You know Charley Stone, right? Charley’s in all the bands, and when she’s not busy being in all the bands she’s usually busy down the front at gigs, watching all the bands. And when she’s not busy being in, or watching, all the bands, she’s also in an actual band called The Actual Band, making great music that upholds the mission statements of all the bands (and the Actual Band!) that have been fortunate enough to have Charley as a member down the years.
After years of contributing to the work of others, Charley has finally found the time to record enough songs from a substantial repertoire to debut a first solo(ish) album. It will come as no surprise to anyone that LOUD WOMEN is finding a lot to enjoy in the release of Here Comes The Actual Band.
If you have been following Charley for any length of time – and I really hope you have – you will be familiar with most if not all of the songs here as she has performed them, either solo or with the Actual Band, in a live context. Charley has been stockpiling songs for this album for a few years and has also previously released stripped back or acoustic versions of a few of them, via Bandcamp. The full band versions of ‘Accidie’, ‘Hangover Song’, ‘Ghost’, ‘Not Your Number’ and ‘Does She Mention Me?’ are considerably more robust than Charley’s economically wistful home demos however, and while they retain the charm of those demos the Actual Band versions move all five songs to the upper echelons of premium power pop. Charley’s years of working with the likes of Salad, Sleeper and Desperate Journalist have definitely left a positive mark on the way her songs present, which can only be seen as a good thing for Charley and for us, too.
A catchy and witty ode to reluctant procrastination opens Charley’s album, and it’s the perfect curtain raiser for the high quality songs to come. Plans to turn over a new leaf and think positively in ‘Now’ are outlined with gleeful optimism, but soon regress to the level of
“I’m getting up every day at 6AM…Well, I’m gonna get up by 11AM”
We’ve all been there, let’s face it. It’s a fun song and a funny song, and the sets the bar high for what is to follow, but it is by no means the only highlight here. The recent single ‘Free Food’ (“A song about…free food”, Charley helpfully informs us at the outset) offers helpful hints about foraging and spiders over an irrepressibly circular guitar riff that stays in your mind long after the song is over.
The aforementioned ‘Does She Mention Me?’ is prettiness personified, and a great showcase for Charley’s plaintively attractive vocal style – an ‘aftermath of breakup’ song that one again places most of us in a familiar position, regardless of how we identify. In the days when people bought records rather than streaming them, Charley would have been on Top Of The Pops with this one, it’s that catchy and commercial.
There obviously isn’t room to go into detail about every track here but if those three are not enough to encourage your custom, why not try Charley’s most recent single ‘Better With You’ which is a (sort of) companion piece in some ways to ‘Does She Mention Me?’ lyrically, and which gives Charley a chance to break out the kind of grungy, filthy guitar solo that you will be familiar with if you have seen an Actual Band gig – and while we are on the subject of Charley’s rhythm pals, let’s give a big hand to Mar K (aka our own Kris Smith) on bass and Lily Rae on drums for their rock solid contribution here and on stage; they surely deserve it…
Or maybe the album’s urgent, slightly-delic closer ‘A Scream’ will float your boat and leave you wanting to go back to track one and start the whole enjoyable listening process again. There is every reason why it should, and no reason why it shouldn’t. That’s what Here Comes The Actual Band is, in a nutshell – an album that you will want to listen to repeatedly and frequently without skipping any tracks, as those not detailed here are every bit as good as the ones that are.
Charley has manufactured just 300 copies of this world-beater , which are available via Bandcamp and at all Actual Band and solo gigs until Charley runs out of copies, basically. Please do not leave it until she does; you will be doing your collection a great disservice if you don’t add this at your earliest possible convenience.
Charley and the Actual Band and Charley solo will be gigging in June, July and beyond in support of the album, including a show on Thursday of this week at The Ivy House in SE London and an official launch show at the Cavendish Arms on June 27th, where they will be supported by Sassyhiya.
For details of other upcoming gigs, follow Charley on Instagram | X | Facebook | Youtube | Bandcamp