The most exciting bands are often the ones who sound like they’re about to fall apart. Bristol’s MOULD have perfected that precarious balance – creating music that teeters gloriously on the brink of collapse while somehow holding itself together through sheer force of will and friendship.
‘Almost Feels Like Purpose’, their second EP (released today, Friday 25th April, via 5dB Records) is what happens when three restless musicians decide that making a beautiful racket might be the closest thing to meaning they’ll find in 2025. Recorded at Bristol’s Humm Studios, it’s a collection born from the particular brand of existential quicksand that comes with being a touring musician – forever caught between temp jobs, rental agreements, and the relentless search for the next soundcheck.
The trio – Joe Sherrin, Kane Eagle, and James Luxton – aren’t exactly strangers. Their musical DNA has been intertwining for over a decade across various projects, from slacker outfit Let’s Kill Janice to backing Fenne Lily on transatlantic tours. But it’s in MOULD where they’ve found their most unfiltered expression – a place to be, as Luxton puts it with characteristic self-deprecation, “gross and make noise.”
Drawing from disparate influences – Fugazi’s post-hardcore intensity, Guided By Voices’ lo-fi melodicism, and Nick Cave’s lyrical prowess – they’ve created something that refuses genre classification but feels perfectly of-the-moment. It’s the soundtrack to a generation forever caught between adolescence and whatever adulthood is supposed to be, delivered with the conviction of people who’ve learned that sometimes the only appropriate response to uncertainty is to turn everything up to eleven.
As they prepare to showcase the EP at The Great Escape next month, MOULD invite you into their chaotic world with this track-by-track. Consider it your field guide to finding purpose in perpetual flux – or at least making enough noise to drown out the existential dread.
FRANCES
JOE: It’s been in our live show opener for a while now. Partly because it starts with unaccompanied group wailing, which is fun to start a set with, but also because it’s right on the brink of what I can get away with singing-wise and need to get it in at the start out of the way. We’ve tried it later in the set and I’ve crumbled trying to sing it.
I wrote the bulk of this one and brought it in to the band. We worked it out and learned it, pieced it together – I remember after finishing it we couldn’t stop playing it, probably went through it about 10 times – we were chuffed to all heck.
I stole Frances from a grave in Birdcage Walk, a cemetery in Bristol and used the name for the songs character.
JAMES: This, for me, felt like the true start of MOULD. June 2023 we were all living in Bristol, yet to play our first gig under this name. Joey brought an almost complete Frances to the table, and we proceeded to spend the rest of the day arranging until it felt fluid.
Once that was sorted, we played it for pure joy until my hands fell off.
KANE: Frances has become the go-to gig opener, so much so that it feels strange to me whenever we open with another – I love the energy and the fluctuating group bellow to start – quite a daunting way to introduce ourselves to the room, but the best way to get attention is a big old whine.
TEMPS
JOE: “As unsettled in our skin as we are our locations” – In trying to prioritise music/fun, I’ve always had strings of non-committal/temporary/often pants jobs that allow more flexibility. I was also moving around a lot at the time of writing this EP. This one’s kinda about being perpetually unsettled – being the temporary man. It’s a fun one – lots of words – I always get the order of the words in the verses wrong live.
JAMES: During a soundcheck for an artist we all played for, Joey came full of PLUCK, ready to show us this little ditty. Five seconds in, we pressed record on our phones and knew the moment we got off that tour, we’d finish it.
Felt fitting that though we were working, even working in music, we were constantly trying to make new music for ourselves.
KANE: We’ve all temped at some point and felt a little lost in the day-to-day purpose “We’re so embarrassing now as temporary men” was a hard relate as I think back to working the phones in a garage with my total lack of car knowledge – It’s a great line, and the overlapping vocals we share live is a lot of fun – a great example of Joe Sherrin riffery, too.
SNAILS
JOE: I think this is my favourite on the EP. Really pleased with it. It’s a bit manic and jumps from idea to idea, loud and screams to poppy, has a big catchy chorus. Which is kind of the main MOULDy recipe, really.
It’s one of our older songs; we did have it for the first EP, but it didn’t quite make the cut, which is just as well cos it wasn’t quite ready before.
JAMES: This song is the epitome of MOULD for me. It has a bit of everything, was born out of a silly drum beat matched with Joey’s crazy fingers, and then fleshed out down the spaghetti trail of genres.
KANE: Yeah, I think it’s my favourite off the EP – it’s got a proper poppy chorus, absolutely kills the voice singing the harmony on the last chorus, but the unravelling outro brings on a kind of catharsis for me every time.
WHEEZE
JOE: I wrote the words for this one to fit a melody Kane had whilst we were playing around the chords. I was working as a temp receptionist at the time. Post-tour, bored out of my mind. Lyrically, I was imagining someone writing all their worries/concerns/anxieties etc on notes, folding them up into little bricks, mounting up into walls inside their brain. Which eventually collapses.
JAMES: Absolute favourite of the EP for me. When we first played with it I originally wanted this to be like 40 seconds long and for it to go nowhere, but the boys turned it into a gem. Emotional, I tend to get teary playing it live. Getting to belt the last chorus, I never knew the words, so I’d just open my gob and howl.
KANE: I love how ‘WHEEZE’ came out; I remember we were in the studio for another project, and as everyone was tuning up, I was just on loop playing the ‘riff’. Another phone recording to return to, and I’m glad we did.
The little bridge bit followed pretty swiftly, and that was it finished; I like how short and straight it is, and it feels great to have a scream together at the end – it acts as our mid-set breather, it’s a calmness for a moment, until the screaming.
BRACE
JOE: This one was born out of a novelty song Kane and I wrote about potatoes. Thankfully, the potatoes part of the song was removed, and we got ‘BRACE’ out of it.
Shortest song on the album – it jumps around all over the place and doesn’t really ever repeat any sections. Songs for the busy-brained and short attention-spanned is something I gravitate towards in songwriting – bands such as Wire and Minutemen are big ones for me.
We took the EP title from the end of the song – “I’m wasting worth pursuing, and it almost feels like purpose”.
JAMES: ‘Potatatoes’.
KANE: Will have to dig out the original recording, ‘Potatatoes’ deserves to see the light someday. Not today.
CHUNKS
JOE: Named ‘CHUNKS’ because of the big chunky riff towards the end. It was a placeholder title that we couldn’t better.
Our set closer – always one of the most fun ones to play live. I love getting to the end of the set, knowing that I’ve only got ‘CHUNKS’ left so I can really lay into it and finally stop worrying I’m gonna break a string. I break a lot of strings.
I wrote the words whilst away on a long tour – lots of very long drives through seemingly never-ending empty landscapes. Finding yourself in a privileged position but still finding time to mope.
James and I came up with the bulk of the song whilst trying some ideas one day – another mismatch of parts jammed together.
JAMES: This had a small origin during a rehearsal in 2021. During this rehearsal for different music, the three of us needed a little SHOT of loud energy, and craving that feeling of release is something that we still hold onto now.
KANE: ‘CHUNKS’ is the final standoff of pretty much every gig; as Joe said, there’s a kind of relief that comes with it; it’s manic. We love chunks.
MOULD’s EP ‘Almost Feels Like Purpose’ is out now.
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