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Slsm Dunk Presents…
LOVE IS NOISE is an exercise in empathy, both lyrically and musically. The band’s Century Media debut, To live in a different way, straddles the roughshod riffing and volume of their DIY origins while embracing shoegaze-facing melodiousness, hints of Brit-pop, and a beating (and bleeding) heart erupting from Cam Humphrey’s plaintive vocals.
Co-produced by the band with engineer Kel Pinchin and mixed by John Markson (Drug Church, Drain, The Story So Far), To live in a different way is a startling debut album. From the opening track, “Devotion,” where Humphrey’s voice invokes passion and positivity, to the second track, “Soft Glow,” the album’s first single where he croons, “You are the one that shines on me,” before launching into a throat-shredding exaltation of emotion amidst a crushing battery of slashing guitars and battering drums, it’s clear from the onset that LOVE IS NOISE’s heartbeat is a thunderous one.
Taking their name from the song “Love Is Noise” by The Verve (“That’s love in an accepting, inviting way,” says Humphrey), Cam and former Guitarist Tom almost immediately started releasing material, which quickly grabbed the attention of Fever 333/letlive frontman Jason Aalon Butler, who signed the band to his 333 Wreckords imprint. “Jason found us online, randomly,” says Cam. “Jason is a huge inspiration for us musically, but also, to me being a person of color as a frontman in a musical space where not a lot of us exist.” The 333-issued 2022 EP Euphoria, Where Were You? quickly won the band acclaim, as did their initial spate of live shows, the first being a packed headline show at London’s Black Heart that won LOVE IS NOISE an immediate reputation as a rising force within the U.K. scene.
In keeping with LOVE IS NOISE’s ethos of not merely going through the motions, early showings from the band were few and far between, but moreover, passionate, and powerful. “We want every gig to feel like it means something,” says Humphrey. “In a sense, we want every gig to feel like a motion picture. To feel like you’re seeing something special, a moment in time that may not come again.” It was on the strengths of those early releases and live shows with the likes of Heriot and Dayseeker that LOVE IS NOISE caught the attention of Century Media Records, who signed the band in 2023. “It may seem like a new thing and a fresh band, but individually, we’ve all been working towards this for almost ten years,” says Tom. “It feels like we all had a point to prove, but now we don’t have to prove anything.”
To live in a different way is that coming-of-age album for Love Is Noise. “We put so much effort into this record that the band almost broke up,” says Cam. “It was the middle of winter, it was freezing and it was raining. In spite of that, we created a positive, cathartic record at one of the darkest times in our lives.” Songs like “Sunshine” continue LOVE IS NOISE’s lean towards more evocative melodies, while “Evelyn” brings in spare, acoustic strumming without losing sight of the band’s post-hardcore origins. That said, “Jawbreaker” proves that the trio isn’t reticent to show their aggression, waxing a chaotic, metallic sensibility amidst the din. “My goal when we started LOVE IS NOISE was to make some change in the alternative space,” says Cam. “It’s taken us three years to create a piece of art that could do that, and we’ve finally gotten there with this record.”