt rock sound I very much like. It's all on bandcamp, you can even pick it up on cassette because that's what the cool kids do, now.

We're having quite the extensive playlist this month, as I've scoured various websites, tried to keep in touch with everyone's new material, and enjoyed a lot of new artists I'd never really listened to before. 

If you wonder why I love small gigs, here you go.