The Rose Bowl car park is maybe the biggest jumpscare for any passenger in Leeds. That tight corner only true veterans of the Parking Garage know they can clear. Today I am by myself, leaving this echo chamber with a rucksack on my back and on my front. I walk to this side entrance of Revolution on Millenium Square to be welcomed in by Mehul and one of Oporto’s recognisable cast - James. ICMP is a new Uni ive heard a bit about. You don't often see universities pop up like it's a nail bar, but here it is, tucked into the Electric Press. James shows us around, as he is a current student at said university.

The rooms are pretty state of the art: lovely marshall stacks, dedicated mixing rooms, big expensive mic stands (I refused to use any mic stand the whole session apart from the huge mechanical overhead ones - because I see myself as some sort of comedian). The whole space was pretty lovely, and because it's really small, James had access to pretty much anything he wanted all summer. Tess was waiting in the room when we got up there - we decided to go for the Glyn Johns to keep the definition of the whole kit - eventually, the three guitars would make that a pretty difficult task, but hey, that's lo-fi folks. Tess is used to playing in screamo bands, so the ride had to be dampened a smidge. A lovely sound, but this track is all about the guitars.

We filled out the low end with a pretty meaty bass sound from James, clangy, but lots in the trunk too. To round off the first bus (all aboard) Mehul laid down the rhythm - lots of sonic youth, two note playing, straight from the Cure manual. We bussed and went to get a meal deal from the Tesco in our proximity. For the second half of the session, we were joined by Ally and Luke, the wingers of the mix for today. Two guitars, both alike in dignity, starting with Ally. We focused more on a chorus sound with this one, going into a big muff for the build up.

Luke had this huge reverb and delay sound that felt a little 2000s to me, but the introduction of the Behringer Fuzz was a nice change of pace. That was my first ever pedal and I was convinced it was broken because every time I played an interval that wasn't the 4th or the 5th it sounded like shit. Welcome to Fuzzes my guy. So we had this huge soundscape, time to crown it with Mehul and Niamh, who’d been waiting patiently this whole time, filming and chilling out. I really enjoyed Mehul’s vocals, it reminded me a lot of Tony Jay, light and airy like John Lennon on Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Niamh, despite her quiet demeanor, has this powerful voice that broke the top of the arrangement very nicely. A great duo.

A lot of members, a lot of moving parts and comes together like clockwork - fuzzy and addictive. Equal parts shoegaze and indie rock songwriting. And they’re great live too! Just had them play our Party Time event at Key Club! They’re starting to do quite a few gigs for the first time in like a year, so don’t be a stranger!

For fans of: Slowdive, Sonic Youth and The Cure.