As You Are
We couldn’t wait to review Atlas Rivers, because with bands like Under Starling, they carry the sound of everything fresh and restless coming out of the UK right now. There’s social weight in what they do, a kind of urgency that doesn’t mimic the past but renders it irrelevant. By fusing neo-folk grit with a raw, reimagined take on 90s alt-rock, they offer more than just revivalism. It signals how a new sonic aesthetic is infiltrating all corners of British music. And perhaps nowhere is this shift more exciting than in the way bands like Atlas Rivers are deploying it: not as a genre, but as an attitude. Their latest release, “As You Are”, walks a tightrope between introspection and rebellion. It speaks to the dreamer in all of us, not as escapism but as resistance. An anthem for those who fell in love with impossible futures. The track spirals around a hypnotic riff, gaining intensity until it erupts into layered vocals and pounding drums, a collective exhale. It’s no surprise they open every show with it. Live, this song doesn’t just introduce Atlas Rivers. It introduces the scene they belong to. One where the rules are being quietly rewritten.