The Amazons

British combo the Amazons surfaced during the second half of the 2010s with an expansive style of indie rock built on forceful guitar riffs and soaring melodies suited to large venues. Their early independent momentum secured a major-label contract, after which both the self-titled 2017 debut and its 2019 successor, Future Dust, reached the U.K. Top Ten. The 2022 third album, How Will I Know if Heaven Will Find Me, shifted toward a lighter, more laid-back atmosphere infused with Americana. Following that release the group moved to Nettwerk and issued the 2024 singles "Living a Lie" and "Pitch Black."

Vocalist Matt Thomson, guitarist Chris Alderton, and bassist Elliot Briggs were already playing together when they formed in Reading in 2014 and added drummer Josef "Joe" Emmet, another bassist, to complete the lineup. They cultivated a local audience by unconventional means, with Thomson, then employed at a supermarket, inserting demo CDs into customers' baskets. Their first EP, 2015's Don't You Wanna, was helmed by producer Catherine Marks, previously associated with Wolf Alice and White Lies, and contained the driving "Ultraviolet" plus the heavy "Junk Food Forever." Despite having issued only that single EP, the Amazons joined the Kooks for a brief European tour that broadened their exposure.

After inking a deal with the UMG imprint Fiction, the band delivered its self-titled debut album in 2017. Powered by widely streamed tracks such as "In My Mind" and "Black Magic," the set peaked at number eight on the U.K. Albums chart. The 2018 live EP Come the Fire, Come the Evening kept momentum alive until the arrival of the second studio album, 2019's Future Dust, which reached number nine and introduced further staples including "Doubt It" and "Mother."

Producer Jim Abbiss, known for his work with Arctic Monkeys, collaborated on the third album. Issued in 2022, the brighter How Will I Know if Heaven Will Find Me incorporated jangle-pop and Americana elements that expanded the band's palette and became their highest-charting release at number five in the U.K. The subsequent singles "Living a Lie" and "Pitch Black," both released in late 2024, adopted a smoother yet darker tone and marked the Amazons' first output on Nettwerk while previewing a forthcoming fourth album.