The Cindys - The Cindys (2025)

There's so much familiar about the self-titled debut record by The Cindys, a five-piece outfit from Bristol, England—no song is ever more than a skip, hop and a jump away from a well-earned comparison to Beat Happening or early Pavement or the Velvet Underground. Yet the seven songs here also all sound incredibly fresh. Frontman Jack Ogborne has said his writing for The Cindys is more directly influenced by catchy C86 and early Flying Nun bands, partly as a way to exercise a different muscle than the ones used for his avant-garde work as Bingo Fury. (Check out Bats Feet for a Widow.) What a brilliant idea it was to include Naima Bock, the folky singer and guitarist formerly of Goat Girl, who has released two great records of her own on Sub Pop. On songs like the gently shuffling yet antsy "Eternal Pharmacy" and irresistibly jangling "Dry TV," Bock sweetly harmonizes along Ogborne's bone-dry baritone to sublimely off-kilter effect. "If It's Real" drifts slowly but doesn't feel like a ballad, per se, nor does unhurried "Marble Lobby": There is nothing fragile or twee or overly dramatic about either of them. Ogborne does pose as a romantic crooner for "Dish Water," trying a slightly higher register, and it's decently heady. Even more interesting, though, is the way "Isaac's Body" takes a moment to find its feet, like a newborn fawn, then quickly gathers speed—eventually reaching a Calvin Johnson level of calamity that gets paired with angelic backing vocals. And "Liquid Stitch" starts off awash in fuzzy guitar scribble and scrawl before settling into a meaty, surprisingly heavy groove. It feels, deliciously, like it was recorded on a Maxell cassette while listening to a college radio station in the mid-'80s.

A band called The Cindys sounds like something we’d like — and based on their debut EP (or mini-album, if you prefer), they sound exactly like a band we’d like. Across seven songs, this Bristol-based outfit blends the jangly melancholy of Flying Nun and Sarah Records with the lo-fi indie spirit of Matador and Drag City. The result? Dreamy, understated songs that quietly get under your skin.

The opening one-two of Eternal Pharmacy and Dry TV is pure slacker-pop bliss — the kind of double AA 7” single you wish existed. Then the tempo dips into slower, more contemplative territory: Marble Lobby is a lullaby for grown-ups, Jack Ogborne’s talk-sing delivery landing somewhere between late-night poetry and sleepy confession. Isaac’s Body builds beautifully from restraint to release, while closer Dish Water lingers like a half-remembered dream.

Featuring members of Belishas and Naima Bock’s band, The Cindys manage to make their modest sound feel rich and alive. It’s a record that sneaks up on you — hushed, haunting, and quietly confident.