Introducing: Chartreuse

Purveyors of a sort of jazzy rock that can be singled out for its absolute confidence and soulful beauty, Birmingham’s Chartreuse could well be your new favourite band. Their debut song Three Days is a delight; it’s a tune that sneaks in with a soft weariness at midnight through the back entrance, but then lingers around whilst it seduces with its subtle and sultry touches, building to a powerful climax. Michael Wagstaff’s croon is near jaded in places and his introspectively vulnerable musings are almost perfect as he sings of having to wait three days until he can “spend my life with you.” It’s a really short space of time of course, but he makes it sound like an eternity. Talking of time, Three Days clocks in at nearly 6 minutes - this one isn’t designed for your average short attention span streamer, but for the rest of us it’s worth sticking with.

Named after a colour that supposedly cannot be seen when printed (which is also a French liqueur discovered by monks some 900 years ago) Chartreuse consists of Harriet Wilson (vocals/piano), Michael Wagstaff (vocals/guitar/piano), Perry Lovering (bass), and Rory Wagstaff (drums). The band played their debut headline show in Birmingham last December and if you want to catch them early you can find them supporting the equally jazzy and mellow Puma Blue in London on 30th October. Three Days is taken from the band’s debut EP which is due later this year. 

Chartreuse - Three Days