Florentenes Launch 2026 with “Madeline,” a Sharp, Relentless Indie-Rock Sprint Produced by Dave Eringa
Florentenes kick-start 2026 with “Madeline,” a UK indie-rock single that treats momentum as a compositional tool. The Bolton four-piece—fronted by songwriter William Train Smith with Luke Holding on guitar, Harry Stubbs on bass, and Liam Fiddy on drums—sound less interested in ornament than in impact: intense electric riffs, hard-hitting drums, and vocals kept slightly distorted for rock’n’roll abrasion. Still barely a year out of school, they already write with the compression of a seasoned circuit act, and that economy has earned them airplay nods from Radio X’s John Kennedy and BBC 6 Music’s Chris Hawkins. Recorded with producer Dave Eringa, the track is engineered to feel performed rather than assembled; the guitars stay forward, the drums snap with fast-paced insistence, and the bass keeps the whole sprint from blurring. A performance-led video underlines that thesis, capturing the band the way their growing live following talks about them: tight, direct, and allergic to dead air.
What “Madeline” does best is narrow its aim without shrinking its personality. The hook arrives with the confidence of a band that trusts the room, and the chorus lands by repetition and contour, not studio tricks. Eringa’s choices keep the edges bright but not brittle, letting the riff do the talking while the snare provides the punctuation. Echoes of The Libertines’ relentlessness and Arctic Monkeys’ melodic urgency sit in the background, but the single resists imitation through discipline: short sections, clean pivots, no indulgent detours. Lyrically, the title frames a human-sized story without over-explaining; the vocal phrasing suggests scenes, not speeches, letting listeners supply their own particulars. That restraint, paired with razor-sharp songwriting and fully live musicianship, makes “Madeline” feel like a real step forward—proof that Florentenes can translate hype into craft for anyone who wants their indie rock fast, loud, and smart on repeat, nightly.
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Florentenes kick-start 2026 with “Madeline,” a UK indie-rock single that treats momentum as a compositional tool. The Bolton four-piece—fronted by songwriter William Train Smith with Luke Holding on guitar, Harry Stubbs on bass, and Liam Fiddy…