New music review with singles from The Belair Lip Bombs and The Orchestra (For Now)

Our weekly fix of the best new music as Julia Mason (aka The Decibel Decoder) brings us her new music review with singles from The Belair Lip Bombs Back Of My Hand and The Orchestra (For Now) Deplore You / Farmers Market

---

Artist: The Belair Lip Bombs

Track: Back Of My Hand

Credit Bridie Fizgerald

The Belair Lip Bombs, the Australian quartet of Maisie Everett, Mike Bradvica, Jimmy Droughton, and Daniel "Dev" Devlin, have released Back of My Hand, the third single from their new album, Again, out 31 October via Jack White's Third Man Records. The band connected with Third Man at South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, in 2024, and were struck by the fact that the label was “really passionate and cared about the songs”, Devlin says – as opposed to “other labels we’ve met, where they only see the streaming numbers or the marketability of a band”.

In conjunction, they announce a spring US co-headline tour with dust. Following last month’s single, Don't Let Them Tell You (It's Fair), Back of My Hand puts on display Maisie’s soaring vocals. The song undulates with an easygoing rhythm before bursting into Weezer-style guitar riffs on its heart-in-hand chorus. It’s another instance of the band’s total sincerity as Maisie implores a romantic connection to trust in the strength of their connection.

“Writing the lyrics was an up-and-down process”, Maisie explains. “I wrote the second verse first, the night I got home from the rehearsal where we wrote the song. I got a bit stoned and laid in bed with a notepad and a pen and the lyrics and the melody kinda just poured out of me, which pretty much never happens, so I guess it was a fluke.”

Again marks a new chapter for Australia’s best-kept secret, who have been building a loyal local following since they first formed eight years ago with their earnestness and ultra-sticky power-pop song structures. Endlessly listenable, the album winkingly symbolises The Belair Lip Bombs’ reintroduction to a global audience.

In mapping out Again, they merged their individual influences more than ever to craft a no-skips collection of indie-rock anthems. It gives the group’s DIY indie-rock style a fresh coat of polish across 10 rollicking new tracks. Again was produced by the band, Nao Anzai (The Teskey Brothers), and Joe White (Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever), marking the first time the Belair Lip Bombs worked with a producer.

The Belair Lip Bombs Live Dates

November

8 – Copenhagen, DK @ Ideal Bar

10 – Berlin, DE @ Maschinehaus

11 – Utrecht, NL @ Ekko

12 – Ghent, BE @ Charlatan

13 – Paris, FR @ Point Ephemere

17 – San Sebastian, ES @ Dabadaba

18 – Madrid, ES @ El Sótano

19 – Barcelona, ES @ Laut

21 – Bordeaux, FR @ Rock School Barbey

24 – Brighton, UK @ Volks

25 – Cardiff, UK @ Clwb Ifor Bach

26 – Bristol, UK @ Exchange

28 – London, UK @ Scala

29 – Manchester, UK @ YES

30 – Glasgow, UK @ Stereo

December

1 – Dublin, IE @ The Grand Social

* * *

Artist: The Orchestra (For Now)

Track: Deplore You / Farmers Market

Credit Molly Boniface

London seven-piece The Orchestra (For Now) have shared new single Deplore You / Farmers Market. The brooding new track comes on the heels of the announcement of their eagerly awaited second EP, Plan 76 set for release on 31 October.

Deplore You / Farmers Market is a marker of the journey the band have been on and of their adept use of dynamics. It was both the first song the band wrote and played live yet is a departure from their earlier released material and trademark maximalist sound. The track sees them exuviating the dense layers of instrumentation to reveal a candid and emotional track which slowly builds to the point of breaking, before unleashing the EP’s final moment of powerfully orchestrated uproar.

Speaking on the single, the band shares: “It’s a front facing reckoning that explores ambition and fatigue, and the strains of failure and minor success. Deplore You / Farmers Market is one of our most direct songs, so we thought stripping back and exposing ourselves was the right call, letting the song breathe; it’s an experiment in restraint, right up until we can’t keep it in.”

The single is accompanied by a new video that features the band playing the track from a bedroom and is interspersed with fever dream-like cutaways that include religious shrines, instruments being destroyed, piles of cash being cut up and more.

The Orchestra (For Now) Live Dates

October

18 - Sŵn Festival, UK

November

1 - Les Nuits Botanique, Brussels, BE

6 - Iceland Airwaves, IS

13 - Sheffield, UK - Hallamshire Hotel,

14 - Glasgow, UK - Hug & Pint,

15 - Live at Leeds In the City, UK

16 - Manchester, UK - YES Pink Room

18 - London, UK - Scala

20 - Bristol, UK - The Exchange

21 - Southampton, UK - Heartbreakers

22 - Brighton, UK - Green Door Store

December

4 - Cambridge, UK - Portland Arms

---

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and never miss out on gig info and our latest deals

SUBSCRIBE