2023 has been a whirlwind year for Anchor Lane as the beginning of it saw the release of Call This a Reality?, a massive headline tour, a wealth of festival slots and some great one-off shows including their incredible acoustic show at The Globe in Glossop. Now, before they hit the Reading and Leeds stages (12pm on the Festival Republic stage, Saturday and Sunday, respectively), they’ve given us a brand new song in “Sit Tight Sunshine”.
Initially released on Serenade and limited to only fifty copies as a digital pressing, it’s now available on your favourite streaming platform of choice. Recorded during the album sessions, the Glasgow trio have now seen fit to put this out for everyone to enjoy and unsurprisingly, it’s another great song from them. Despite being released after the main album, sonically, it bridges the gap perfectly between their debut album, Casino, and the latest record. It would serve as an ideal way to wet the feet of anyone with trepidations of their evolution.
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Racing right out of the gate with an explosive guitar riff from Lawrence O’Brien, it bristles with a punk energy married with the melodicism of modern metal and there’s a definite sense that it could have featured on Call This a Reality? Running an interesting circuit, the main riff shines brightly yet contains an undercurrent of darkness to it, Lawrence showing his effortless prowess to the full. Meanwhile, on the verses themselves, there’s a solid groove to the song, displaying a subtle and understated sense of power and heft it which harks back to the debut.
Lyrically, it’s one of their darkest moments to date; pain, anguish and desperation laced into vocalist Conor Gaffney’s delivery but there’s also a hint of defiance and perseverance in there, too. Brooding at times and managing to hit throat-shredding screams, he manages to capture the mixed emotions of the lyrics with ease. It hits off against Graeme Newbury’s inimitable deft drumming work – you can tell it’s him a mile away as he hits the kit with proficiency and panache. With them high up in the mix without overpowering the song and Graeme’s approach, it leads them away from sounding safe and sterile like a lot of modern bands. It may just be an even higher watermark for him.
“Sit Tight Sunshine” is another arrow in the quiver of the band’s sizeable quiver of great songs. It’s not weaker than the rest of its companion album and while it does have roots closer to the debut album than the follow-up, it still sounds alternative and modern. It’s a short, sharp dose of bombast whilst being real at the same time or, in other words, Anchor Lane personified.
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“Sit Tight Sunshine” is out now
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