No need to introduce yourselves like that, guys. You’re on every other tour and festival lineup going these days; we know who you are.
There’s not been a moment of quiet around unpeople since their debut EP dropped in 2024, at the very latest. They’re alt-rock’s second coming, the narrative says, thrusting the sound into a new age of enlightenment. And you know what? It’s hard to argue when something gives off this much Reuben energy. In fact, it might be the closest to a Reuben album that any non-Lenman-affiliated work has come…maybe ever.
What’s more, the lineage of unpeople has always been leading to this. Jake Crawford and Luke Caley’s previous band Press To MECO (as underappreciated as they were in their time) were best known for delectable harmonies and melodies amid slamming post-hardcore. Then came unpeople’s first show at 2000trees in 2023, the day after Press To MECO’s last one. Finally, that self-titled EP was already brilliant enough to have multiple tracks brought back for this album. The picture painted is not just of a fully-formed new band, but one of the most comprehensive examples of such in recent memory.
The resultant we are unpeople is a culmination of all of those things, tied together by the band’s awareness of them. This isn’t a ‘critical’ debut full-length; it’s built for success no matter what, and unpeople know exactly how to make it earned. When clouds begins as a humble pop-rock duet between Crawford and bassist Em Lodge before its rock-hard post-hardcore riff lopes into view, you’ve got the entire album’s rubric distilled into its first 30 seconds.
It’s an addictive angle, too, which never diminishes across we are unpeople. There’s never a danger of tapering off or prematurely running its course; this is as airtight as alt-rock gets. What helps is the pretty remarkable feel of uniqueness, at least among this field. There’s a lot of familiar parts here—2010s Britrock; 2000s post-hardcore; the pop-rock that spawned from both—but in the current climate, there’s no one else arranging them in such an inspired way. It makes for an album that’s completely swollen with hooks, because that’s near enough all it has. Even the most innocuous moment or beat is crafted to never relinquish its grip, and it’s a quality that unpeople naturally milk for all its advantage.
It’s kind of a marvel that it’s so foolproof, but it’s quite literally never not applicable. Take the screams on bottle it, where, even being sandwiched between two of the catchiest choruses known to man, the “la la la”s backing it up do wonders for keeping its shape intact. blueprints comes next, marked by its Where Is My Mind?-esque intro as something more than just A Slow One, and paying that off in spades with its perfect harmonies and wind-tunnel solo. Whether it’s the first listen, the tenth, or an indeterminate number to come, it’s wonderful.
There’s also an excitement factor to we are unpeople that shouldn’t go overlooked. Actually, never mind that—it can’t go overlooked, not when it’s plastered across the entire thing. It’s an almost unquantifiable galvanisation that alt-rock albums in this lane seldom seem to have anymore, and it really does direct the entire thing. Songs like waste and smother were tried and tested on the EP, and still rip with so many further examples around them. In terms of brand new stuff, the big-bassed lurch of the garden and the impervious sugar rush of haunted are ludicrously tight and strong, and produced to let every possible component shine. Going back to the Reuben comparison, that’s where it becomes set in stone, and you feel as though unpeople really know that. Titling a track kangareuben is a pretty big giveaway, the sort of name that would never otherwise make it off the studio whiteboard, but couldn’t be more fitting.
What’s most impressive about we are unpeople, though—and this is where so much of its true greatness stems from—is its simplicity. For as bold and histrionic as it can be, there’s never a root of gimmickry or even overreach to it. Rather, unpeople are an alt-rock band who’ll push themselves to those stratospheric heights on sheer ability. This couldn’t be more accessible, nor more stuffed with giant, impactful songs that already feel like cornerstones of a long legacy to come. It’s quite incredible, and unpeople justifying the avalanches of plaudits coming their way is the icing on this already-sumptuous cake.
For fans of: Reuben, Biffy Clyro, Press To MECO
‘we are unpeople’ by unpeople is released on 9th October on Sharptone Records.
Words by Luke Nuttall
