Camens – Handbrake

Stoke-On-Trent indie rock upstarts Camens show no signs of slowing down on ‘Handbrake’

Camens latest offering ‘Handbrake’ is exactly the kind of high-octane, energy rife indie rock that we have come to expect from the outfit. The outfit do a seamless job of pairing this infectious enthusiasm and energy with arena-sized hooks and memorable catchy choruses.

Another big selling point of Camens’ music is its candid and very much down-to-earth writing. These are not embellished, fabricated tales, these are very real, very relateable tracks about the realities of growing up in working class Britain, and the mundane but comforting ways that we spend our time.

“I like to write about moments. Single moments and thoughts that everyone stops and finds themselves in, often more than once in life.” Frontman Scott Powell tells us of Handbrake.

“Previous singles focus on moments. Video Games is about lying in bed with your girlfriend when one of you has to get up and you’d both prefer you stayed. Devito is about the initial thoughts and dawnings that come with meeting for a first date”

“Handbrake is about the car times. When your old enough to drive but not to drink and you and a girlfriend would spend hours driving around with nowhere to go. Maccies drive thorough, fag stops on a supermarket car park, shuffle on the iPod etc.”

It is this sense of reality and belonging that makes their music as grounded as it is enjoyable. This is a brash, young outfit making a racket about what they know, and what is close to home, and there is something remarkably authentic and admirable about that. It helps that the track is seismically huge and deserves a spot among the finest indie rock as of late. A mighty declaration of what is yet to come from Camens.