Retirement Party & Carly Cosgrove

We’re stoked to bring you two of our favourite bands from the US DIY underground to London for the very first time.

Despite being a distinctly indie proposition, Chicago’s Retirement Party possesses the kind of melodic chops that hint at a youth basted in 90s MTV pop punk. The melodies may be heartfelt, but the lyrics are razor-sharp and disarmingly candid, and math-pop guitar melodies weave in and out of crunching power chords. Which is all a way of us saying; you’re going to have a great time.

Rising from the fiercely DIY Philadelphia underground, Carly Cosgrove graft achingly vulnerable lyrics atop a bed of mathy rhythms, intricate guitar work and a penchant for indie-rock cool meets emo authenticity. Their debut album, 2022’s See You In Chemistry, was the sound of figuring life out in real-time, tracing personal growth through anxiety, depression, and self-actualization – heavy subjects for a band originally formed as a low-stress side-project stopgap in 2018.

Their most recent record, ‘The Cleanest Of Houses Are Empty,’ is not only a comfort to all of us who keep a distinctly messy house, but to put it frankly, an absolute banger. From the stop-start polyrhythms of first single, “You Old Dog” and garage-rock sheen of “Random Dancing” and “What Are You, A Cop,” which sounds like Motion City Soundtrack filtering “Everlong” through their idiosyncratic rock tilt, ‘The Cleanest Of Houses…’ is the type of record Carly Cosgrove simply couldn’t have made last time – not musically, and certainly not emotionally.

And remember: London is a long way for self-funded US rock and roll bands to travel for a show, so you never know when or if it might happen again. Make sure you’re there when it does.

Presented by Pink Mist.

This is an 18+ event