Orchards

After a blinding come-back year in 2024, Brighton’s Orchards have announced their sophomore album Bicker is set for release on 28th March via independent record label Big Scary Monsters. Featuring previously released singles I Feel Terrible, Sweetie Pie and Mug Song, the record is a resplendent return to form with a searing bittersweet attitude that plays out with blissful, pastel-hued guitars that balance effortlessly between indie-pop sensibilities and math-rock inspired time signatures.

Recorded with Jack Wilson (Fickle Friends) at his home studio in Shoreham, Orchards’ sophomore album Bicker has all the hallmarks of a band that have been through a tumultuous few years: releasing their debut album in 2020 at the onset of the pandemic, break-ups, heartbreak, chronic illness, and depression. These themes strikingly play out on Bicker in a similar style to Orchards’ previous work on Lovecore (2020) and EP Trust Issues (2021), only this time around although the sound is clear-cut, Orchards’ lyrics are anything but.

Sparkling synths and comforting jangly guitars from Sam Rushton add new pop flourishes to Orchards dynamic range on Groan, which is a marriage of their new-found, edgier, lyrical vulnerability, a dizzying display of 80s inspired synths and bright bursts of complex melodies, while the stripped back Bethnal Green is a vulnerable moment where Evers and bassist Dan Fane delicately flex vocal harmonies that are full of yearning. Of course, no Orchards record would be complete without an inherent sense of fun. Despite all of the brutal honesty, playful, hip-shaking pop anthems Gerl and Say It have just that in spades, each springing to life in a sunburst of complex melodies, slap-bass rhythms and consuming reverberated vocals that demand to be repeat plays over and again.

Orchards are approaching 2025 as a new beginning — with a brand new album, full UK tour and festivals on the horizon — and have proven time and again with a determined attitude that they’re unstoppable.