Label: Smudge Records – SR-001
Format: Cassette, Album, Limited Edition, Stereo
Country: UK
Released: 22 Apr 2026
Genre: Rock, Pop
Style: Indie Pop, Dream Pop
Wow!! Whimsical, sun-bleached pop forms and ‘accidental prog’ self-released by totally new London trio Visit Me.
I guess like most people who’ve encountered this release already, we first heard via an enthusiastic TIP from the patron saint of good taste and close associated Jed of Concentric Circles fame. Born out of childhood collaboration, Visit Me coax warbling modal drones out of anguished children’s keyboards, colliding with saturated guitar swells and stunning, almost hymnal vocals. The linage of smudged DIY British ‘pop’ rushes to mind - Movietone’s gauzy, nostalgic melodies, whilst the more structured ‘This Weekend’ and ’54601’ sit closer to the pastoral daydreams of Simon Fisher Turner’s Deux Filles. A wonderfully tender yet inexplicably accomplished opening statement from a new band with true promise. Exactly the sort of understated self-release that typically evaporates before you even notice!! (Mint / New - 1 pp pls!)
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Visit Me’s debut album Daystar is a swirling haze of pop forms, tortured children’s keyboards, and accidental progressive rock. Coming from wildly different places of inspiration and imagination, childhood collaborators Lily Casey and Maz Gilkes joined forces with Ben Nicolson in the summer of 2025 to realise their patchwork vision of pop music to come. What followed was a summer of gigs and songwriting which established their distinctive sound through their 2 vocal, 2 keyboard, 2 guitar setup.
Emerging from the organ lofts of the project’s early Cambridge days, Daystar sees the three piece embrace more sunlit sounds, allowing descant vocals to be illuminated against modal drones and saturated guitar swells. Across the album’s duration, the close vocal harmonies serve as a keystone around which swirl reverse cymbal hits, helicopter noises and myriad sounds never intended to be played through a Public Address system. While songs such as ‘This Weekend’ and ‘54601’ would not find themselves out of place at a child’s birthday party, the epic centre piece ‘Croyland/Smudge in the Sky’ conjures beatific visions and East Anglian landscapes.
Based between London, York and the West Country, the band have enjoyed regular gigs in London and East Anglia in 2026, recently supporting caroline at the Storey’s Field Centre, Cambridge. On their travels they have received comparisons to Cocteau Twins, Grouper and Peter Gabriel and have assembled a small gang of bewildered listeners.
Daystar was recorded and mixed onto half inch tape in a Frome bedroom, over 4 days in September 2025. The album was released by Smudge Records on the 22nd of April 2026.
Tracklist
A1 Spin 5:30
A2 Rattle Out 1:11
A3 This Weekend 4:16
B1 Croyland 6:57
B2 Smudge In The Sky 6:38
B3 Red Flashing On The Pane 1:15
B4 54601 6:20
