Llovers - Feeling Sound (2020)

Llovers was formed in October 2016 by two friends who worked together in their local McDonalds. Jack Brooks had previously played with Violet Deep and Coquin Migale, and Joe had been part of KIDD, as was fourth member Marty, while David McNab was also in Violet Deep, and with Brighton band Capture. They spent the summer jamming, and decided to become Llovers, under which name they released their first single 'Borderlands' just one month after coming together, and the sumptuous, swooning four-minute mix of shoegaze, dreampop and jangly pop shimmer made them a band to watch in 2017. 'Feeling Sound' followed in that year, which felt like a shimmering b-side from French band Phoenix, and there are also more straight-forward pop moments, like on 'I Don’t Mind', which fidgets with jagged guitar riffs and twinkling electro-beeps. 'Just Lust' and 'Honestly' appeared over the next couple of years, with 'Just Lust' starting out like a more out-there version of Foals' epic 'Spanish Sahara', before exploding in a similarly volcanic fashion. 2020's 'I Don't Want To Be Alone' might sound like a plea against self-isolation in this year of the pandemic, but it was actually written in 2019 and is about the dependency we have on each other and how this can lead to anxieties about loneliness. The Teesside band have now posted enough examples of their infectious blend of alt-pop, smooth harmonies and dreamy guitar work on Soundcloud to release their debut album if they'd wanted to, so in preparation for the real thing, here's the first long-playing offering from the band.  

Track listing

01 Borderlands
02 A Second With You
03 Just Lust
04 I Don't Mind
05 Go Get Her, Go Getter
06 Without You
07 Coming Loose
08 Honestly
09 Change
10 Do You Know
11 Your Mind My Time
12 Feeling Sound
13 I Don't Want To Be Alone