Quirky, oddball and a bit left of centre, October Drift are a band you need in your life. Blending effervescent indie rock with notes of US Grunge, this mood-inducing gang from Somerset come with a hefty reputation since forming in 2015, tirelessly gigging and releasing a whopper of a debut album in 2020 with Forever Whatever.
October Drift – I Don’t Belong Anywhere (Physical Education Recordings)
Release Date: 14 October 2022
Words: Brian Boyle
While they might be an acquired taste for some, their enigmatic approach to their music is an avenue more than worth exploring. I Don’t Belong Anywhere is a title that possibly sums them up perfectly, not quite fitting in but at the same time loving it.
Opener Airborne Panic Attack is a prime example. It’s angry and abrasive but thoroughly comfortable in its own skin. It’s no fluke that the latest single Waltzer is lighting up the airwaves, armed with a classic ’90s indie chorus that just lingers nicely.
While you can wave the doom and gloom stick at this band till the cows come home, and tracks like Bleed, Lost Without You, and Insects do have a bit of a eet Monday vibe, they’re not contrived, instead laid bare lyrically and honest as the day is long.
That all said, the brilliantly titled Webcam Funerals is upbeat post-Britpop, with Snow Patrol springing to mind. “I don’t want to go into too much detail out of respect,” frontman Kiran Roy says, “but this song was written at the time of losing a friend during the height of the pandemic and lockdown. She passed after a long battle with cancer.
“Her son, a very close friend of mine, was living with me at the time of the funeral. I watched online from my front room while many others did the same from their homes. This song was a response to the strangeness and sadness of friends and family members not being able to be at the funeral or there for each other at that time.”
But for the most part, you could say they’re like Leonard Cohen with amps that go to eleven. An emotionally unstable tune like Parasite won’t have you skipping up the hill like Julie Andrews, but its fervent intensity is all the joy you need.
Ever After puts you right in the room with vocalist Kiran Roy with a superb warts and all delivery, the sort that would give legendary perfectionist Mutt Lange sleepless nights.
You could say closer, Old And Distant Memory, partly fills a gaping hole left by the estranged The Verve. Sombrely atmospheric with an overwhelming epic finish, this is, without doubt, the go-to track on the album. What starts as a grower of an album quickly morphs into gripping.
