Five-piece indie rock band Underlight are a fresh addition to the thriving Sheffield music scene. Despite currently being unsigned, the band have been aired on BBC Introducing and are busy performing at local gigs to help expand their audience, though their new EP Ordinary Heroes leaves me questioning whether this is going to be as arduous a task as it would first seem.
Parallels between the music of Foals and opener ‘Tequila’ can undoubtedly be drawn, though the band’s use of double kick drums lends a faster tempo to the track. In terms of relatability, the song scores pretty highly: ‘Whose idea was it to drink tequila? / It will never end well.’
‘Ascent’ is a strong follow-up with a powerful and catchy bridge. The two tracks are similar in that they gain momentum as they progress, so including a tamer track like ‘Disconnected’ is a canny way for the band to show off their versatility. Underlight claim to have been influenced by the likes of the Arctic Monkeys and Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and this is evident on the final track of the album ‘Homecoming’, where the tempo is once again ramped up.
To sum up, Ordinary Heroes is a pretty impressive first EP. Underlight have covered a range of genres in just four tracks whilst managing to retain a distinctive sound, which is by no means an easy feat. If they continue to produce music to such a standard, we can only be certain to hear more from them.
Ordinary Heroes is available for purchase now at tictail.com; in the meantime you can keep up with the band on their Facebook page.
Words by Charlie Hughes
Twitter – @_charlottehughe