Merseyside song-builders, Bright Town release 'Smithereens!' EP

Getting to grips with the sounds of the records they’ve always loved the most and the low moments where music saves the soul, emergent Liverpool band, Bright Town release Bottom, the latest confessional cut from their new EP, Smithereens! – OUT NOW on Modern Sky UK.

Hopelessly in thrall to the pure power of song and hopeful of the path that music has thrown in front of them, Bright Town – led by principal songwriter Tom Corfield – have gently and determinedly cultivated songs rooted deeply in both the curious, and occasionally cracked human psyche and the library of classic records that play in their heads. On Bottom, the third track to have attention drawn to it from their debut EP - after Ghosts and Something To... were released earlier this year - the band plays around with Corfield’s melancholia to form an affecting middle place between hope and desperation.

He says: "Songwriting is what I turn to in order to keep myself going when life appears to be too much to handle, and I intended for this song to act as a sort of musical light at the end of the tunnel. It only made sense to us that, while lyrically drawing heavily from themes of despair and isolation, the music should be steeped in drama and intensity to create a juxtaposition of emotion that resonates with and elevates the listener."

After releasing a low-key clutch of songs to Bandcamp in 2021, Bright Town took to stages in and around Liverpool, quickly coming to the attention of Michael Head and The Red Elastic Band, leading to both support slots at Head’s Liverpool Olympia shows earlier this year and dates at Bill Ryder-Jones’ Yawn Studios in the company of producer (and Head collaborator), Nathaniel Cummings. The results, heard on the Smithereens! EP, capture the ambitions of a crowd-pleasing band fixated on forming songs of consequence

Performing their work faithfully live, complete with multi-part vocal harmonies, the band – also including James Morris (guitars), Liam Doyle (guitars) and Matthew Phillip (drums/cello) – recalls influences including Crosby Stills Nash and Young and contemporary loves such as Fleet Foxes and Wilco. Tracks across Smithereens! veer across lanes from 80’s jazz-sophistopop and new wave grandees like Talk Talk, to grand, ELO-style melodic juggernauts and gentle McCartney-esque intimate balladry.