{"id":35941,"date":"2026-01-27T07:52:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T06:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/addtowantlist.com\/?p=35941"},"modified":"2026-01-27T08:00:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T07:00:23","slug":"album-review-european-sun-when-britain-was-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/addtowantlist.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/27\/album-review-european-sun-when-britain-was-great\/","title":{"rendered":"New album: European Sun || When Britain Was Great"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Miles is back with European Sun’s sophomore full-length, titled When Britain Was Great<\/em><\/a>, unconventional in every respect. For example, the amazing lead single School Report<\/em> clocks in at over 17 minutes, too long to fit on the vinyl LP, and is therefore released as a separate CD, complete with a school report, in a manila envelope. That’s telling, but let’s talk about what really matters.<\/p>\n

The English singer-songwriter creates contemporary songs with the kind of empathy and clarity that makes reactionary myth-making look small and faintly ridiculous, whether skewering flag-waving war fantasies or tracing the everyday anxiety of just getting through the day. Musically, it’s gloriously fitting: indie pop with a punk feel\u2014handmade, warm, and occasionally ramshackle\u2014where brass pops up, rhythms wobble, melodies stick. Always with that distinctive, poetic Sprechgesang in the lead, refusing both bluster and nostalgia (although: “I remember so clearly those old golden years \/\/ When football fans chanted their bigotry loud”\u2014from the title track). Even at its angriest, the record feels gentle and stubbornly hopeful, thoughtful and necessary.<\/p>\n