Highway To Heavenly

Heavenly are seen as the originators of a whole genre of music – known to some as ‘jangle’, others as ‘twee’ and to the band themselves as ‘indiepop’. As fiercely independent as any punk band, but as sweetly melodic as any chart-topping act, Heavenly combine sharp-edged politics with shamelessly joyful pop music. Highway To Heavenly shares this recipe with the band’s first four albums, all of which were released in the 1990s at a time when sensitive indie types in the UK were sheltering from the prevailing macho-rock storm under the Sarah Records umbrella, and when women in the US were starting to find their Riot Grrrl voices in the small town of Olympia, where labels like K and Kill Rock Stars were designing a new creative space. Heavenly were on Sarah Records in the UK and on K in the US – and maybe this is a useful shorthand for understanding the band’s ability to meld the attitude of American Riot Grrrl bands with the pop charms of the English indie scene. In terms of style, Heavenly presented an androgynous look – short hair and pinafores for Amelia and Cathy – while Peter Rob and Mathew determinedly avoided the theatrics of male rock. Heavenly did not want to fit in with the hyper-gendered corporate music scene of the 1990s, and the band have stayed determinedly independent ever since (this new album is released on Rob and Amelia’s Skep Wax label). The new songs are full of anger, of grief, of empathy, of love, and set themselves in opposition to the resurgence of the cold ‘masculine energy’ that is making the world a miserable, aggressive place today. Heavenly have recently enjoyed a huge resurgence of interest from a younger generation of fans, who have cottoned on to Heavenly’s music, but also embraced the band’s inclusive version of feminism. Portland Town is a joyful celebration of a place where diversity is welcomed. Press Return is a demolition of those men who think technology and wealth make them winners rather than sad losers. Excuse Me is an outburst of punk energy, as effervescent as a song on the first Undertones album, gleefully celebrating a teenage romance with the nerdiest boy in school. A Different Beat tells the entire story of a doomed relationship, its heroine falling for and then escaping from an oppressive man, before heading for the metaphorical disco of freedom. Heavenly have clearly been to a disco or two lately: opening track Scene Stealing feels like a distant cousin of Blondie’s ‘Heart Of Glass’ and tells the story of self-obsessed YouTube influencers who don’t know how to treat women with respect. By contrast, album closer That Last Day may be most poignant song about bereavement you will hear all year, certainly the only one you’ll want to sing along to. It’s all pop here, but Highway To Heavenly has a huge range of tones and moods. The band comprises original members Amelia Fletcher, Peter Momtchiloff, Cathy Rogers and Rob Pursey, who are now joined on drums by Ian Button. (An important element of the Heavenly story was the loss of Mathew Fletcher, who took his own life just before the fourth album was released. It took Amelia, Peter, Cathy and Rob a long time to get over the loss; maybe it took even longer to find a drummer as good as Ian.) The new Heavenly have played a number of sell-out shows in the past couple of years, where older fans have mingled with new devotees.