The debut E.P. Rise, from Manchester ensemble, North, quietly emerged from its wrappings at the start of 2023. No pomp, no fuss, just slipping into being, like something soft-bodied and vulnerable slipping out of it carapace amidst a hard, unforgiving world.

North are a five piece band based in the north of the city fronted by Stuart Wolfenden, a face that will be familiar to many following his years treading the boards, walking the cobbles and appearing in great British films like Dead Man’s Shoes. This is no vanity project of some thesp though, this is a record about thoughts and feelings that are usually kept inside the darker places and not usually for public consumption. It is about the types of life choices that will erode vanity and show it to be character trait preserved for others, not our Stuart. Maybe once, but not anymore.

Rise consists of three tracks, the opener, Recovery, sets the band’s stall out; no Friday night bangers here, this way leads only to truth and that soft bodied vulnerability I mentioned above. Do not abandon hope though, this is an uplifting song that foreshadows what is instore as the record progresses, brutally honest songwriting and subtly superb musicianship. Track two, Manchester, is about home, the promises of being young in the coolest city on Earth and what that feels like when you are older, wiser and perhaps, not as cool anymore.

The final track on the E.P. is called “You”, a song of love and hope, and I feel North have saved the best till last here. The guitar work is sublime in a Knopfler or Gilmore style, bluesy progressions, expressive note bends and emotional sustains but with an understated, economic beauty, it is the star of the show here. The band and the song itself allow plenty of space for the guitar to connect with the listener too, which I love. My only criticism of this track, at just over 6 minutes long, it is just too short! I didn’t want it to end.

Rise is a quietly brutal record, it shows the bands vulnerabilities but at the same time it tells us that it is good to be vulnerable; other people are vulnerable too and if we believe in each other, well, we might just get through this. I would love to see North play and I would want it to be in a tiny, smoke filled room at about 2 in the morning after a day of drowning my sorrows, that would be just magic.

You can catch North playing when they headline the Stone Sugar Jamboree on the 15th of April, you can stream the songs from all the usual places and find them on facebook.

Daniel Rowley
#MusicSceneWales
@MusicSceneWales
musicscenewalescymru@gmail.com