“We all met at Kingston University through music and eventually ended up living together and writing songs,” says Chris of five-piece Life Undone, explaining the creation of the ambient punk, often macabre and altogether atmospheric ‘Clandestine’ EP. “Sam and Conor have known each other for years and are usually the ones to come up with song templates. These are then brought to the rest of the band and expanded through rehearsing/jamming together in our flat. Any one of us will then bring a rough draft of some lyrics, which are then worked on as a group.”
“There’s no message as such. It’s just about being broke and frustrated living as musicians in London,” Chris continues. “We went with the name ‘Clandestine’ for our EP because we kept the band relatively quiet when we first started and always worked alone. We didn’t want anyone to know about us until we were ready to play shows and had decent material to release. We only really announced ourselves as a band when we put out preliminary demos and played our first show at the Fighting Cocks.”
Now ready to properly make themselves known, their music retains the subtle reserve that has brought them this far, dominated by understated ambiance and heavy guitars. It’s also reflective of the band as a whole. “‘Clandestine’ is a stand out track for all of us,” Chris admits. “We love playing it and feel it represents us well as a band. As individuals, our music taste varies a fair amount and the softer, ambient intro into the dark, stabbed guitar parts represents us reaching a healthy understanding within our songwriting.”
‘Clandestine’ is available to purchase via BandCamp. Life Undone, who are already working on a new record, will be playing a release show at the Amersham Arms in New Cross on Friday 5th Feb with End of the Trail Records.