Label: Domino
Released: 7th October 2022
To say that Sorry’s second full-length has been immensely anticipated would be a remarkable understatement. With ‘925’ dropping two years ago, along with the monolithic single ‘Starstruck’, the London five top have spent the interim building on their steady foundations, adding new layers of seedy tones and unabashed emotionality to bring us ‘Anywhere But Here’. Tapping into the disillusion and frustration of their generation, Sorry tell earnest tales with London at their centre, using the spirit of its inhabitants as their narrator.
Where ‘925’ saw the band producing on-rails alternative bangers, ‘Anywhere But Here’ takes a more exploratory approach, with tracks expanding and developing as they progress. The result is a set of songs that initiate with small kernels of a theme that bloom before our ears, as if we’re witnessing each track’s inception and completion. There’s an insecurity to the album that is perfectly personified by the soft but resilient vocals of Asha Lorenz, who sings as if every word were a confession spoken in quiet confidence. “Closer to my actions, closer to my fears, closer to the high pitch noise that rings in my ears. Close to my mother, closer to the end, closer to doing, closer to doing it all over again,” she ruminates on the aptly titled ‘Closer’ about the powerless struggle of your mid-twenties.
Even the acutely profound sensation of wonder is explored in ‘There’s So Many People That Want To Be Loved’, perfectly summing up the overwhelming realisation that every person around you is experiencing the same bizarre and scary world as you. Despite the pressure that comes with a home run of a debut album, Sorry have come correct with 13 phenomenally honest tracks that hum with the same dark liveliness that cemented their place in our playlists. ‘Anywhere But Here’ is a perfect addition to their discography and a perfect analysis of modern attitudes and anxieties.
