Prepare your ears for the brilliant, indie psych-pop sound of Imperial Daze, a London foursome of friends and fellow musicians (singer/guitarist Alex Cameron-Ward, guitarist/bassist Felix Rebaud-Sauer, keyboardist/singer Facundo Rodriguez and drummer Tom Sunney) who originally came together as AudioCommune, a less overt studio project to create and sell songs for advertising. After a fortuitous feature in a PS4 campaign, the group got enough money together to set up a recording hub in the basement of a warehouse in Battersea and thus Imperial Daze was born. The final piece of the puzzle was The Maccabees’ Rupert Jarvis, who seeing potential in the band, took Imperial Daze under his managerial wing and encouraged them to take their studio-born music out into the wider world. We’re very happy with that decision, as ‘Always Settling’ is the kind of writhing psychedelia that we simply love here at TMR. We’ll be filing this alongside Tempesst, Thandii and many more classy rolling rockers who perpetuate that seventies vibe. While the soundscape is a regression into the past, the song’s content is one of being stuck in a loop, as Cameron-Ward croons “Every day is the same, but I don’t feel the same” through the haze of retro guitars, tumbling beats and indie grooves. - Hannah Thacker