Supercaan

About

On Supercaan’s introspective second album, ‘A Tiger Walks the Streets’, the band come face to face with their biggest anxieties for the world. “It’s about the things you look at in society, things that worry us about bringing kids up in this world, and what we are leaving behind for future generations,” says lyricist Tom Whitfield.  The independent band – based in London, Birmingham, North Shields and Denbighshire, Wales – is made up of Greg Milner (vocals), Tom Whitfield (lyrics), Stuart White (drums), Justin Januszewski (bass) and Ralph Frost (guitar). A band name inspired by provocative British author J.G. Ballard’s dark thriller ‘Super-Cannes’. Taking inspiration from groups like Canadian indie collective Broken Social Scene and late ‘90s Nottingham rockers Six By Seven, Supercaan refined their ambitious sound to one that pairs anthemic indie-rock and soaring electronic landscapes, strewn with bubbling, nostalgic synths.  Propelled by Greg’s sonorous, ruminative vocals, the result is a brooding sound big enough for the weighty questions each song tackles. “We ask ourselves how big and bold can we go in that space of a four to five minute indie-pop song,” Tom says. “We’ve always liked artists that have made albums where it feels like you don't want to skip a track because it's all part of a story. That's what we’ve tried to do with Supercaan.” Their 2019 self-titled debut album explored a pool of abstract ideas – from society’s imperfections and false memories, to warped perspectives and insomnia – which saw Greg and Tom experimenting with samplers and synthesisers to create sprawling, multi-layered sonic vistas. The rousing stadium-sized lead single ‘The Bull’ earned recognition from BBC Radio 6, described by broadcaster Tom Robinson as “motoring, atmospheric psychedelia”. While the sensitive, swirling ‘The Great North Eastern’ made Spotify’s ‘Fresh Finds’ playlist. Returning three years later with their second album, the band started working on ‘A Tiger Walks the Streets’ in the first lockdown in March 2020. “The Dropbox folder was poppin’!” Greg jokes. By November that year, the group were able to get into the studio in Birmingham to record their individual parts. “Recording on our own gave us more time to really focus on the sound we were bringing to the album, from start to finish,” Greg adds. “We all knew the story the album was trying to tell.”  Their grand ambitions for the second album also meant recruiting two new members, Ralph and Justin on bass and guitar. “I think it's given more of a raw physicality to the music,” Tom says. “It's heavier, quicker. It's a bit darker, a bit broodier.” While their debut tackled the past and regret, Supercaan are looking forward for the first time, grappling with the uncertainty that the future brings while asking whether our society is progressing or regressing. The record gets its name from a line in their existential, skittering track ‘Nagoro’, about the shrinking, rural Japanese village of the same name that’s filled with eerie scarecrow dolls. “I saw that village as a metaphor about how we think we're progressing in society, but are we actually any happier?” T It’s an album name that also sounds like it could be a children’s book, calling back to the idea of the band growing older and more reflective. “It’s looking at society with that slightly naive wisdom you've got as you get older, rather than that youthful optimism that we might have written with in our 20s,” Tom says. It’s a concept that also matches the cover art designed by Greg – spray painted toy baby blocks that evoke ideas of both childhood innocence and the rigid structure of our world. These themes are explored throughout the new album, with each song serving as a fable in the collection. The propulsive, urgent first single ‘Zoetrope’ is a sharp observation on the double standards of the people in the top echelons of society who “get to set the rules” but “play by different rules”. A track built “brick by brick”, with each band member recording their parts remotely, Six By Seven’s lead singer and the band’s “hero” Chris Olley adds another dimension to ‘Zoetrope’ in a remixed version of the song. Then there’s the multi-layered, synth-laden ‘Ricochet’ which tackles the complex hypocrisy of vanity. “You're criticising other people for being vain, but then you're exactly the same as them,” Tom says. ‘Everything Collapses’, meanwhile, is a reflective slow-burner that builds to a heart-swelling crescendo, navigating the loss of former band member Sam Norris, who tragically died in a car accident. “That’s the song I’m most proud of that we’ve ever written together,” Greg says. As Supercaan enter a new era, ‘A Tiger Walks the Streets’ offers perspective in a time that has left so many of us jaded. In an elusive search for the answers, Supercaan unearth their biggest, boldest sound yet.