“It's been a weird journey”. The strange trajectory of Ugly is not lost on founding member/guitarist/vocalist Sam Goater. Forming in Cambridge in 2016 as a scratchy indie four-piece, 8 years on, via the tumult of lockdown, the band soar as an alt-rock sextet. With eight minute choral/folk/post-rock epics, tours with Black Country, New Road, and multiple sell out shows across London up their sleeve, Ugly now add to the pile their first major body of work to date, Twice Around The Sun. More than just a debut EP collating singles released by the band across a 2 year period, it constitutes a lasting monument to their last four years: to their defiant regeneration as a band, to the power of community, and the virtues of persistence. 

 

The origins of Twice Around The Sun begin, as with many musical stories of late, in the distant haze of the pandemic. Having spent nearly two years on hold, the band rented out a rehearsal space in Bermondsey, South East London to work on new material. With Jasmine Miller-Sauchella (Vocals/Keys), Tom Lane (Vocals/Synth) and Theo Guttenplan (Drums) joining other founding members Harrison Jones (Guitar) and Harry Shapiro (Vocals, Bass) in a new look line-up, the band’s musical identity was completely overhauled. Meeting regularly during lockdown, songs were no longer written by Goater alone, then brought to the band, but instead worked on in unison - lyrics, music, structure, arrangement, all honed in a more transparent collaborative process. “We’d approach writing music from the ground level up.” Sam explains. ”It was the first time we’d all be contributing in that way, it would be much more equal.” Producing what Sam self-effacingly dubs “Slightly weird rock”, each track was meticulously honed into its own sprawling musical voyage, teeming with surprise, intrigue and wonder. 

 

In many senses ‘Twice Around The Sun’ treats the listener to the power of this communal, collaborative spirit in which it was made. Relished on the EP , in all its glory, is that deeply uplifting art of singing and playing together as one. Rarely is a voice heard alone. With four dedicated vocalists in the group, the band carefully plotted out who would harmonise with whom, and when, for maximum and varied effects. While the vast majority of the EP was recorded at Church Studios in Crouch Hill with producer Balázs Altsach (assistant to Paul Epworth), many vocal takes were done in a makeshift bedroom set-up, enabling the band to record long into the night without those pressures of time and money.