Introducing: The Bronze Medal

Over the last few weeks we’ve introduced you to a number of great bands and artists to soundtrack your summer. Bands that trade in the sort of happy sunshine pop that we love to listen to whilst soaking up the serotonin. Problem is, summer isn’t all peaches and cream. Sure, there are fun times to be had, but the sunshine can’t protect you from the real world. There’s pain and suffering out there, people, and playing Frisbee at the beach isn’t going to change that. So after a care-free day listening to great bands like Cruiser or Modern Rivals, you may find yourself yearning for something a bit more contemplative and emotive. For this purpose I introduce The Bronze Medal.

This five piece from Bristol, England, specialise in the sort of heart-on-sleeve, earnest indie rock that can at times leave you feeling a little introspective - but in a good way. They combine a folk rock approach to melody and harmony with almost post-rock instrumentation. Their self-titled debut EP, released July 2^nd, has elements of slowcore, reminiscent of at times of bands like Low and Gregor Samsa. Tracks like “Show Me Land”, propelled within an insistent drum beat, increase the pace and shows off the bands best attributes perfectly. It combines beautiful melodies and harmonies with tender lyrics and a stirring, building climax.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like these guys are dreary depressives - they really aren’t. In fact, from the four-track EP, two tracks, “Womb” and “Show Me Land” (which you can listen to below), will probably leave you feeling uplifted, and yearning to press the repeat button. And if you are ever lucky enough to catch them live, you’ll find them a louder beast than on record. If they might be slightly lacking in stage presence at times (a lot of long hair and ‘shoe-gazing’ at effects pedals), then they more than make up for it by assaulting the crowd with wave after wave of stunning noise.

I think it’s fair to say that The Bronze Medal play it understated and let the music do the talking. They’ve called themselves ‘The Bronze Medal’ – it could have been ‘The Silver Medal’, or they could have gone all out and declared themselves ‘The Gold Medal’. But no, they’ve gone for good old bronze: third place, pretty good, but not the best. After giving them a listen on one of these miserable summer nights, however, you’ll probably agree that they’re under selling themselves quite a bit.

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