Blue Bendy

Praise for ‘So Medieval’ so far

“A record that surprises at every turn and forces the listener to pay close attention” NME (4/5)

“Like an audiobook during a car crash” The Line of Best Fit (8/10)

“Blue Bendy’s debut is one which rewards the time spent with it in spades” DIY (4/5)

“Let me assure you that this glorious inversion of guitar pop as we know it has been worth the wait” CLASH (8/10)

“It’s a pleasingly unpredictable and singular debut” UNCUT (8/10)

Ahead of their hotly anticipated debut album arriving tomorrow, Blue Bendy are sharing a video for the title-track, ‘So Medieval’. In the video, the band do indeed go fully medieval as they don tabards, chainmail and armour to cryptically lip-sync and move between swordplay and genuflection.

On the song, singer Arthur Nolan explains that “it was all written in a flurry of self-flagellation. Some break ups go especially bad. You can write about them nicely. I probably did neither here but I tried to redeem someone. Not sure who.”

Director Michael Julings on making the video: “We had a fun day. Some directors yearn for the glory days of million dollar budgets with 800 backing dancers and sprawling central Manhattan locations. We get much more of a kick out of what joy we can achieve with one rented suit of armour and a smoke machine. The band nailed it. You look into their eyes and genuinely see the fear of battle. Most of them have seen too many winters, or too few.”

Blue Bendy are heading out on a headline UK tour including their largest headline show to date at The Garage in London on 9 May and a special Album Launch Show in the band’s hometown of Scunthorpe to celebrate the release tomorrow. Full tour dates and festivals listed below.

‘So Medieval’ captures all the musical foibles, idiosyncrasies and departures from the norm which Blue Bendy have displayed across their previous releases. Expressing their sound over the course of a full record for the first time, ‘So Medieval’ is an explosive mix of genre, atmosphere and emotions. The end result is something rare for a new band: a debut album which is as experimental as it is confident and assured, as tender as it is visceral, as quiet as it is loud, as bloody as it is teary.

Building on the momentum of their 2022 EP ‘Motorbike’ Blue Bendy are stretching out into vast new sonic terrain. Their following two singles ‘Mr Bubblegum’ - a joyously intricate piece of experimental guitar pop - and the frenetic, propulsive yet incredibly deft sprawl of ‘Cloudy’, saw the band reach new heights creatively. Of the former, The Guardian enthused: “indie is riddled with addled, verbose frontmen right now, but none so rapturous as Blue Bendy’s Arthur Nolan: here he dances all over splayed post-rock and micro-cataclysms.” 

Having toured as main support for Squid and Cola as well as playing packed out tents at festivals like End Of The Road and Green Man, Blue Bendy have struck a balance between being obviously skilled musicians, writing complex, layered, overlapping and ambitious compositions, while also utilising space, breadth, and restraint. Their music is bursting with dynamism, exploring push-pull dynamics that results in something ceaselessly unpredictable. 

Blue Bendy's highly anticipated debut album ‘So Medieval’ is being released via The state51 Conspiracy on 12 April

Expressing their sound over the course of a full record for the first time, the album is an explosive mix of genre, atmosphere and emotions. The end result is something rare for a new band: a debut album which is as experimental as it is confident and assured, as tender as it is visceral, as quiet as it is loud, as bloody as it is teary.

Pitchfork’s “most anticipated albums of Spring 2024…inscrutable and compelling”

Clash Magazine 8/10 "glorious inversion of guitar pop”

The Guardian "The most underrated band in London"

Uncut 8/10 “frantic yet thrilling”

Stereogum "Blue Bendy make a kind of arch, skeletal post-punk that owes as much to King Krule as to any traditional band"

DIY Magazine ★★★★ “keeps the listener on their toes at every turn”

The Quietus “rising London newcomers Blue Bendy, a band of contrasts, subversions, and hidden depths”