London-based indie upstarts Chest today release new EP ‘never really here’. The band celebrate the EP’s release tonight with a show at The Elephant’s Head in London, followed by a home-town launch show at Norwich Arts Centre tomorrow evening, 28th Feb.
Produced by Thomas Coath (Sam Fender, Pale Waves), new EP 'never really here' moves between internal collapse and external chaos, capturing the sensation of existing under constant psychological and cultural pressure. Across the EP, the band blend energetic drums, tightly wound guitars and glowing electronic flourishes with serrated distortion and soaring melodic sections, drawing from a wide spectrum of influence, ranging from Sunny Day Real Estate and Placebo, to Yoshimi-era Flaming Lips.
New focus single ‘JULIA’ reflects on childhood, illness and the lasting imprint of a fractured parental relationship through a haze of distorted indie-rock, pulling on wider themes of disconnection and guilt.
On its release, vocalist Joel Reader said:
"This track is the most personal one I’ve written. It’s a raw look at my own relationship with my unwell mother at a young age, and how that foundational, fractured dynamic has shaped and shadowed our relationship going forward. It meditates on a tangled kind of grief for someone who is still here. It’s vulnerable, helpless, childlike with inescapable resentment and anger."
Recent single ‘SO BETTER NOW’ examined the strange theatre of the outside world, yet the EP as a whole traces a deeper emotional arc. Tracks like ‘MACHINE’ and ‘GOSPEL’ explore obsessive thought patterns, ego, and the escalating panic of living inside an inescapable digital and psychological web, while ‘NUMB’ documents emotional shutdown and the fallout of internal collapse.
Formed in Norwich, the band credit the city’s alternative spirit and genre-diverse scene for giving them the space to evolve without being boxed in. “Norwich is full of oddballs and weirdos who are unapologetically themselves – that attitude is something we carry with us," the band said.
Since moving to London earlier this year, Chest have played headline shows across the country, played festivals including Latitude and Wild Paths, received early airplay on BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6 Music, and have supported bands including The Lounge Society, Bilk and PleasureInc.
Harbouring an intense, immersive energy, Chest arrive with a sound that feels fully formed and entirely their own, and are without doubt a band to watch closely as the year unfolds.
Chest's new EP 'never really here' is out today, 27th February. The band launch the EP tonight at The Elephant's Head in London before a homecoming show at Norwich Arts Centre on 28th February.
Chest are: Joel Reader (vocals), Stanley Horseman (guitar), Russell Eldon (guitar), Teo Koschak (drums), William Booth (bass)
LIVE DATES
- 27 February - London, The Elephant's Head
- 28 February - Norwich, Arts Centre
- 10 April - Bury St Edmunds, The Apex