With their second single “Future”, Hartlepool quartet Champ step into the strange dialectic of nostalgia and propulsion that defines much of the guitar music orbiting the contemporary imagination. The track does not so much announce itself as it unspools—expansive chords dissolving into wide-open reverberations, where the shimmer of delay and tremolo suggest horizons far beyond the geography of the small towns they sing for.
Speaking ahead of their single release, frontman Jonny Bee explained: “‘Future’ is an ode to a lot of our friends and family from back home who spend their lives working away. Where we’re from, if you want to provide a comfortable life for the people closest to you you’ve typically got to sacrifice your own time to do that and leave your loved ones for weeks on end. When it comes to writing songs we always like to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes and write from their perspective. This one’s a tune for anyone who’s ever chased a life they couldn’t quite touch, whilst trying not to forget themselves.”
