Lime Garden’s long-awaited debut album, One More Thing, bursts with life much like the fruit the band are named after: vibrant, fresh and pretty stinging. Made up of four best friends from Brighton, the band evidently have an incredible bond and are not afraid to use their trust in each other’s abilities to effortlessly resist sonic boundaries in this cohesive yet sweeping body of work. Felicity Cook shares her thoughts on the band's debut album.
The pulse of One More Thing is set, racing, by its opener, Love Song. Lyrically, we’re walking, bleeding, weeping and crying, holding hands with the band’s vocalist, Chloe Howard, as we’re punched again and again by the song’s electro-twinged, glittering heartbeat led by Annabelle Whittle on drums. It feels like an active seduction, being pushed to lose control, embrace the darkness and terror of falling in love with someone, a theme that rushes, spirals and shapeshifts throughout the rest of the album. For example, I Want To Be You blurs the lines between wanting someone, wanting to love them, and wanting to be them. It neatly ties early experiences of same-sex attraction and desire (Howard has stated the song is inspired by her 14-year-old self at a gig, looking at the band, thinking: “do I want to be you or be with you, or do I want both?”) to self-image and reflection, resulting in a very intense but catchy knot of a song.
Not all songs are as tightly wound as this, however; Lime Garden seem to excel in the art of unravelling, both lyrically and sonically. A highlight on the album, Fears moves away from the themes of love and desire, towards petrification, inability to move, stifled by the fear of failure, fear of success, fear of life itself. Thi s is darker, slicker, haunted by the ghost of a ringing alarm and eventually breaking down into a singed, plucked outro with some great riffs from the band’s guitarist Leila Deeley, through which Howard’s distorted vocals unfurl and float like smoke. Like smoke is a strange yet apt way to describe some of the songs on One More Thing; Pine, for example, demonstrates Lime Garden’s searing ability to create an indelible atmosphere that, like smoke, lilts, lingers and clings to you long after you finish listening.
The album brilliantly offers glimpses of hyper-pop shining amongst the heavy bass performed by Tippi Morgan. In the disco-infused Pop Star, Howard brags of her popstar status, her voice dripping in autotune that ripples with the self-assurance and formidable bitchiness (meant as a compliment) of Charli XCX. This is only furthered in the shimmering, chaotic euphony of Floor, which would slot seamlessly into a playlist alongside Planet 1999, PinkPantheress, Coco & Clair Clair, proving Lime Garden’s sonic diversity. They’re an indie-rock band who half-jokingly describe their sound as “wonk pop”, unafraid of transcending convention, of sliding across, reaching into and out of so many genres. The future seems pretty bright when this is the approach: open-minded, open-armed, radiant and willing to have fun.
In the disco-infused Pop Star, Howard brags of her popstar status, her voice dripping in autotune that ripples with the self-assurance and formidable bitchiness (meant as a compliment) of Charli XCX.
Lime Garden’s lyricism is always sharp, always cutting, reaching its peak in Nepotism (baby), a song that would fit perfectly in a 00s teen movie soundtrack (Regina George? Anyone?), about a rather 2024 topic: nepotism, specifically the nepo-verse in the music industry. “To have a face like an angel / With enough money to do whatever the fuck it is they do”; it never feels bitter, always light-hearted on the surface, but you can’t help but laugh at the subtle mockery lurking beneath, latent. The sensitivity and care taken with lyrics is proven in It, which begins as a sparse, raw ballad, spotlighting seemingly assured statements such as “I accept I’m on my own”, performed by Howard with grit and clarity, before plunging into a haunting, desperate plea, “Don’t go, just stay”. The song doesn’t seem to believe itself, the lyrics lie in juxtaposition, changing and turning back in on themselves, trailing, twinging and resounding in a way that reflects real life all too well.
The album’s close, Looking, finds our pulses slowed but in no way dulled. Rocking back and forth like a lullaby, the song pinpoints the place in which we discover ourselves at the end of the album; a place lonelier, perhaps, than where we began, but more honest, more at peace. One More Thing does not bring us in a full circle, it is too mature for that. Instead, it takes us on a journey of growth and self-realisation, giving us the space (and courage) to continue alone.
Felicity Cook
Edited by Natalie Howarth
Featured Image from Lime Garden's One More Thing Official Album Cover. No changes were made to this image.
In-article videos courtesy of Lime Garden via Youtube. No changes were made to this video.
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