Bringing together the stranger side of '90s guitar music, post-punk and shoegaze from both sides of the Atlantic, Ain't expertly toe the line between nostalgia and ingenuity. Comprised of George Ellerby (Guitar/Vox), Ed Randall (Guitar), Hanna Baker Darch (Vox), Chapman Ho (Bass Guitar), and Hoe Lockstone (Drums), Ain't's compulsion to create seeps through with urgency and heft. Their debut single "Oar", written in the midst of the pandemic, meditates on the swarming frustrations that stem from losing faith in those in charge. Baker's vocals elastic-snap between a darkened, sardonic reverie and a spitting swell, capturing both the self-protection of apathy and an ever-bubbling, eruptive anger. The band's line-up produces a sonic scowl, piecing together an incandescent hum that borders industrial noise and a lush, slow-pop dreamscape. "When the promises come unstuck, I'm left to steady the oar", Baker laments, leaving Ain't to pick up the pieces. Ain't built their songs like seasons. Honouring both the calm and the storm, their lustral offerings bend toward introspective abundance and communal clarity. There's a direct catharsis here, like a sonic sigh, that marks Ain't as a vivid and boundless force.
