New Band of the Week: Idle Tongues

Cornish band Idle Tongues have honed an engaging modern hard rock sound that aims to take the listener on a rollercoaster of emotions and they describe as “emotive, punchy and dynamic.”

The quartet is formed of Cornwall natives Natalie, Tyler and Will along with Rhys, who moved to the area to study music at Falmouth University. Natalie and Tyler have known each other since college, where they formed a band that played at the Boardmasters Festival in Newquay in 2016. When that band disbanded, they started a covers band with Will that played local pubs, before bringing Rhys on board to begin Idle Tongues.

And on the sound they’ve crafted since, Tyler told us: “We’ve taken a lot of inspiration from a lot of different bands. Take the aggression of Halestorm with the angst of Paramore and mix it up with the intricate instrumentation of Alter Bridge and Biffy Clyro.”

The result of that is the band’s debut single Crashing Down, which was released at the end of last month. It opens up with a light guitar lick that gives way to a chunkier riff and a distant floaty synth, which drop into Natalie’s engaging vocals leading a mellow opening verse. The pace picks up as it kicks into a heavier chorus “We can’t fight this anymore, Cannot keep on slamming doors, Let’s sort this out, Before our lives come crashing down, Let’s just give this one more try or turn around and say our last goodbye.”

It drops into light guitars and vocals through another laid-back verse, which feeds into a chorus that switches into the first person. It slows down again with light choral vocals and instrumentals, before exploding into heavy cries of “How has this now come to light, I’ve been saying it from the outright, Don’t lie to me and say you don’t know, My god that’s such a low blow,” then a big scream tees up heavy guitars and a cheeky little solo to bring the track to a powerful conclusion.

On the track’s release, Tyler said: “Words cannot describe how good it feels to finally release Crashing Down. We started the recording process for that song back in June 2022, so we’ve been sitting on it for a while! It was pretty nerve-racking building up to the release. Having self-recorded, produced, and mixed the song, it was important for us to have a strong debut to give a good first impression as to who we are.

“The reception has been amazing and we’ve had an overwhelming amount of positive feedback from people! For anyone who is yet to hear Crashing Down, expect to go on a rollercoaster of emotions that you think is heading in one direction but derails in to another.” Check it out in the video here:

Crashing Down was the first of four singles to be released over the next few months. And on the following three, Tyler told us: “Crashing Down was just the beginning and only a taster of what’s to come. The next single is probably the heaviest track we’ve written so far. It’s a bit more raw compared to Crashing Down and we can’t wait for people to hear it! The other two tracks are ones that we can already hear people screaming at the top of their lungs.”

Other than the bands Tyler mentioned previously, the Idle Tongues sound is also inspired by the likes of Mammoth WVH, Alter Bridge, Biffy Clyro and Halestorm.

And on what inspires them to write music, Natalie explains: “I tend to get most of my inspiration when I’m in a tough and stressful situation. The pressure usually causes a whirlwind of new ideas to spin around my head.”

Idle Tongues’ initial singles batch should be released over the next six to eight months. They’ve also got a packed schedule that includes gigs – starting with supporting our former NBOTW Mother Vulture at The Cornish Bank in Falmouth on Thursday (5 October, tickets here) – recording and making new music and, intriguingly, the tease of “something big planned” for next May or June.

You can follow Idle Tongues on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and YouTube.