Orchards - Bicker

Brighton’s indie math-pop trio are back with their sophomore album, 'Bicker' - a bright and brilliant collection of songs that combine the glittering bombast of their early work laced with an underlying bittersweet attitude. Recorded with Jack Wilson (Fickle Friends), 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 in a similar style to Orchards’ previous work: featuring glorious swathes of infectious choruses and blissful, pastel-hued guitars that balance effortlessly between indie-pop sensibilities and math-rock inspired time signatures. This time around, although the sound is clear-cut, Orchards’ lyrics are anything but. “Atop sharp-edged, angular collisions, Orchards managing to cram approximately 5 killer hooks into the space of a single song” – DIY // “Twiddly, fiddly math-rock riffs chucked in a Nutribullet with the bombast and ambition of pop music” - Noisey // “The band’s whip-smart math-pop is all glistening surface and immediate melody, but beneath this chrome-plated chassis lies a complex rhythmic engine” – Clash // FFO Delta Sleep, CMAT, Tangled Hair, Kate Nash, Fickle Friends, Vukovi, Everything Everything