The great thing about New Chums is that they make music which is both big and clever. Usually a band is able to do one well but to the detriment of the other, New Chums, however, find a wonderful sweet spot between the two elements.
The result, Shruggin’ Off the Feelings, is a collection of songs that are immediately addictive without sticking too close to existing templates, which are big and bold without spilling over into being brash or bombastic, which are melodic and poppy but with the grit and grunt of rock music.
Trade The Market is lush and luminous, cinematic and considered, Don’t You Know I Know slow-burns up from brooding lulls to sky-searing sonics and The Ride is The Strokes with the rough edges smoothed off.
Appealing to the harder end of pop as easily as it does the indie or even mainstream rock fan, as cool and cultish as it is commercial, as alternative and underground as it is accessible, it is hard to think of anyone who isn’t going to dig this immediately. The deaf, perhaps?
