London’s Cagework add nuance and emotion to the distortion on "Wilson"

Largely reliant on its simplicity for effect (gentle guitar melody, loud verse, loud chorus, repeat), Cagework highlight they’re capable of a skill trailblazed by artists such as Husker Du; making raw distortion sound emotional. Vocalist Sam Bedford yelps over a stubborn base of drums and guitars, yet there’s an almost perverse sense of nuance amid the noise, a clear notion of melancholic defiance rising from the cacophonous instrumentation.

Maybe it’s the dissonance to their sound, or perhaps it’s the frank way in which Bedford sings. Whatever the reason, it’s there. And on this absorbing and strangely emotive showing, we’re all the better for it.

“That song is about someone who is lonely, isolated and how it’s probably because of their values, or certainly how stubbonly they’re sticking to those values,” Bedford says. “It’s about accepting that sometimes you need to change how you think about yourself and recognise when the choices you’re making are making you unhappy”.