About this event
RAILCARD:
Railcard formed in early 2025 when Rachel Love (Dolly Mixture) and Ian Button (Papernut Cambridge, The Penrose Web & more…) began writing songs together. Along with Peter Momtchiloff (Heavenly, Would-be-goods) on bass and Allison Thomson (Oldfield Youth Club, Heist, Trashcan Sinatras) on trumpet, the band released a trio of eponymous EPs in early 2026, and in September there follows another album Two Steps At A Time , on Skep wax and Slumberland Records, plus a run of UK gigs.
Railcard’s individual indie/pop DNA is easy to trace in the music – Love and Button’s songs mix up ingredients from their earlier projects, and Momtchiloff’s own songs bear his hallmark style. There are shared lead vocals, jangling guitars, sweet strings, organ and cool trumpet lines, plus a drive and punch from the rhythm section that steers into Motown, bubblegum pop/garage and more.
“This is perhaps what Stereolab would sound like if, accompanied by a TV show orchestra, they had to cover a “K-Tel’s Greatest Unknown Hits of the 1960s and 1970s” compilation.”- Pause-Record-Play
“The foursome shimmy seamlessly between hyper-melodic vintage King’s Road psychedelia…..featherlight lushness…..pop-exotica…..sublimely rubber-grooved glitterball-kosmisch……….and ‘70s kitsch curiosity.” – Freq
SWANSEA SOUND:
Swansea Sound: a brief history.
Formed during lockdown, the band recorded three singles without actually meeting each other. Corporate Indie Band appeared as a cassette on specialist label Lavender Sweep. It got a lot of airplay, and the next releases were on 7” vinyl, including Indies Of the World, which made it into the UK vinyl Top 10. A debut album, Live At The Rum Puncheon, was released in 2021; Twentieth Century
followed in 2023. Both albums won considerable critical acclaim.
‘The glorious sounds of C86 brought into the now.’ Thomas Patterson, Shindig.
‘Close to an indie pop miracle.’ Tim Sendra, All Music.
‘An essential broadcast from the forefront of the indiepop resistance.’ Andy Brown, Louder than War.
‘The C86 Crass.’ Stewart Lee
Swansea Sound have recorded live sessions for Riley & Coe (6 Music), John Kennedy (Radio X) and Evan Davies (WFMU, New York). They were selected by Stewart Lee for his ‘Legends Of Indie’ series of gigs in 2025 and are regular performers at the Laugharne Festival in Wales. They recently two tours of the US with label-mates Heavenly.
The band will be playing a series of UK live dates in November and December to promote their third album, including a launch gig at Rough Trade East on 15th November.
Swansea Sound are Hue Williams (The Pooh Sticks), Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey (Talulah Gosh, Heavenly, The Catenary Wires), Bob Collins (The Dentists), Ian Button, (Death in Vegas, Railcard).
Described as ‘an indiepop miracle’ by All Music, SWANSEA SOUND, combine a witty, sardonic, very contemporary lyrical attack with timeless guitar-pop songwriting.
