Weekly Feature: March 9 | Written By Evelyn Burr

I had the privilege of seeing UGLY live when they supported Black Country, New Road—a band, like UGLY, hailing from Cambridge—at a concert in May last year. I don’t know how many people walked into the venue knowing the band, but I know that by the end of their setlist I was standing in a room full of UGLY fans, myself included. My friends and I listened to their songs Sha and I’m Happy You’re Here on repeat in the months following, in anticipation of the release of the rest of the tracks that they performed that night. 

One of those songs was Shepherd’s Carol, now released as the final single from their debut EP Twice Around the Sun that is due to be released on April 3rd. The track proceeds with the choral alt-rock sound that UGLY has quickly established for themselves, but steers it in a pastoral, almost occult, direction.

The song swells with images of rural life—‘Won’t go to bed until the children are fed / Coming up shy because the fields were dry’ is the opening line. Intricate harmonies are nothing new for the band, but they feel all the more lush over the verdant guitars that pluck away throughout the track’s five-minute run. The instrumental is just as expansive as the rolling fields that the lyrics describe. 

UGLY have quickly cultivated a truly unique sound, and they have gifted us with another taste of it on a track that feels fresh from the harvest. The song sweeps back and forth, and enchants you with each instrumental turn. Go and listen—you’ll hear something utterly new. 

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