A familiar presence in their Brighton haunts, with 18-months worth of local gigging under their belts, four-piece ladylike share debut single ‘Southbound’.
Imbued with the intimate story-telling of an English Teacher, and the wonky unpredictabilities of a Mary In the Junkyard, ‘Southbound’ takes some of the duller realities of adulthood – dodgy lights, ‘settling down’, benign catch-ups with friends – and infests them with a ‘renaissance’ magic: shoegaze guitars and melodic dreaminess.
Characterised by a loose, stream-of-consciousness approach to lyricism – and even to the structures of songwriting itself – ‘Southbound’ takes to heart the truism that it’s the journey that matters, and not the destination. Savouring the music’s every last moment, ladylike are not afraid to make us wait, to take a breath when they need to, stop when they want to; to hit that big red button and surge up into the psychedelic heavens only when the time is absolute right, and when the suspense has left us in near tatters.
And the final result of all this freedom of spirit is one exquisite, tantalising musical narrative – a sprawling, glistening micro-epic – ending at a place far removed from where it began, and fired up with the giddiness of pure adventure.
Photo by Brooke Edwards
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