Jangly, clean guitar parts and bright and glossy basslines steer the way for West Yorkshire’s The Short Causeway.
Returning with their latest single ‘On My Way Home’, Claudie Nicholson (guitar/vocals), Rufus Stott-Leach (drums) and Hayden Davey (bass/vocals), continue to daydream their trademark, rainy-day prose.
Formed by tight friends after a sweet and sweaty Trades Club gig in their hometown of Hebden Bridge, the trio got together in the rehearsal room with an increasingly and pleasingly disjointed formula for indie pop.
The Short Causeway release of ‘On My Way Home’ comes more than one year after being tipped as a band for the future. A fidgety, complex soundtrack to watching raindrops run down windows and chin-on-folded-arms hours wasted away in wait, the return of the band both to the studio and stage comes after a year of exile, immersed in the necessities of A-Level textbooks, revision and exams.
Drawn equally and, occasionally, unintentionally from the same well of trebly guitars and romantic humdrum lyricism of the 80’s Postcard Records, the C86 scene and modern peers including fellow Calderdale envoys, English Teacher, Lounge Society and Orielles, the band finds ‘On My Way Home’ coming at a time of increasing confidence in their songcraft.
“‘On My Way Home’ is one of the songs we are most proud of and really connect with – we all teared up when we first heard the mix of it,” says the band. “It touches on mundanity in a melancholic way, telling a story that is filled with boredom, waiting while on a journey and longing to be anywhere else.
“But it’s really just a fun track, mimicking the journey itself. It’s better described being at a loss in the past than being at a loss in the present.”
Catching ears for their nervously energetic debut single, Tripping Down The Stairs, in late 2022, the band have been staying up late on school nights to pick up regular support slots and masterclasses from touring bands including Katy J. Pearson and Peaness.
The Short Causeway’s return to touring in 2024 has begun. Following warm-up alongside Bamily and Fehlt at YES Manchester on the first weekend of January, the band looks ahead to more shows around the UK to coincide with more new music this summer.
Featured image by Alex Lane
