The Britpop renaissance going on the UK right now continues to throw up great tunes from hitherto unheard of acts. Well, unheard by me, so far. Obviously they have been bubbling under the UK national charts, working up some local press in their various regional music scenes for a while. As I’ve caught on to them I’ve written up great recent releases from Keyside, The Guest List, and Marseille, all bands that will be soon releasing long-playing debuts. And that is something definitely to look out for. But while we await their arrival we can reach back to last year and a fabulous single from Manchester band Arkayla. They do have a hot-off-the-vinyl-press new song called “Doba” which is pretty fab but the song that really rings the Britpop bells for me is from 2025. “Fortune Teller” opens teasing us with a lightly strummed electric guitar, adding in some harmony vocals, building up our interest before really launching about a third of the way through the tune. From there the song alternates between building up the sonic attack and then having everything drop down to vocal and guitar to grab our attention repeatedly. It will have you hitting play again and again.

No word on a full album from these folks but as long as new songs reliably arrive I’m not complaining. Visit Arkayla at their spartan website to get hooked up with show tix, music and merch.