Breadcrumbs: Breadcrumbs
(Bandcamp)
LP | DL | CD
Out now
Buy The Breadcrumbs
Whitley Bay-based indie oddballs emerge as a force to be reckoned with on their confident second album of beautifully skewed observational garage-punk.
Louder Than War has often championed North Shields as a musical creative hub just outside Newcastle; the vibrant fishing port has given us the blazing post-punk-pop of Bugman, Hector Gannet’s passionate indie-folk, Liam Fender’s bruised romanticism and of course, the widescreen indie-rock of local hero Sam Fender.
Increasingly popular with young families, the nearby seaside resort of Whitley Bay has undergone a remarkable renaissance during the tenure of recently-retired North Tyneside mayor Norma Redfearn, but has lagged behind its near-neighbour in terms of a fertile music scene and cool venues. With the release of their second album, definitively titled The Breadcrumbs, the scuzzy but skilful Breadcrumbs look set to put their hometown on the map.
Building on the success of their impressive eponymous debut, Breadcrumbs have fully realised their own identity on The Breadcrumbs, moving beyond the obvious Pavement and Television Personalities influences of their early work. Recent live shows have seen the band emerge as an exciting and dynamic live act, leaving behind the sometimes slightly shambolic performances of the past.
Chainsaw opens the album on a deceptively wistful note, wrong-footing the listener when it’s rapidly followed by the pile-driving garage-rock of The True Navigator, with its insanely catchy, Sham 69-like chorus of “Your moral compass, your moral compass, is pointing in the right direction”. Singer Andy Neill sounds much more confident in his own voice on this album, and the whole group have clearly gelled, bassist Bill Waugh and drummer Geoff Suggatt holding down the groove while Dave Burton peels off a wired guitar solo that brings to mind Graham Coxon’s best work with Blur and on his solo albums.
So Sticky, DCDS and Mortal follow in a similar vein, based around swinging garage-rock riffs that evoke the spirited fun of countless ’60s garage bands, from The Seeds to The Trashmen, while Neill’s lyrics continue to combine gentle surrealism with pithy observation. Elsewhere, Hanging Around in Heaven takes a well-aimed swipe at fundamentalist religion while unexpectedly segueing from a dreamy arpeggiated melody to crunching glitch-metal.
The grinding scuzz-rock of Go See A Doctor cranks the tempo up again, as Neill offers the intriguing advice, “You’re such a tosser, go see a doctor soon!”, while the meditative Playground builds to a gloriously noisy climax and the closing Cheese and Tomato perfectly encapsulates all of Breadcrumbs’ key themes – the quiet despair of middle age, intense concern/resigned despondency about the state of the world, and finding joy in the minutiae of everyday life – culminating in the band’s collective screams following Neill’s declaration that, “It doesn’t matter anyway, as we’re all going to die in a nuclear war”. Somehow, Breadcrumbs manage to make such a grim prediction sound almost comforting. They’re that kind of band – always confounding expectations and putting an unexpected twist on the obvious. Here’s hoping the national media follow the breadcrumbs trail to Whitley Bay and discover this gem of a band for themselves; songs as good as this demand wider airplay.
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Breadcrumbs are on Facebook and Bandcamp.
Cover art by Graham.
All words by Gus Ironside, 2025. More writing by Gus can be found here.
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