The Spirit Didn't Die

Deadpan wit and brilliant hooks

Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers formed Wet Leg on the Isle of Wight and promptly made one of the best debut albums of the decade. The deadpan delivery, the sharp observations, the hooks that lodge in your brain for days — it all sounds effortless, which means it's probably very hard.

James Smith talks faster than anyone in British music

Yard Act's James Smith is the most compelling lyricist in British music right now. His rapid-fire delivery — half spoken word, half rap, all post-punk — dissects class, aspiration and failure with a precision that makes you laugh and wince simultaneously.

Florence Shaw's spoken word over angular guitars

Florence Shaw doesn't sing — she talks, in a flat, observational tone that somehow conveys more emotion than most singers manage with a full range. The band behind her are locked-in and angular, all tension and release. Together they make something genuinely unlike anything else.

Raw, urgent, and getting better with every record

Shame have been building to something since their debut 'Songs of Praise' announced them as one of the most exciting live bands in Britain. 'Food for Worms' (2023) was the arrival — a more personal, more vulnerable record that showed a band willing to go somewhere uncomfortable.

Mercury Prize winners who sound like nothing else

English Teacher won the Mercury Prize in 2024 for their debut album 'This Could Be Texas' — a record so strange and literate and melodically inventive that it defied easy categorisation. Lily Fontaine's voice is extraordinary. The arrangements are unlike anything else in British music.

The most cathartic live experience in British music

Idles arrived fully formed with 'Brutalism' (2017) — a record about grief, masculinity and modern Britain that felt like a punch to the chest. Joe Talbot writes from a place of genuine pain and the band play with an intensity that borders on overwhelming. Their live shows are communal, cathartic events.

Restless, shape-shifting, genuinely unpredictable

Squid are the most restless band of their generation — each record sounds different from the last, each song shifts and mutates in unexpected directions. Ollie Judge drums and sings simultaneously, which shouldn't work and absolutely does. 'O Monolith' (2023) was one of the most ambitious British albums in years.

The most exciting live band you haven't seen yet

Amy Love and Georgia South are a two-piece who sound like a full band, a DJ and a riot all at once. Their fusion of punk, hip-hop and electronic music is genuinely unlike anything else in British music. 'Supernova' (2022) was a Mercury Prize nominee and a statement of intent.