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Ex-Vöid: In Love Again review – all of indie rock is here


This latest iteration of Lan McArdle and Owen Williams’s Joanna Gruesome turns their lush vocals, guitar heroics and recent heartbreaks into melodic gold

Almost exactly a decade ago, I reviewed a tremendous band playing live in a basement in Dalston, east London; a venue so off-piste that condensation ran down the exposed light fittings. Joanna Gruesome’s twin frontpeople, Lan McArdle (they/them) and Owen Williams (he/him), shared vocals; they sang deliciously, apart and together, in keeping with late 80s indie pop stylings – early My Bloody Valentine was just one touchpoint. All of indie rock seems to be contained within these 10 tracks – from the 80s to the present day, grungy and sweet, as if Johnny Marr were playing guitar in Sugar – alchemised into buzzy, saturated, melodic gold.

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