NEW #58 House On Fire

 

It’s time for another addition to the slowly growing roster of artists that feature on Breaking More Waves under the title of ‘NEW’ because, quite obviously, they’re new.

This year has been the slowest year on the blog ever, but there’s still been some gems. From the punk-funk-disco-punch of The Queen’s Head (recently played and interviewed on Radio 1’s Jack Saunders show) to the sassy-r’n’b-pop of Flo who have now dropped their debut EP, to Southampton’s Caity Baser who recently sneaked into the UK top 100 singles, played Reading Festival on the BBC Introducing Stage and could (I think) easily become a regular on your internet streaming service of choice and radio.

According to Spotify our latest new diamond selection has just 239 monthly listeners. This is criminal. They deserve more. 

Why? Because House on Fire are purveyors of the sort of modern hooky pop the likes of Glass Animals make so successfully. Based in Liverpool, House On Fire consist of Tom Murray (vocals and programming), Josh Gorman (drums) and Jan Frost (guitar).

Their most recent single, Neighbourhood, one of only two they have on streaming services, is a slinky, buzzing, uplifting earworm that takes about one minute of playing to confirm its ear kissing friendliness. I had to check the writing credits to make sure it wasn’t a cover it sounded so familiar.

Geronimo, their debut, is more dancefloor friendly, with elements of electropop, funk and a hint of Years and Years in the sound as Tom sings of being ‘a keyboard warrior – modern day Geronimo’. 

Both songs are both rather good, but the question is, why is there so little online about them? There’s a tiny scattering of low-key blog posts |(including this one here) but otherwise nothing. They don’t even appear to have any social media (although there’s evidence of  now deleted Soundcloud and Instagram accounts). The only picture I can find of them is the one above – a poor quality shot taken in a pub somewhere. In fact, the only concrete thing I can find about House on Fire still existing as a going concern right now is that they are playing at Live at Leeds In The City festival in October. 

So maybe there’s more to follow? Keep your ears peeled.

House On Fire - Neighbourhood