We walked up Camden High Street and waved at Tom (guitarist) as he hung over the balcony. Shutters up and we’re inside Evil From The Needle, the tattoo shop that Matt (synth, guitar, vocals) calls his day job. Spaces were limited, the beers were cold and Breathe spun on a tinny little turntable.

The duo re-create Matt Sutton’s (one half of Sweat Threats) dark, machinist drummed, introspective synth rock in the live setting. It gets intense.

In stark contrast, the atmosphere in Evil From The Needle was warm, loving and excited. Discussion mostly focussed on tattoos, unsurprisingly. Until we managed to get Tom animatedly telling us stories of previous tours, and how excited he was for their upcoming dates. They’re happy tour-monkeys together, occasionally tying the tour to Matt doing guest-spots in tattoo shops along the way.

With every purchase of the record, lovingly pressed in lipstick-matching pink vinyl, a select few got a free tattoo of one of the album’s artwork elements. Designed by Matt, tattooed by Matt.

So, what about the record itself? Well, Matt wasn't lying when he said it's deeply focussed on the internal. In fact, the whole has elements of the soundtrack to a synth-rock opera about the waking nightmare of insomnia. It's spacious and, although the music itself is claustrophobic, it gives the sense of having been written by someone entirely sure of the musical skin they're in.

There are haunting double-tracked vocals and whispered harmonies, whip-crack drums and a huge, stadium-filling synth confidence. The digital elements ping back and forth, creating and dividing rhythms, while Japan-esque guitars hum and massage their way through the whirring, before cascading into walls of distortion and transforming into art punk one track to the next. In short, it's a shockingly strong debut step in the dark arts.

The band are off on a hefty tour. Did we mention they’re playing our home-town tonight?

04/10/18 - London, Old Blue Last
10/10/18 - Edinburgh, Bannermans
11/10/18 - Glasgow, Bloc Bar
19/10/18 - Brighton, The Quadrant
21/10/18 - Birmingham, Subside Bar
22/10/18 - Cardiff, Fuel Rock Bar
23/10/18 - Nottingham, The Chameleon
25/10/18 - Leeds, Bad Apples
26/10/18 - Darwen, Sunbird Records
27/10/18 - Preston, The Ferret
04/11/18 - Margate, Elsewhere
10/11/18 - Liverpool, Jacaranda
11/11/18 - Leicester, Firebug
21/11/18 - Manchester, The Peerhat
22/11/18 - Belfast, Art Department
23/11/18 - Cork, Fred Zeppelins
24/11/18 - Dublin, Whelans
25/11/18 - Ballina, Emmets
28/11/18 - Galway, Roisin Dubh
29/11/18 - Tralee, The Greyhound