Neutrals

Oakland, California outfit Neutrals craft compact D.I.Y. punk anchored by jangly, pop-oriented songcraft. Their music draws on multiple waves of little-known guitar outfits, layering narrative vignettes and updated social observations across arrangements suited to C-86 compilations or early Rough Trade collections. Following scattered demos and 7"s, the band refined this approach on their second full-length, New Town Dream, issued by Slumberland in 2024.

Guitarist and vocalist Allan McNaughton, previously active in the 1990s Glaswegian group Snugglepuss and later in Bay Area bands Airfix Kits and Giant Haystacks after moving to the area in the 2000s, formed the initial trio alongside drummer Phil Lantz and bassist Phil Benson. Between 2016 and 2017 the three issued a pair of self-recorded demo cassettes whose raw post-punk textures earned notice for echoing the Television Personalities, the Shop Assistants, and similar scratchy yet melodic acts. Their first album, Kebab Disco, appeared on Emotional Response in 2019, after which the group explored post-punk and mod-pop further on the 2020 singles Rent/Your House and Personal Computing. Four additional tracks surfaced on the mildly Oi!-leaning 2022 EP Bus Stop Nights, at which point Benson departed and bassist/vocalist Lauren Matsui entered the lineup. The revised Neutrals configuration delivered the 2024 sophomore album New Town Dream on Slumberland Records.