"Party" is the needle pulling London trio thredd

Formed in 2023 during a grizzly London winter, Will Lister, Max Winter, and Imogen Williams (AKA Imogen and the Knife) set up a makeshift studio turned writing bootcamp in Notting Hill’s Laylow, tasking themselves to create live music with little room to stew in the sound. The result, in their words, is “cold pop” — an immediate, sense-fuelled, and earthy composite of sharpened shoegaze and brooding indie-rock.

Extending their origin story as thredd, the trio have been frequent collaborators sharing a studio in South London for the last five years. As such, their solo projects are all laden with breadcrumbs of the others’ influence, cross-pollinating their crafts while honing their own individual tools: Lister’s trip-hop and drum heavy production, Winter’s ear for harmonies, and William’s arresting vocals.

By the same token, thredd is their sound dressed to the nines; the full-fat version, thick with plot, synths, and jagged edges. Their first single “Party” from their debut album, It’s Lovely, Come On In, welcomes listeners on their plight, and much like the way they entered the world, takes no time at all to make sure we’re accustomed to their emotional depths and signature, fuzzy, nonchalance. Its siren-like, yet oddly calm throughline hides a dark and atmospheric pull.

“I held court with a thousand of my deepest, darkest thoughts / Kept them buried at the bottom of my deepest, darkest drawer,” Williams sings. Clearly, thredd are comfortable with getting uncomfortable; opening chambers of their heart and coldly assessing what they find. They describe the album as intended for those, “up for a party, down for a cry,” and have imbued it with the same sense of the occult and obscurity as the Laylow’s basement, writing the tracks from deep within the belly of the building’s winding corridors and hidden rooms.