REVIEW: Cinder Path’s debut single ‘Fall Forward’
How does a new band grab the attention of listeners who have instant access to more music than they could hear in ten lifetimes via a device in their pocket? While strategies like jumping on Insta & TikTok trends, exhaustive social media plans, and carefully curated photoshoots abound, one timeless approach remains: release a debut single that encapsulates your sound in three ear-catching minutes and demands repeats. Simple, right?
Listen to ‘Fall Forward,’ the inaugural release from Sheffield’s Cinder Path, and you might think so. Singer, guitarist, and songwriter Daniel Whitehouse (formerly of Fights and Mabel Love) describes it as a “statement of intent,” and the track immediately lives up to that claim. We’re dropped right into an infectious Neu!-esque motorik groove, driving basslines underpinning shimmers of reverb-drenched guitar. Fans of shoegaze and post-punk will feel immediately at home.
As the track builds, textural synths and guitars subtly interweave, each new element placed with a quiet confidence that speaks to Cinder Path’s nascent assuredness in their melodic, melancholic sound. Where other bands might be tempted to push every hook to the forefront, ‘Fall Forward’’s arrangement allows everything the perfect amount of space, earning, rather than demanding, your attention.
The Cure and Interpol are acknowledged influences, and fans of shoegaze contemporaries like bdrmm will find familiar elements. What drives those repeat listens? Whitehouse’s understated, intimate delivery lends a genuine, emotive warmth to some genuinely catchy vocal melodies (the repeated refrain of “come back to earth/it’ll be all right” is a particular earworm). Bassist Angela Holland and drummer Dave Timmons deserve credit too, creating a feverish rhythmic intensity that ensures not a second of ‘Fall Forward’’s three minutes feels wasted.
In a genre where grand, widescreen soundscapes often risk becoming overwrought, Cinder Path achieve the opposite: you're left wanting more. Happily, with new releases on the way and a debut show at Yellow Arch Studios on December 5th, there’s plenty to look forward to from this exciting new trio.
You can listen to Fall Forward on Cinder Path’s Spotify here. Tickets to their upcoming debut show at Yellow Arch are available here.
Words: Dave Cuthbertson
