New Music: Larlin – Favours

It may be their debut single, but Favours by Brighton-based outfit Larlin is a confident, rousing, and accomplished slice of anthemic emotional alt-rock.

Part of that is down to the presence of producers Lewis Foord (Wet Leg, LYRA, Conor Maynard) and Cameron Nesbitt (Lovejoy, James Marriott, Luna Blue) in the band’s line-up, for sure.

But Sheffield-born songwriter and vocalist Maryann Hoar more than holds her own here, with vocals as versatile and vulnerable as the shifting tones of the alt-rock arrangement demand.

It’s not an easy song to categorise, as you can hear something of the ‘loud-quiet-loud’ legacy of Pixies and Nirvana in the soundscape of the arrangement. But Favours also incorporates indie rock and dream pop into its multi-hued sound. That may come across as an impossibly complex congruence of ideas and inspirations, but it all gels together wonderfully here.

“It began on a tiny electric keyboard, born from feeling like a burden and letting the nasty voices in our heads take over,” they say about the song.

“But it grew into something louder, brighter—a rock banger built around the message: ‘That’s not real.’ Everyone wrestles with those thoughts, but at the end of the day, your mates just love you.

Discover more about Larlin on their Instagram and TikTok feeds. Favours can be downloaded on Bandcamp and is streaming on Spotify.