There’s a particular electricity that only comes when a band finally locks into their identity, and when the sound in the rehearsal room collides perfectly with the feeling in their chest. And on ‘These Days’, Birmingham’s Talking Horses are seizing that moment.
As the opening statement from their forthcoming record I Will Work Harder, this track feels like a declaration. It bursts out of the gate with driving guitars and a rhythm section that refuses to sit still, but what truly elevates it is the unexpected brass flourishes threading through the mix. Those horn stabs propel it forward, lifting the chorus into something wide-open and communal. It’s indie-rock with its arms stretched toward the horizon.
You can hear the echoes of UK guitar greats who built careers on sweat-soaked club nights and terrace-sized hooks. But there’s a clarity and confidence here that feels current, sharpened by years spent refining their craft on stages across Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter and beyond. ‘These Days’ carries the sound of a group who’ve tried on different skins and finally found the one that fits.
The chorus is built for collective voices. There’s a sunlit, open-air quality to the melody, conjuring images of festival fields and shared moments between friends, yet it retains enough grit to avoid tipping into saccharine territory. The production, helmed by Matt Terry at VADA Studios, keeps everything punchy and immediate. The guitars sparkle without losing their bite, the drums hit with purpose, and the brass cuts through like a flare in the night sky.
What makes ‘These Days’ particularly exciting is the sense of arrival it carries. For a band formed in 2021, this feels like a statement of intent rather than a tentative introduction. If this single is the launchpad, then 2026 could very well be the year Talking Horses stride far beyond their local scene.