Dolly Mixture’s Rachel Love (vocals, guitar, cello, keys), Heavenly’s Peter Momtchiloff (bass), and Papernut Cambridge’s Ian Button (vocals, drums, guitar) met a year ago at the launch of must-have indie-pop anthology Sensitive, and discovered they were all born within weeks of each other. They took this as a sign to form a band together, although their initial 1962 age limit rule has since been dropped to allow more youthful trumpeter Allison Thomson to complete the line-up.
Their self-titled debut LP contains seven tracks from their first two EPs (Railcard E.P. and Railcard E.P. 2), along with three new ones, including a cover of Dandy Livingstone’s Think About That. The British musicians deliver elegantly crafted pop that folds soul and sunshine into a lightly indie framework, enriched by dreamy melodies, sly grooves, warm brass, and angelic harmonies—a nostalgic palette used with such confidence that it feels brand new. Rooted in shared histories (most obvious: Born In ’62), the songs feel quietly autobiographical, their lived-in themes matched by arrangements so finely balanced they edge toward perfection.
Railcard’s self-produced eponymous debut album is out now digitally and on limited edition CD through Skep Wax and Slumberland Records. A successor will follow later this year, a vinyl LP featuring twelve new tracks.