THE long-awaited first appearance in Barrow from highly-rated indie outfit Horsebeach finally takes place this month.

The Manchester act were all set to head up on the first weekend of December, but the Cumbrian floods put paid to just about every show in the county. The rearranged date is Saturday February 20 at The Drawing Room's Twang night, and the band's Ryan Kennedy has been looking forward to playing to a new audience for months.

He says: "That was a nightmare! We were all loaded up and ready to go but all the roads up were just getting closed off one by one until it just wasn't possible. 

"We're all super excited to finally get to Barrow and make up for lost time."

The four-piece - originally Kennedy's solo project - are cult favourites on Manchester's acclaimed underground circuit, and their distinctive psychedelic surf-pop has drawn favourable comparisons with bands such as Real Estate, with the shimmering guitar lines likened to that of Johnny Marr.


Dubbed "Manchester’s most exciting new band" in the mainstream music press, they are starting to make a big impression further from home with a mini European tour coming up in March and last week they were announced to play Kendal Calling this July.

"We're getting more gigs outside of Manchester now and we're never quite sure what the interest is going be like but so far it's always been a nice turnout," says Kennedy.

"It looks like we have little pockets of fans in most cities now which is great. Because of the fact we don't have a label behind us or any PR people, I feel that the word gets spread around more organically and people tend to stumble across us themselves. 

"We're playing the Tim Peaks stage at Kendal Calling and Electric Fields in July and August, and we're heading down to the "big smoke" once again to play at The Garage in April. We've wanted to do an EU tour for a while now, and we'll be announcing details of this soon. We just want to play more shows and hopefully we'll be getting a single or two out later in the year."

Difficult to label, their unique style has undoubtedly been more of a help than a hindrance so far as they continue down a very individual path with their latest album.

The self-titled debut album was recorded in a fortnight straight to tape, which sold out its first pressing. The follow up, entitled II, is alive with lyrical depth, melodic intricacy and brilliant production, and again was much lauded on its release in September.

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Kennedy adds: "It's really hard for me to categorise it but I guess it's probably best described as rain-soaked guitar pop. Whilst I was writing II, I was listening to a lot of Fred Neil, Big Star, Ducktails and Captured Tracks stuff, which may come through in the music a little but on the other side I was listening to Hiroshi Satoh, YMO, Julia Holter - loads of ambient stuff - so there's all sorts in there. 

"I've had some really great feedback from the second album so far, loads of support from people who've been with us from the beginning but also a lot of new fans. 

"I'm working on songs at the minute - I always am - and this year I'll be focusing on my other project Half Silk, but I'll be hoping to release the third album some time next year for sure."

Horsebeach play The Drawing Room from 9pm on Saturday 20, and entrance is free. Providing support on the night are Barrow and Liverpool-based duo Her's.