Leeds outfit About-Faces are back with their latest single, ‘Not Been Back’, to deliver a gripping meditation on homecoming. It’s not the kind marked by warm embraces and cheerful reunions, but the unsettling kind where the past still lingers in the walls. Produced by Ali Chant (Yard Act, PJ Harvey), the track is a dark-glow torch held to the places we once knew, and the versions of ourselves we left behind.
Built on a brooding backbone of spacious guitars and slow-burn percussion, ‘Not Been Back’ treads carefully through familiar streets with unfamiliar feelings. The verses simmer in minor key gloom, dotted with religious overtones and snapshots of suburban decay, before erupting into a euphoric chorus that aches with unresolved tension. It’s a masterclass in emotional contrast- melancholy wrapped in melody.
Musically, it sits somewhere between the post-punk introspection of The Cure and the off-kilter charm of Peace, but About-Faces have carved out their own corner here. There’s a rawness to the vocal that makes every lyric feel lived and authentic. The production- polished yet raw- lets each element breathe while still packing a punch.
Following on from the thoughtful ‘Too Old For Fun’, this new single feels like a progression in every sense- bolder, sharper, and more personal. With a trio of headline dates lined up in Manchester, Leeds, and London, there’s no better time to catch About-Faces in their element: unearthing the beauty in the bruises of youth.
With ‘Not Been Back’, About-Faces sound more ready than ever to confront it, head on.