Stornoway – Beachcombers Windowsill

British indie music has taken a bit of a beating in the last five years. Yes there have been bright points and noticeable albums but nothing really novel, exciting and invigorating. Over the past year though, British indie music seems to have got its act together. Bands such as The Drums, Two Door Cinema Club and Bombay Bicycle Club have all made notable contributions towards the development of a new style, a new swing in the hips of British music. There is one band though, that for me at least, defines this new era in British born independent music. That band is Stornoway.

Born in the heart of Oxford, Stornoway have released arguably one of the most exciting indie folk albums that the British Isles has seen in the past decade. ‘Beachcombers Windowsill’ is a journey through the roots of folk based indie pop. Its power lies in the fact that it almost seems physical. You cannot deny the album of a soul, a respiratory system that is pushed along by the rhythm section and a heart that aches, wails and frolics as lead singer Brian Briggs spins beautiful lyric after beautiful lyric.

‘Zorbing’ opens the album with bright clarity. Deep, overlaying harmonies combine with a skipping bass to give the album a bright, weightless feel. This is not an album devoid of feeling though, at times it is a heavy and cumbersome weight to carry. ‘Fuel Up’ is an obituary to the past, a lengthy ode to the long road of life, love, regret and nostalgia as Briggs laments ‘home is only a feeling you get in your mind, from the people you love and travel beside’.

Live, they are, simply incredible. I was privileged enough to catch them at Hop Farm festival this year and despite the appearing after the legendary Eagles they managed to pack out a tent full of adoring fans. I took a friend who had never heard of them before. Practically dragging him towards the stage, drunkenly jabbering about the importance of this band, their place among a blossoming new British scene. Their set consisted of a medley of double bass thumping, banjo twanging knee-slapping goodness. I am not ashamed to say I danced like a loon. Which is exactly what indie music should make you do.

The real kicker for this album though, the real reason I have not been able to shut up about this album from the very second I got hold of it, is the delicacy of it. Every song is effortless, making this album was simply a matter of breathing for these boys, inhaling and exulting a string of songs that flow, rise, peak and trough. There is constant motion, train journeys, long car rides and musings of modern love, loss and relations in a New Britain. ‘Beachcombers Windowsill’ is an album that captures the fleeting moments that are often ‘lost between the sheets of lightning’.