Cutscene – Concrete Line

Cutscene are a Manchester-based, North East-raised four-piece: Seb Mason (vocals/guitar), Jack Ellis (bass), Jacob Shotton (guitar), and Ollie Little (drums). “Concrete Line” is their first single on Heist or Hit and their first new music since debut single “Bright Star” in May 2025. Recorded by Samuel William Jones at Low Four Studios, whose credits include Maruja.

The song is built around a specific idea: the paralysis of small-town life mapped onto the feeling of being stoned. “The ‘concrete line’ represents that stuck-in-stone mindset, that constant, unchanging, cynical stream of consciousness”, the band explain. It opens taut and anxious, guitars locked into a steady, almost hypnotic tension, before the middle section breaks into something more open and dreamlike. Then it snaps back. The structure earns its point: the escape is brief, routine reasserts itself, and you end up where you started.

What holds it together is Mason’s vocal, which shifts register between the two modes without overselling either. The paranoid sections don’t need to announce themselves, and the euphoric break lands harder for being understated. First new music since signing to Heist or Hit, and a strong opening statement. I wasn’t expecting the dynamic range to be this controlled on a debut-label single.

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Tour Dates:

UK:

• Apr 29 – Glasgow, UK – SWG3
• Apr 30 – Newcastle, UK – Xerox
• May 1 – Sheffield, UK – Sidney and Matilda
• May 2 – Manchester, UK – YES Basement
• May 6 – London, UK – The Waiting Room
• May 7 – Manchester, UK – Deaf Institute
• May 10 – London, UK – Sebright Arms
• May 20 – St Albans, UK – The Horn
• May 23 – North Shields, UK – Stones Throw Festival
• May 24 – Mews Festival
• Oct 7 – Manchester, UK – Beyond The Music