Mumbles

Lead single ‘Everything Just Sprawls’ is a euphoric ode to cardio and dissociation. Yoga, long-distance running and cycling are all explored as ways to escape the self and numb the brain. Subject meets form as the band act in unison, with vocals, guitar, bass and clarinet all playing the same yearning melody. And yet, even in the midst of heavy exercise, the world gets in the way. Frontperson Jacob Nicholas uses being knocked off their bike by a car to reconnect with reality, accepting that injuries and crises are part of what make us fully-realised adults. Musically too, Mumbles are dragged back into the real world by Clare and Liam of Cambridge indie horde Tape Runs out. Clare joins Jacob singing on the swooning chorus, and floods the bliss-out bridge with violins, while Liam’s extra guitars recontextualise the second verse and chorus, taking the track out of its monomaniacal devotion to the same musical line. Hannah Watt’s video follows this commitment to physical repetition (and the band’s collective love of cycling), creating an ecstatic celebration of two-wheeled living.

Fresh from a run of February UK headline tour dates, Manchester experimental power trio Mumbles are pleased to reveal the video for ‘Everything Just Sprawls’, which is out now.

The track is the lead single from their hugely exciting debut album, In The Pocket Of Big Sad, which will be released on 29th March 2024 via Divine Schism.

Produced by the band and mastered by Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier, In the Pocket of Big Sad is without a doubt the lushest, most scintillating, mid-frequency-heavy bedroom epic you’ll ever hear. The album will be released on vinyl and tape, and will be available to stream and download on all good digital service providers.

Following on from previously-released album tracks ‘JD Sports’, ‘How Do Happy’ and ‘Violence and Stupidity’, the video for ‘Everything Just Sprawls’ from director Hannah Watt follows a commitment to physical repetition (and the band’s collective love of cycling), creating an ecstatic celebration of two-wheeled living.

Commenting on the track, frontperson Jacob Nicholas (they/them) said: “This is a song about how I really love cardio, and how I try to use it to escape my brain and the world—I love to dissociate! For better or for worse though, even in the midst of heavy exercise, life gets in the way. So really it’s a song about accepting how traumas, struggles and my front teeth that got broken when a car knocked me off my bike have all shaped the person I am now. Exercise is really great for the head though, 10/10 would recommend if your brain doesn’t work properly.”

“Also, It’s an absolute thrill to have two of my best friends, Liam and Clare from Tape Runs Out play on it too. Their vocals, violins and guitars really recontextualise the song, dragging it out of its monomaniacal commitment to the riff. Their friendship during the period this song is about and was written really got me out of my own head and into the real world too, so it means a lot to have them play on the recording.”

Mumbles have been gaining a strong reputation for the 400mph chaos of their live shows, with dates supporting Deerhoof, Melt Banana, and Horse Lords. Their live performance throws their joyous, desperate, beautiful and chaotic music into a maelstrom of energy, with something for anyone who enjoys emo, noise rock, folk, ambient and/or free jazz.

Imagine an unhinged emo Deerhoof fronted by James Acaster, if Bill Orcutt inexplicably teamed up with Porridge Radio, or some insufferable collaboration between Sea Power and Xiu Xiu—all open-tuned guitars, major keys and bursts of noise—but also like none of those things, as Mumbles are ultimately entirely their own beast.


Debut album In The Pocket Of Big Sad is released 29th March 2024 via Divine Schism

Mumbles are:

Oli Knight (he/him) - Drums
Jacob Nicholas (they/them) - Vocals, guitars, bass, keys, viola, saxophone, drum machines, samples, percussion, field recordings, programming, mixing
Tristan O’Leary (he/him) - Vocals, clarinet, bass clarinet, recorder

More info:
Diving headfirst into the chaos of late-capitalist life, Mancunian power-trio Mumbles ask the small questions: How do we be good people at the end of the world? How do we even survive? What the fuck is actually going on? Inner worlds and systems too big to see overwhelm all the time, but friendship, community, and the ecstatic joy lurking in the mundane can get us through.

Written after years of life-threatening/changing illness for frontperson Jacob Nicholas (they/them), In the Pocket of Big Sad is a sprawling attempt to chart re-entering a declining world. Alongside drummer Oli Knight (he/him) and clarinettist Tristan O’Leary (he/him), Mumbles emerge as a shred-heavy, turbocharged unit, powering through the agony, the ecstasy, and the more agony of learning how to be a human being in all of this.

Incorporating elements of emo, noise rock, folk, ambient and free jazz, In the Pocket of Big Sad defies easy categorisation, but is ultimately just double-time indie rock with ideas above its station. The record is joyous, desperate, intimate and widescreen, often at the same time.

Augmenting the 400mph chaos of their live shows with maximalist arrangements, the album is covered in Tristan’s woodwinds, and frequently triple-figure layers of keys, strings, trumpets and percussion from Jacob and a host of collaborators, including Cambridge best friends Tape Runs Out. This sense of community, collaboration and commitment to placing Mumbles in the wider world is best shown by the raft of extra vocalists, perhaps most notably Toronto’s Porridge (he/she/they), who rocks up on four tracks to steal the show.

Opener ‘How Do Happy?’ is the album’s mission statement; a skronky, brassy burst of confusion and longing for connection. Ragers like ‘JD Sports’ and ‘This Lamb Wants Attention’ keep up the yearning, channelling heroes Deerhoof into noodling, labyrinthine structures. Meanwhile, more tender tracks like ‘Everything Just Sprawls’ and ‘Violence & Stupidity’ take a more traditional sonic turn, echoing inspirations like Girlpool and Beirut.

The melancholy commitment to cardio and dissociation of ‘Sprawls’ is shattered by the optimism of the David Graeber and Urusla K Le Guin-referencing ‘Violence & Stupidity’. “A winter is not an ending, all will bloom again” – we may not know what a better world will look like, but it will come in time. All of this leads up to the set-ending one-two gut punch of ‘Skejbyparken 2, st.’ and ‘Talking to Plants’.

The former obliquely explores the origins of illness and trauma in barely a minute, while the monolithic latter maps the rising and falling nature of recovery (and bags of cans in the park) over nineteen. Moving from pastoral indie to complete chaos, collapsing into free jazz ambience before climbing out again to an overwhelming climax, it’s an entire record in a song. The final blowout is pure catharsis, with Jacob’s repeated declaration that “I am scared, but glad to be alive” taken up by three friends over layers of fuzz and trumpets. A fanfare for living through this. A commitment to friends, to community, to healing ourselves and the world we inhabit.

Written, recorded and mixed agonisingly over almost four years by the band, and inexplicably mastered by Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier (he/him), ‘In the Pocket of Big Sad’ is the lushest, most mid frequency-heavy bedroom epic you’ll ever hear.