With a breadth of songwriting as wide as the Atlantic miles that separate their hometown Liverpool and the consecrated concrete jungle of New York, Sugarmen are like a soundbite straight out of the Big Apple’s diverse underground, all clever art school cosmic cool and surging memorable melodies. Spawning intelligently crafted nebulaic little numbers, the four piece’s faster tracks are deliciously danceable and infectious, the slower ones all inky, melancholic and unforgettable. There’s something a little glorious Glasgow Postcard post-punk about the Liverpool band with squeezes of Orange Juice here and there too.
2015 saw them play two Hyde Park shows with Blur and The Who and share stages with Sleaford Mods, Hooton Tennis Club, Deer Hunter, Metronomy and British Sea Power, reinforcing their growing reputation for high octane live sets, driven by charismatic cool and electric chemistry. A momentous year but Sugarmen have got their eyes set to the future, continuing to write intelligent, existential songs propelled by compelling vocals, blissful and buzzing angular guitars, and a watertight rhythm section.