We Were Promised Jetpacks

Bridging post-punk with partially melodic indie pop, Glasgow outfit We Were Promised Jetpacks built their profile via multiple respected releases on the U.K. imprint Fat Cat Records, among them the vigorous 2011 set In the Pit of the Stomach, which became their initial appearance on the British album charts. Rigorous touring occupied the ensuing years, after which one further Fat Cat album appeared before the band shifted to Big Scary Monsters and unveiled the more seasoned The More I Sleep, The Less I Dream in 2018.

Vocalist and guitarist Adam Thompson, guitarist Michael Palmer, bassist Sean Smith, and drummer Darren Lackie assembled the group in 2003 during their time at an Edinburgh secondary school, where their debut performance secured victory in a battle-of-the-bands event. Upon completing their studies, We Were Promised Jetpacks moved to Glasgow, and their style evolved accordingly, shifting away from basic song forms and clean-toned guitars toward a broader, more expansive and anthem-like aesthetic. Fellow Glaswegians the Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit supplied additional inspiration, audible on the three-song demo the quartet cut, which earned broadcasts on BBC, XFM, and Q Radio domestically as well as KEXP across the Atlantic. In 2008 the band supported Frightened Rabbit on tour; the same year Fat Cat Records, already home to both Frightened Rabbit and the Twilight Sad, added them to its roster.

We Were Promised Jetpacks issued the singles Quiet Little Voices and Roll Up Your Sleeves in 2009, then delivered the full-length These Four Walls that summer. The following year brought the EP The Last Place You'll Look, which included previously unreleased material alongside more orchestral reworkings of tracks from their debut album. Another studio effort, the propulsive In the Pit of the Stomach, arrived in 2011. While on the road in support, the group captured E Rey: Live in Philadelphia, a concert recording titled after their tour manager and released in early 2014. During the same period they tracked their third album, Unravelling, under producer Paul Savage; it surfaced in October 2014. Shortly ahead of that release, multi-instrumentalist Stuart McGachan joined as an auxiliary member and remained until 2015.

After a four-year interval without new output, We Were Promised Jetpacks returned in 2018 with their fourth album. The More I Sleep, The Less I Dream was laid down at Minor Street in Philadelphia and Long Pond in New York's Hudson Valley, then produced and mixed by Jonathan Low (the National, Frightened Rabbit). The single "Hanging In" preceded the record's arrival. Following a successful U.S. tour in 2019, co-founder Palmer departed the lineup by mutual agreement, leaving the group to continue as a trio. When Covid-19 halted all touring plans in 2020, the remaining members began writing fresh material; they exchanged ideas remotely before regrouping later that year to record once restrictions eased. Enjoy the View appeared the next year, in late 2021.