The Lounge Society by Piran Aston
This week, Live4ever is shining the spotlight on some of our favourite albums and tracks of 2021 so far – today’s highlight comes from The Lounge Society.
To those from further afield, that Hebden Bridge is fast establishing itself as one of the most exciting hubs for new music in the UK might be coming as something of a surprise.
Nestled in the rugged yo-yo landscape of West Yorkshire’s Calder Valley, even those closer to home are now paying more heed to what’s forever seemed nothing more than a pleasant day’s stop off the west-bound train line.
For the artists leading the charge though, it’s no surprise at all. No coincidence to them that at its beating heart should be one of the UK’s best small music venues, The Trades Club.
The Lounge Society are one of those patrons. Indeed, their live video for last year’s debut single The Generation Game was recorded there in the January of 2020.
On it, the band are ferocious, extrapolating their youthful rage through the voice of those many years their senior, pouring vast amounts of scorn as they do so.
At one point, the camera pans round to a packed floor. It’s kids their age, lost in the moment. It’s only then when the true magic of the space this group currently occupies is really laid to bare.
That the events of the 18 months which have passed since have robbed The Lounge Society, and so many others, of countless more moments like the one captured that night at The Trades Club is one of the real artistic tragedies of the pandemic.
But on the promo for Cain’s Heresy, we find them back there. And in the meantime, The Lounge Society have persevered. Persevered with the energy, with the breakdowns, with the exasperated lyrical content. Its parent EP Silk For The Starving is flooded with it all.
That it’s all being overseen by Speedy Wunderground only adds fuel to the fire; for some time, the label has been the first place to look for the brightest emerging talent in the UK.
Now, all eyes are on Hebden Bridge. And all eyes are on The Lounge Society.
Click here for more of Live4ever’s top picks of the year so far
