recommended musicweek.com/playlistS


SIGRID Plot Twist, Island Records


It’s another skittish hunk of pop from the 20-year-old Norwegian singer. Plot Twist is perfect for running around in circles in a large fi eld. Contact Elspeth Merry elspeth.merry@umusic.com


DUA LIPA (FEAT. MIGUEL) Lost In Your Light, Warner Bros.


This single shows a more restrained side to Dua Lipa, and after hearing Scared To Be Lonely 12,019,181 times on the radio, that’s good news. Contact Chris Slade chris.slade@purplepr.com


GHOSTPOET Immigrant Boogie, PIAS


Obaro Ejimiwe’s fi rst new music since 2015’s Shedding Skin is a fi rst-person account of border-crossing set to restless guitars and uneasy percussion. Contact Paddy Davis Paddy.Davis@pias.com


LANA DEL REY (FEAT. THE WEEKND) Lust For Life, Polydor


There’s a positive, empowering message lurking in the suggestive murk here, Lana and Abel sound very much full of the joys of spring. Contact Chris Slade chris.slade@purplepr.com


THE WAR ON DRUGS Thinking Of A Place, Atlantic Records


Eleven blurry minutes that prove Adam Granduciel’s move to a major hasn’t dampened his passion for hazy, seemingly endless Americana songs. Contact Duncan Jordan duncan@bellaunion.com


PARAMORE Hard Times, Fueled By Ramen


Paramore’s message is still emo, but they’ve booted rock to the kerb in favour of zany pop. There’s even a mad Daft Punk bit at the end. Contact Nienke Klop nienke.klop@all-press.co.uk


POND Paint Me Silver, Marathon Artists


From new album The Weather, out this week, this fi nds Pond easing off the throttle and embracing groove, synthesisers and falsetto. Contact Joe Parry joe@insideslashout.com


08 MAY 01


TALENT  BY BEN HOMEWOOD


J


oey Bradbury and Rowan Martin are in a band called The Rhythm Method, and they want to be massive. They formed somewhere under Heathrow’s flight path in South West London about four years ago, after Joey spent too much time indoors at his parents’ house, smoking weed and writing songs.


Their music straddles pub-rock, pop and indie, and their lyrics are about pubs, mates, taxi journeys and city life. They like pints, football and ‘70s shows like Minder and Rising Damp. Mike Skinner produced Cruel, their latest single, and Elton John, Suggs and The 1975’s Matt Healy are all fans. When they play live, Joey does deadpan vocals – he sometimes sounds a bit like a bingo caller – while Rowan plays keyboard and sings. They often do a little homage to Robbie Williams. They’re playing their biggest hometown show yet at the Scala this week (May 3) and a new EP is in the works.


If all that sounds promising enough, this music lark isn’t exactly a walk in the park for The Rhythm Method. “We seem to be getting a bit more attention this year, it feels like things are moving forward,” begins Joey, “But occasionally it feels like we’re going uphill.” Rowan expands: “We’re swimming against the tide a little bit with the rest of the music scene, a lot of people don’t understand us, or dismiss us as a joke, so we’ve got that to overcome. I think there’s a weird attitude towards us, basically.”


Joey says the pair are “peerless, in a way”, in that they’re not part of any scene and are slightly older than most of the bands they share bills with in London. “It feels like other bands have got more friends so there’s a


The pl ylist


ON THE RADAR THE RHYTHM METHOD


Mime the gap: The Rhythm Method’s Joey Bradbury (left) and Rowan Martin (right)


ESSENTIAL INFO RELEASES


Cruel (out now) LABEL


Unsigned


MANAGEMENT Two Up Music Management


NEXT GIG Scala, London, May 3


bigger audience,” he says. “We’re at the age where we’ve fucked off most of our mates.” Dreams and ambition drive them forward. “We want to be a big band and make an impact,” says Rowan. “If you look back, the best British music has always been the weirdest or most dangerous. We want to create the songs everyone walks down the street singing, with the danger that Dexy’s or Prefab Sprout had.”


Joey adds that the industry is “safe” and, “a lot of music that comes out now just takes its place on a playlist alongside everything else, not really making an impact, whereas we want to be shifting culture, really.” They plan to do it by writing songs that “say things about people’s lives and giving an alternative to fake sincerity”, says Rowan. “Yeah,” Joey chimes in, “Honesty and realness are missing from music, even if it’s just reassuring you that you’re not the only person that feels the way you do.” This everyman-as-a-pop-star idea leads us to a natural end point: Robbie Williams. Rowan says the pair model themselves on Williams and Guy Chambers, with him as the “musical guy” and Joey “giving the Joe Public factor, basically leading the pub singalong”. “Robbie is the template of what I want to do,” Joey says. “Minimal talent and maximum success, a megastar who’s like his fans, a classic British entertainer. He’s basically a redcoat, that’s exactly what I want to do.”


MUSIC Week


Photo: Jake Lewis


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