Truthpaste – Friendship Is The Truth
Truthpaste are a London-based five-piece — Esmé Lark (vocals, saxophone), Theo Murchie (guitar, vocals), Claire Sun (violin, vocals), Euan McNeill (bass, guitar, vocals), and James Ballarò (synth, lapsteel, guitar) — plus a drum machine that’s been part of the setup since the band’s Manchester days, when rehearsal space meant whatever room was available. Originally formed in 2022, they relocated to London and built a live reputation through constant gigging, with early singles “See You Around” and “Bleary Eyes” selling out on vinyl and earning a Steve Lamacq co-sign along the way. “Friendship Is The Truth” follows Bus Song (W12) as the second single from their debut EP I Don’t Know Either, out April 28 on Dirty Hit and Memorials of Distinction.
The track has an unusual origin. Euan McNeill and Claire Sun wrote it years ago, then it sat dormant. Vocalist Esmé Lark kept finding herself humming it without being able to place it. “I would find myself singing it and trying to figure out what it was”, she says. “It felt like the right time for it to form as we have all become very good friends over the last couple of years and it is indeed the friendship song”. That back-story actually fits the music — this is a song that sounds like something gradually pieced together from memory, patient and communal. Group vocals anchor the chorus; Sun’s violin and the band’s layered harmonies give it warmth without tipping into sentimentality.
What stands out is how much space the arrangement allows. Where earlier singles pushed into electric guitar and synth-driven energy, “Friendship Is The Truth” stays closer to Truthpaste’s folk-leaning side — the vocal blend and violin doing most of the structural work while the rhythm section holds things steady underneath. I kept waiting for it to shift gears and it never quite did, which turned out to be the right call.
I Don’t Know Either is shaping up to be an EP that moves between registers — this track alongside the higher-tempo “Bus Song” suggests a band deliberately refusing to settle on a single mode. Worth paying attention to.
Tour Dates:
Europe (UK):
- April 10 — Falmouth, UK — Wanderfal Festival
- April 11 — Bristol, UK — Outer Town
- May 4 — London, UK — The Lexington
- May 5 — Leeds, UK — Hyde Park Book Club
- May 6 — Manchester, UK — Soup Kitchen
- May 7 — Leicester, UK — The Big Difference
- May 9 — Bristol, UK — Strange Brew
- May 15 — Brighton, UK — The Great Escape
- May 16 — Brighton, UK — The Great Escape
