London four-piece Burntwood will release their debut full-length album, Burntwood, on 4 July 2025. Independently released and self-titled, the 11-track record leans into a blend of americana, post-rock, and alternative, with layered vocal lines, atmospheric textures and sharp songwriting forming its backbone.
Burntwood emerged in 2021, reshaped from the ashes of Modern Hinterland. With a new line-up and a fresh sense of direction, the band took what felt like a reset: “setting fire to a fresh pile of kindling,” as they described it. That energy pulses throughout the record, which flips between driving, guitar-forward moments and more ambient explorations.
The core trio—Chris Hornsby (lead vocals, guitar), Simon Shippey (vocals, guitar, keys), and Tim Thackray (vocals, bass)—shared songwriting duties, with John Singh on drums. Their collaborative approach results in a stylistic range that remains cohesive. “We’ve played together for a few years now, but creating this record was essentially an experiment in relearning what it was to be in a band,” said Hornsby. “We were swapping hooks, verses and ideas, experimenting with new structures and reworking songs in new styles and moods.”
Thematically, the album grapples with the tension between nature and technology, communication and disconnection, climate grief and human persistence.
While it doesn’t announce these themes overtly, they’re embedded in the tone and lyrics—digitally warped melodies carry analog warmth; pastoral references cut through electronic edges.
The record’s heart lies in how these ideas come together—through shifting dynamics, collaborative writing, and the push to reestablish connection: to each other, to their instruments, and to a world that feels increasingly fractured.
A full track-by-track commentary from bassist Tim Thackray is available now on IDIOTEQ.
Track by Track breakdown of ‘Burntwood’ by Tim Thackray, bassist in Burntwood.
1. Hiding in Plain Sight
Sometimes the sequencing of records is hard, but I think we always had a good idea this one would be the album opener. It began with our guitarist Simon’s opening riff and took shape from there, and is a good representation of our mash-up of americana and indie styles.
2. Landline
If I’m correct this is one of the earliest tracks we had ready for the album and it’s been a staple of our live set for a while. Lyrically, it explores the social alienation that our culture’s always-on approach to modern communication can cause, with unsettling lyrics blending analog and digital themes. We leant into this backdrop with prickly guitar riffs and brooding synths, whilst mixed things up with the middle eight – which is a flash of static down the line.
3. Loophole
Potentially one of our darker songs on the record, so grab your torches. John was playing around with propulsive, Krautrock-style drumming which forms the backdrop of this number. Simon was also increasingly experimenting with his keys and synth in the practice sessions, which gave us this hooky intro.
4. Wheelspin
We follow this with a ray of light, with the bright and breezy ‘Wheelspin’, which certainly leans into our love of americana and alt-country. Written by Simon, it was pretty fully-formed structure wise and it was a pleasure finessing in the studio. Fun fact, the instrumental version you hear is actually slowed down a couple of BPM, giving it a warmer, mellower vibe.
5. First Past The Post
Not in fact about political voting systems but in fact ruminating on life and death (perhaps this is our dark number on further consideration), this one veers between laid-back lounge lizard and brooding desert rock. We had a few variations of the ending, before landing on a wall of guitars, spacey synths and as many vocals as we could muster.
6. Fear Is The Sound
This one dilutes the very real, and very scary climate crisis and tries to distill into a glistening rock and roll number. There’s an immediacy to ‘Fear is the Sound’ which felt like a direct response to lockdown and the months of ambient playlists and remote life we’d been living through. Sometimes you just need to play things loud to loosen the mind.
7. Indicator Species
Taking its name from Simon’s love of fungi (indicator species are organisms that can reflect the health of an ecosystem or the presence of specific environmental conditions) ‘Indicator Species’ again looks at mankind’s devastating impact on the environment in the name of progress. This one is sung by myself, to give Chris’ vocal chords a breather.
8. Forever Communications
Another track questioning our own and society’s strained relationship with the little computers in our pockets, we dove head first into a shiny world of synths on this one and came up for air covered in ‘Forever Communications’. Fun fact number two, I wrote the initial lyrics to this track whilst walking around my local park.
9. First Arrow
You know those ambient wormholes I mentioned? Well, they certainly left their mark. Originating from a jam of, you guessed it, ‘Second Arrow’, we soon realised that the two worked best when they were together. The calm before the storm.
10. Second Arrow
My fingers are compelled to write the word stomper when describing this track, and I can’t argue with their logic. Whilst the song itself deals with the futility of dwelling on negative experiences, it is shaped in a musical narrative of crunching guitars and pounding drums, before everyone loses their marbles in the last minute.
11. The Unknown
We wanted to end the record on a more reflective note, a soothing reaction to the chaos we had left behind. We had the bones for ‘The Unknown’ pretty early on, and it was a song that came to life in the studio, as we were able to layer extra flourishes and create a calming soundscape. Thanks for listening.
