Following single and EP releases, indie super-group Railcard are here this week with their debut full-length album. Two Steps at a Time has already yielded a super single in the title track. How's the rest then?
Rachel Love (Dolly Mixture) is joined by Ian Button (Papernut Cambridge, The Penrose Web, Swansea Sound), Peter Momtchiloff (Heavenly, Would-Be-Goods), and Allison Thomson (Would-Be-Goods) on trumpet. Together they are Railcard. It's probably safe to say that if you've liked any of the bands these folks have played in before, you'll like what's on Two Steps at a Time. "1962 Forever" is playful, spry indie, while the lovely, wistful "Flannelette" charms enormously. It is, like the best material here, centered around Rachel's resiliently beautiful voice. "Foxy", a highlight on that Pets Sounds compilation on Skep Wax, is a highlight here too, Rachel's airy vocals giving this one an achingly lovely quality. "Sunday Sun" mines a similar vein and yields the same sort of fine results, while "Snow Blind" is perhaps the best, and most subtle vocal performance by Love on this record.
There's a nice cohesion at work in the Railcard material, and it's evident that the players are a natural fit for each other. That's not too suprising given their past efforts, right? Two Steps at a Time is like getting together with old friends who just so happen to have brought guitars and a drum-kit with them. It's light in the right way, without anything feeling overdone. That said, the tunes are all full of a sort of quiet energy, such that the record charms without being too insistent about itself. Rachel coos about being "Paper Thin" but there's nothing about this that is. Two Steps at a Time is the sound of four friends who know exactly how to make great indie, and we're hearing the results of their chemistry on this fine record.
Two Steps at a Time by Railcard will be out on September 18, 2026. Details via Skep Wax or Slumberland Records.
[Photo: Railcard]