Still life is always in motion. Every photo is but a single frame in the movie that is our lives. Time is always marching on; cracks form, dust gathers, and slowly but surely we get a little older and wiser. Even the most unremarkable days, the most mundane slices of life, all add up to something in the end. Either we grow accustomed to the life we’re living – learn to live with our pain, look past our doubts, and begin to appreciate the little things we took for granted. Or it all adds up like the straw that broke the camel’s back, forcing us to face facts and make a change when it finally dawns on us that there’s a better way to spend our days. No matter how still, how stuck in a rut, our lives seem, there’s always progress being made. The hands of the clock are still turning even if you can’t always see them moving. With their debut EP Still Life, Bristol quartet The Bedside Morale offer slices of love, pain and self-reflection at various stages along the journey.

Breezy new wave inspired indie rocker ‘Bitter Things’, with its stellar bass line and bright melodies, speaks of how some people have let their toxicity build up to the point where they’ve weaponised their insecurity and self pity to get their way and mess people around. ‘Early Morning Sonnet’ meanwhile feels like the opposite side of the coin, where the excitement of new love grants you a new lease of life and pushes you to be a better person. It’s here where frontman Tim Kazer’s vocals most shine; somewhere between Razorlight’s Johnny Borrell and Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse.

The EP’s final two tracks, ‘Safeword’ and ‘Yours Sincerely’, also feel like companion pieces to each other. Two chapters of the same story. The former an energetic rocker all about hiding in the comfort of the past and the familiar, culminating in a heavy breakdown that feels like reality catching up with you. Closing track ‘Yours Sincerely’ meanwhile is a moving reflection on self-worth, coming to terms with trauma, and the realisation you deserve better. “It’s taken me too many years to see, It’s not standing your ground if you’re too scared to leave“. The ways it breaks down the experience of trying to love someone that can’t be loved, and constantly losing parts of yourself in the process, is some of the most heartfelt and hard-hitting lyricism I’ve heard all year. The culmination of countless individual moments building up towards a way out. Still or otherwise, The Bedside Morale inject so much life into their music; real, messy, genuine life.

Fans of The Amazons, Blossoms, and of Sam Fender’s true-to-life lyricism, should check out The Bedside Morale’s debut EP Still Life out now.