Garden Party’s second single In The Middle follows helps reinforce my view that this likable Wigan/Manchester based band will have a huge future. It’s another slab of pristine music which tells you all you need to know about confident, assured classic indie.

The song is a good companion piece to the debut track Tomorrow as the lyrics again deals with relationship strife. The song itself has a great banger pace and a beautifully classy almost retro outtro, where the band flash and sparkle in a burning fire of guitar leads. In The Middle is just total solid, and fans of mainstream guitar indie will completely groove to this song. I thought Tomorrow was a really strong song, but In The Middle moves the band up a level.

Liam Horrocks lead singer for Garden Party told me that In The Middle felt like the right one to release. He said: “We considered taking it softer and releasing a slower less heavier track, but I wrote this in lockdown and it felt right as the next one. In terms of lyrics, it almost feels like the sequel to Tomorrow”.

“It’s exciting to get it out now, because we might perhaps move on to some songs with more about social problems and stuff like that”.

It’s interesting to note that the lyrics for the song was originally planned for a much slower ballad, perhaps along the lines of the DMA’s or early Jake Bugg. Liam never quite felt comfortable with the song until the new chords fitted in, and it’s true that the lush soundscape ending to the song would never have existed without the extra punch and speed of the song.

Garden Party have the tune on sale at iTunes for a mere 59p so there’s a chance this indie banger can get into the charts. You know what you need to do.

Chris R

* Images taken from the band’s social media