The plethora of post-punk purveyors spilling out of every musical corner of the world of late shows no signs of letting up, with London-via-Manchester band Talk Show the latest to set their sights on following the likes of Shame, Fontaines DC and Idles in filling arenas bands of their ilk could only dream about a few years ago.
We’ve had Talk Show in our crosshairs for a number of years now, after stumbling across an unlisted YouTube demo of their breakout tune Fast & Loud back in mid-2018. Having caught them playing with the aforementioned Fontaines DC and with The Murder Capital in the months to follow, we knew we were on to something worth paying attention to.
Fast-forward 18 months, Talk Show are one of the most talked-about (sorry) up-and-coming acts in the UK, a reputation they have solidified this week with the release of their debut EP ‘These People’. 12 minutes of eminently listenable punk and darkwave, all of which is lifted throughout by Harrison Swann’s growling Mancunian accent.
Lead single Stress is the highlight, hovering ever so slightly above the pop-punk line with its fierce-catchy “this is stress at best” hook. Atomica continues the band’s trend tunes that build slowly before unleashing the pent-up aggression in a cascade of angular guitars and relentless drumming. Banshee is as angsty as Talk Show get, laden with doom, despair and a heavy dose of goth-pop, while Petrolhead wouldn’t be out of place as the theme to a modern-day remake of ‘Skins’.
Love, adoration and despair are the main takeaways from ‘These People’, emotions that the band wear on their sleeve for all to see. As good as this debut is, it feels like the best is yet to come.