Get ready to embark on a musical journey like no other with Nottingham’s indie-pop risers, Express Office Portico, as they unveil their highly anticipated debut EP, ‘Incommunicado’. Produced by the acclaimed Joshua Rumble, known for his work with artists like Bastille and Black Country New Road, this EP is a perfect fusion of melodic pop melodies, indie grit, and analogue synth textures.
We got to chat with the band around the release of the EP to know more about their background, artistry and aspirations.
Hey guys! What’s the story behind your name Express Office Portico?
It’s a bit of a mouthful! We love our home city of Nottingham, and we wanted a unique name associated with it, without making it too cheesy or obvious.
We saw an article in the Guardian by an amazing local artist, Carol Adlam, called “Neither North nor South”, with loads of interesting sketches of Nottingham.
One of them was titled “Express Office Portico” and it’s a drawing of the old Nottingham Daily Express Office building, which was the site of a former local liberal paper that stopped printing in the 1950’s.
It’s an old Victorian office building, with a grand arch entrance, otherwise known as a portico. The Express Office Portico. We liked the sound of it, and so we took it as inspiration to become Express Office Portico. Thanks Carol Adlam!
Congratulations on the release of your new single “He Said She Said”! Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the song?
Thanks very much! Each song from our EP has a theme of someone who is struggling to communicate with others and the world around them. He Said She Said, is a dramatic retelling of an argument between two lovers who are drifting apart struggling to see each other’s point of view.
Written from the perspective of the instigator, as the song progresses, the instigator is met with a challenge of admitting their flaws. They work to understand the others perspective to try and find a middle ground.
It’s a juxtaposed light melody when you consider the theme, but we wanted to keep it upbeat and danceable. We’re hoping it’s one that people can relate to as I think it’s fair to say most of us have probably been there at some point!
Your sound has been described as a blend of indie-pop with 70s rock influences. How do you approach incorporating these diverse elements into your music?
We’re lucky in that each of us has quite a diverse range of influences, and that really helps us weave those different sounds and styles into each song.
Sometimes we’ll go into song writing thinking let’s try and do a bit of a modern Fleetwood Mac, the next day it’ll be inspired by modern influences like Tame Impala or Men I Trust.
Mostly we just let everyone in the band bring their own style and substance to what we do, and it creates a lovely blend of all the best bits we all have to offer.
“He Said She Said” is part of your debut EP, ‘Incommunicado’. What can listeners expect from the EP in terms of themes and musical progression?
The EP title is “Incommunicado” and the inspiration for the name comes from a poem written by Sylvia Plath about the inability or lack of wanting to communicate with others.
We have lyrics written about topics such as trauma, substance abuse, and unstable relationships and our overarching theme is the inability to communicate with and fully understand the world we live in whilst experiencing these things.
Each song on the EP is very different, ranging from rock and pop influenced tracks like “No-One” and “He Said She Said” to ballads like “Are You Yourself?”.
They’re all our babies, but our favourite track off the EP right now is “In Swim”, it’s a lovely melodic, sombre pop track, with a big uplifting final act, and it always gets the crowd moving at gig time.
With each single receiving airplay on BBC Introducing and playlisting on BBC Radio Nottingham, how do you feel about the reception of your music so far, and what do you attribute your success to?
It’s been a mixture of hard work and good fortune! We all work hard to craft these songs behind the scenes, lots of changes and considerations have gone into crafting these tracks before arriving at the final version.
Half the battle is often getting the music in front of people you know are going to love it, there’s so many great bands out there now in a similar position to us, so we always feel lucky to get on the radio or get a good gig that’ll help us reach new people.
We’ve been fortunate with that as of late and always super grateful to people like Dean Jackson and BBC Introducing East Midlands who’ve helped get us there with radio airplay. It’s always special hearing your track on the radio for the first time.
You’ve also been gaining traction in the live music scene, playing at venues like The Bodega and Rock City BETA. How does performing live contribute to your growth as a band, and do you have any memorable experiences from your live shows?
It’s been so much fun for us. Recently we’ve been blessed with some really engaged audiences. We’re spreading our wings a bit more now, we ventured down to London at the start of the year and got a good reception there, people are enjoying us live, singing and dancing along, and we’re noticing people following us on socials after gigs, which always feels like a positive sign.
A memorable one would be playing in Newcastle, supporting local band, Cat Ryan. It was Halloween weekend last year, and we all dressed up as skeletons with full face paint.
It was our first venture that far north, the crowd looked a bit shocked by us initially, but by the end of the set they were cheering and shouting for one more song. Lovely local venue, a top crowd and we would do Newcastle again! Well worth the 6hr round trip.
What are your aspirations for the band in the near future?
We’re already plotting a bit of a return to the writing room to keep up the momentum and get new material ready for testing out live.
But hopefully onwards and upwards, more gigs, playing with new bands and hopefully gigging in some new places to reach some new audiences. There’s still a lot of cities we’ve yet to step foot in and we’re keen to explore a bit. EOP coming to a town near you, watch this space!
Facebook – Instagram – X – TikTok
