A regular performer at a number of OME events like OCFS’s Centennial Race Weekend and The Orange County Fair, “Wickham Falls“, has released their first independently produced, studio album “To Pluto” in spring 2020. The 9 track album features singles like “Starboy”, “Overboard” and 2 versions (one acoustic) of the title track “To Pluto”. Described as “alt-rock” or “indie rock”, the band’s sound is unique yet strangely familiar. If one was to attend a Wickham Falls show, the covers they play might give you some insight into their influences; Amy Winehouse, Foo Fighters, Fall Out Boy, Sublime to name a few. The result of an eclectic range of influences, Wickham Falls is somewhat hard to categorize within a more specific the sub-genre of “alt-rock” or “Indie-rock”. If anything, the charming vocals of guitarist Brooke might remind listeners of indie darlings like Feist or Jenny Lewis, but the similarities mostly end there, with Wickham Falls’ sound being influenced more by “harder” rock (one of the band’s favorite covers to perform at shows is Badflower’s “Animal” who they performed with in 2018 at the Orange County Fair). That said, “To Pluto” features a healthy range of moods across all 9 tracks. Starting with opening track “Overboard”, listeners are treated to some gritty, groovy indie rock jams continuing on through the next track “Fight Til The End”. The title track (and it’s acoustic version especially) is kind of the album’s ballad and takes a turn towards a “Shoegazey” sound, and where it becomes especially apparent that this an album of young love songs.
The alt-rock trio started their careers as “JaCoB”, or “JaCoB The Band”, which was a portmanteau of founding members Jake (“Ja”), Conor (“Co”) and Brooke’s (“B”) names. In 2019, current drummer, Lilly, joined song writing duo of Conor (Bass) and Brooke (Guitar, Vocals) to form the newly named “Wickham Falls”, which has also just introduced it’s fourth member, new guitarist Luke. Though 2020 was the year things really started coming together for Wickham Falls, it would be a lost summer for most in the music industry due to COVID-19. Unable to play shows following the release of their debut album, Wickham Falls has focused some energy instead on their online presence, creating a YouTube channel and uploading videos and performances. With summer 2020 closing out, all members of Wickham Falls must return to college (or try to in spite of COVID-19), but the band remains intact and ready to return to playing shows once all of them are again back home in Orange County New York.
You can listen to Wickham Falls’ debut album “To Pluto” on Spotify, and check out their videos on Youtube.
