Named as Best British Newcomer at the Kerrang! Awards, Best New Band at the Metal Hammer Golden God Awards and Best British Newcomer in Rock Sound readers’ poll, the March 24th release of Creeper's expansive, ambitious and feverishly-awaited debut album Eternity, In Your Arms finds the Southampton six pushing hard against the boundaries of the art a ‘punk’ band can be expected to produce in 2017.

The album is the third instalment in a trilogy of records (after the highly acclaimed EPs The Callous Heart and The Stranger) loosely based around J.M Barrie’s Peter Pan. Eternity, In Your Arms sees the band wrestling with existential crises, personal failures and emotional desolation via the kaleidoscope of a richly drawn narrative tapestry.

Ostensibly a punk band, Creeper’s sonic palette draws on everything from Alkaline Trio and Jawbreaker to Meat Loaf, David Bowie and Queen. Throughout Eternity, In Your Arms those influences are united by a rich array of orchestration – everything from trumpets and strings, to keys, spoken word poetry and close vocal harmonies.

Creeper’s stylistic leaps are diverse in nature. Recent single ‘Suzanne’ – already championed by Sir Elton John – swings between the energy of the Misfits and a flamboyant hook that recalls The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and its follow-up ‘Hiding With Boys’ brims with religious imagery that was inspired by Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible.

Eternity, In Your Arms is currently available to order on digital, vinyl and CD formats as well as a selection of special bundles which are available directly from http://www.creepercult.com/.

The album tracklisting is:

1.       BLACK RAIN

2.       POISON PENS

3.       SUZANNE

4.       HIDING WITH BOYS

5.       MISERY

6.       DOWN BELOW

7.       ROOM 309

8.       CRICKETS

9.       DARLING

10.   WINONA FOREVER

11.   I CHOOSE TO LIVE

To coincide with the album’s release, Creeper will embark upon their biggest UK and European headline tour to date. The dates are:

March

25th – Manchester, Academy 2

26th – Glasgow, The Garage

27th – Newcastle, University

28th – Leeds, Stylus

30th – London, Electric Ballroom (SOLD OUT)

31st – Southampton, The 1865 (SOLD OUT)

April

1st – Birmingham, Institute 2

2nd – Cardiff, Tramshed

4th – Germany, Hamburg, Hafenklang

5th – Denmark, Copenhagen, Lille VEGA

6th – Norway, Oslo, Krøsset

7th – Sweden, Stockholm, Klubben

9th – Germany, Cologne, MTC

10th – Germany, Munich, Strom

11th – Austria, Vienna, Arena

12th – Germany, Berlin, Cassiopeia

14th – France, Paris, Backstage By The Mill

15th – Netherlands, Amsterdam, Melkweg Oude Zaal

Tickets are available from www.ticketweb.co.uk/creeper.  Milk Teeth and Puppy support on all dates, while the UK leg also features Energy.

Crawling with sin and damnation, ‘Sincerity’ (feat. Gilan & Lefty), is a testament to the uniqueness of vision that London producer Zaflon is quickly getting a reputation for. Flanked by steely guitars twanging hauntingly throughout the song, Gilan’s hook is eerie, both conveying a deeply disquieting nocturnal mood, and supplying the song with its infectious refrain, while Lefty’s bars take it back to the harsh realities of the streets. Filmed in Zaflon’s neighbourhood of Kingston, the accompanying video is an almost Lynchian cut, conveying an impending sense of terror beneath the veneer of a civilised city.

Zaflon is a producer songwriter who’s quickly garnering praise for his unique production approaches, lending his engineering hand to Jamie Wood, Royce Wood Junior and a few others along the way. Having first played in bands since he was thirteen and then having produced his own tracks since sixteen, Zaflon’s approach centres on the use of live instrumentation in his tunes (although sometimes it’s heavily abstracted).

Recently, his exploration has tended toward the use of sampling and field recordings, old school drum breaks, and his own twisted synth patches. Having vowed to release a song for every month of this year, Zaflon finds himself taking on frequent collaborators to further flesh out his sound. “To me the music you make is a reflection of the life you lead and the people you meet along the way. There’s something so much more real about working with people you chance across in life.”

Zaflon’s last EP LDP 1 attracted rave reviews and comparisons to Darkside and Massive Attack. Now Zaflon’s trajectory is picking up pace. As intriguing and expansive as Bonobo, and as ambient as early Aphex Twin, Zaflon’s pioneering futuristic trip hop is both nostalgic and indicative of the innovation still left to find in electronic music. His task for the coming year is ambitious, but there is little doubt he’ll be running out of ideas any time soon.