With the release of the single "Play Me A Christmas Song", Stephen Dowd manages to bottle the very specific, blue-hued silence that falls over a living room once the wrapping paper has been cleared away. It is a curious thing, really, how a melody can act less like a sound wave and more like the smell of a candle that was blown out five...

NTGB. Sunderland. DIY. Okay, got it. This “BURN DOWN THE NOW” single – it’s got teeth. Not sharp, pointy canines, more like the comfy, slightly crooked ones you find on a friendly stray dog. You know the type? https://open.spotify.com/album/5IA3vdLaZ15d2t7J3Pf2m3?si=umch_E8JQM6i9rmaUCYqfQ The sound itself, it’s that indie-pop-rock thing, but there's a pulse beneath it. Something like that old dial-up modem hum that always felt like the universe was...