When The Royston Club released their debut album Shaking Hips And Crashing Cars

in the summer of 2023, the Wrexham band went full throttle, appropriately, as they

raced across the finish line to score their first UK top 20 album. Sold out shows across

the country soon followed, while their formidable live reputation allowed the group –

frontman Tom Faithfull, guitarist Ben Matthias, bass player Dave Tute and drummer

Sam Jones – to become one of the country’s most exciting new acts.

But a great debut album, as many artists have discovered, will only get you so far. It’s

what you do next that really counts.

For The Royston Club, the answer to that conundrum comes in the form of their superb

second album Songs For The Spine, which is the sound of a band taking their chance

to hit the next level, grabbing it with both hands and refusing to let go.

It’s a cohesive and fully formed record that builds on the sonic DNA of their debut, but

the steady hand of producer Rich Turvey effortlessly takes it to the next level. It’s

bigger, more experimental and more heartfelt too. The band say that the title reflects

the individual vignettes of places and people close to their hearts contained with each

song. They are powerful stories in their own right, but they combine on this album to

create an almighty and often beautiful backbone.

There is huge growth to be found too, which reflects just how much The Royston Club

have evolved since album one. Songs like the catchy ‘30/20’ skip along with a classic

Roystons groove that will be welcomed like an old friend by OG devotees, but ‘Shivers’

– the latest song to arrive from the album – feels positively gargantuan. It creeps along

with a slow and steady bassline, before exploding into something that feels destined to

ignite mosh pits across the land when the band hits the road again. Similarly, the slow-

burning epicness of late album highlight ‘Spinning’ – which offers a lyrical show of

solidarity for people going through tough times – feels like something from The Bends-

era Radiohead.

Blossoms