The Loft
Badges
Tapete Records
A long separation, lasting a good 40 years, was just what the doctor ordered for The Loft. To put it mildly, they needed some space from each other, the tuneful Brits finally reconvening to deliver their utterly charming debut LP, Everything Changes, Everything Stays the Same, in 2025. Fences mended, the truce still holding firm, they’re making up for lost time, as The Loft uncorks the feel-good follow-up, a bright, sparkling, guitar-pop wonder called Badges.
Qualities that once made The Loft one of the Creation label’s greatest indie hopes remain, decades after their much-chronicled, mid-set breakup at the fabled Hammersmith Palais. A reunion as far removed as this one seemed unlikely, but here they are, letting bygones be bygones, with Peter Astor and Andy Strickland writing together in perfect harmony. The chemistry is working, as Badges sets out an array of neatly wrapped, melodic gifts for anybody who’s been begging for a second act. The Loft has obliged.
Unassuming and completely assured, the pristine Badges relies on direct, wry storytelling and simply elegant songwriting, washing “Campervan” — blissfully idling, ready for The Loft to again indulge in postcard-fantasy escapism — and a delightfully romantic “1955” in warm nostalgia and lamenting the lonely fate of a melancholic “Sad Comedian” in a fully realized character sketch. Perking up, The Loft gets happy with “Happenstance,” a sunny, raucous rave-up, jubilant handclaps all around, that plugs into the garage-y power-pop energy of the Hoodoo Gurus and bounces off the walls.
Entering the paisley underground, without waiting on an invitation, The Loft meets the Dream Syndicate in the twilight noir and jabbing insistence of “Beautiful Problem” and darkly literate remembrances “Ex-Lovers and Long Lost Brothers” and “Goodbye Saturday Night,” the latter imbued with jangly, bittersweet longing for faded youth and good times. Turning languid, “Junk Shop” and “Rob Rides the Sunset” each suggest more of a dreamy kinship with The Go-Betweens, though.
Peace has come to The Loft.
