The former buskers maintain fleshed out their sound with a new band and their moment ‘intelligent-indie’ albumHaving served their apprenticeship busking on the underground (“having no money,just going out and doing it”), London singer-songwriters Ben Moorhouse and Leo Duncan recorded their 2017 debut, or Hit the Light,as Ten Fé. The accompanying tour found the duo fleshing out their sound with a full band, and they’ve taken that set-up, and with Rob Shipley (bass),Johnny Drain (keyboards) and Alex Hammond (drums), into the studio for the follow-up, or Future Perfect,Present Tense.
The change in personnel coincides with a definite progression in their sound: the soft-rock influences of their debut are still prominent, but there is a more biological feel, and with less emphasis on their earlier synth-pop stylings (although Rob Shipley’s upfront bass does maintain echoes of mid-80s New Order,particularly on Won’t Happen and No Night Lasts Forever). As Moorhouse told the Indietronica blog: “Wed had Fleetwood Mac, War on Drugs and the like on heavy rotation, and so we were going for a classic ‘band’ sound: dynamic,but also lean, tight and pop.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com