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Badly Drawn Boy

Ian Arthur – Home (Goodbye with Grace): An Indie Psych Pop Lesson in Letting Go with Love

Ian Arthur

Ian Arthur’s seminal single, Home (Goodbye with Grace), is a poignant reflection on how goodbyes can either fuel bitterness or allow space for grace and gratitude. Instead of allowing pain and resentment to caustically consume, Arthur advocates for cherishing the warmth of someone you once called home, offering a soul-stirring lesson on love, loss, and emotional resilience.

The tenderness in Arthur’s lyricism is echoed in his vocal delivery, reminiscent of Keane and Badly Drawn Boy, as he channels a vulnerability that makes every word resonate with sustained soul. Meanwhile, the psych-pop melodies work their way through the soundscape, painting rays of colour into the darker moments of grief. In finding the equilibrium between heartbreak and hope, Ian Arthur ensured the emotional complexity of the track is never one-dimensional.

With sincerity threaded through the indie psych-pop progressions, Arthur encapsulates the weight of loss without letting it overwhelm the listener. Instead, the orchestral crescendos sweep through the track with an almost seraphic lightness, offering catharsis rather than sorrow. Don’t be surprised if you end up shedding a tear over the pull of the Beatles-reminiscent orchestral strings which are powerful enough to break the dam on your emotional floodgates.

Home (Goodbye with Grace) will hit all major streaming platforms on September 26.

Find your preferred way to listen via Ian Arthur’s official website or connect with the artist on Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Party in the Pews is Returning to Christ Church in Macclesfield with an Unmissable Lineup – Low Ticket Warning

Party in the Pews

With five weeks remaining until Party in the Pews gives indie, pop, post-punk, psych, and rock fans to get pious about, the ticket supply for the hotly anticipated two-day festival in Christ Church in Macclesfield is close to running dry.

The inexplicably impressive line-up curated by Jo Lowes, who is quickly becoming Manchester’s contemporary answer to Tony Wilson, comprises two well-known headliners who need absolutely no introduction; Badly Drawn Boy and The Futureheads. As stoked as I am to hear their iconic alt-indie hits, it is the supporting artists that are making me shake off my usual levels of festival-going apathy.

The psychedelic visionaries Heavy Salad always warm the soul with their endearingly cultish stage presence, Pavement-ESQUE cruising riffs and harmonised to the nines vocal arrangements. If Stephen Street was keen to produce their upcoming sophomore LP, you should be stoked to witness their mind-altering aural conjurations live.

Sam Scherdel on the line-up affirms just how on the pulse of current breakthrough artists Jo Lowes is. It is only a matter of time before his enigmatic indie rock anthemics that amplify his ruggedly affectionate everyman blues establishes him as one of the top indie rock artists in the country.

After a series of sell-out shows and acclaim from just about everyone who matters in the industry, Dirty Laces will tarnish Christ Church with their grimy vintage rock rancour that proves the extent of their reverence to the proto-punk past and seriousness about sealing guitar music’s place in the future. They’ve got psych grooves and razor-sharp dark hooks by the execrably exhilarating smorgasbord.

You might want to dress up warm for the Manchester-based supergroup, Sea Fever. There will be an atmospheric chill in the air when they spill their scintillating darkwave synthetics into the venue. Members of the five-piece banding together after working with Johnny Marr, Section 25 and New Order is infinitely less exciting than the coldly transcendent tones they subject their live audience to through their pulsating beats and hypnotic strings.

The final few full weekend tickets are available via Skiddle.

Check out the Party in the Pews event page on Facebook.

Amelia Vandergast

Party in the Pews