1482760_10152470476699251_1199696131_nIt may seem that after an initial enthusiastic drive that saw Nudybronque become positively ubiquitous in local venues, the band has  lost some of its momentum in recent times. Nothing could be further from the truth. The lesson that they learned quickly is that there is no point playing the same few Swindon venues every month when the cause would be better served gigging across a wider scene that took in the small club circuit of the rest of the country, making any home town shows the welcome events that they deserved to be. Something that many local bands fail to understand. They also reasoned that the best calling card is a well-produced and original CD and with this in mind have spent the last few months holed up in Earthworm Studios on a journey of musical exploration.

Whereas most bands enter the studio with one eye on the clock and a fixed idea of what they need to achieve, under the guidance of producer Jon Bucket, the band embraced the studio as an extra instrument and began a musical odyssey that became their own learning curve in song writing, production and sound manipulation. The resulting explosion of ideas and creativity is their recent release, Moondog.

This 5-track offering has seen the band mature from their once cute, pop-punkery into brilliantly eloquent songwriters, capturing all the mercurial charm, humour and depth of the band as they are today. Quintessentially English and with obvious comparisons to early Pulp, not least in frontman Aidan’s penchant for storytelling and thespian delivery, the band have embraced a sound that takes in the charm of the fey end of post-punk (think Postcard Records short lived roster) the attention to detail of later Beatles albums, the quirky charm of Talking Heads yet enough raw power to stop their sometimes twee muse from dominating completely.

A perfect analogy is that of the caterpillar becoming a butterfly, the studio supplying the cocoon from which burst a beautiful and fully transformed musical creature, all fresh colours and able to leave the ground behind. One wonders now though, where do they go next?