Influenced by the DIY experimental scene cultivated by Black Country, New Road and Black Midi, south London art-rock quintet Man/Woman/Chainsaw are happiest making a racket. “We thrive on the thin line between pretty and noisy,” vocalist and guitarist Billy Ward has said. “It’s that chaos that excites us.”
Schoolfriends Ward and fellow singer-guitarist Vera Leppänen were 14 when they started playing music together in 2019. At college, bedroom jam sessions became round-the-clock gigging, supported by a revolving door of bandmates. It was only last year that their lineup took root, with the addition of pianist Emmie-Mae Avery, drummer Lola Cherry and violinist Clio Starwood. They’re all now 19 or 20, but hurtling towards adulthood has done little to temper their instrumental mayhem. Ode to Clio, a standout from the band’s debut EP, Eazy Peazy, is captivating: it begins gently, then expands and ebbs before its epic finale, a violin-driven punk-rock blitz.
For all their intensity, it’s the group’s sense of fun that will win you over. From the madcap imagery of Ode to Clio (“She’s only arms and legs, her limbs like hairs, spread out starfish”) to the dry lyricism of high-school themed Sports Day (“I’m sorry I dropped the baton, I’m just, I’m not that fast”), you get the sense that this wry young band’s chainsaw might be more playful prop than grisly murdering machine.
Eazy Peazy is out now via Fat Possum. Man/Woman/Chainsaw tour the UK in February 2025
