{"id":732715,"date":"2026-06-29T11:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T11:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/732715\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T11:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T11:05:12","slug":"ebbbs-euphoric-synth-pop-hits-you-where-it-hurts-the-cover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/732715\/","title":{"rendered":"Ebbb\u2019s euphoric synth-pop hits you where it hurts | The Cover"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NME\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The world’s defining voice in music and pop culture: breaking what’s new and what’s next since 1952.<\/p>\n

When you purchase through affiliate links on NME.com, you may contribute to our site through commissions.\u00a0Learn More<\/a><\/p>\n

NME Networks<\/a>, a part of\u00a0Caldecott Music Group<\/a>. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

\"NME\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ebbb\u2019s euphoric synth-pop hits you where it hurts | The Cover | NME.com\"EbbbEbbb (2026), photo by Ed MilesThe London trio search for joy in connection through transportive choral hooks, thrilling live shows and hyper-relatable lyrical catharsis<\/p>\n

Words by\u00a0Huw Baines<\/a><\/p>\n

29th June 2026\"EbbbWeekly Poster Giveaway<\/p>\n

Tell us why you love the artist and have a chance to win a free poster!\u00a0Shout-Outs are only available on mobile devices.<\/p>\n

It was late. Four in the morning or something like that. Lev Ceylan stared out of the window and hit play again and again. \u201c,\u201d sang a beautiful voice, haunted and vulnerable in the dead air. He felt like it was talking only to him. \u201cThe lyrics resonated so much,\u201d the producer tells of \u2018Remedy\u2019, a song that now beats like the slow-burn synth-pop heart of \u2019s debut album \u2018Shallow Hits\u2019.<\/p>\n

Now and then I can tune out all the noise \/ But it comes back and it follows me<\/p>\n

NME<\/p>\n

As Ceylan speaks, vocalist Will Rowland nods thoughtfully in a parallel Zoom window. He didn\u2019t write those words for his bandmate \u2013 he wrote them for himself. But he is beginning to understand his own capacity to hit people where it hurts, knowing that they\u2019re seeing something of themselves reflected in his lyrics about anxiety, low self-esteem and interpersonal relationships in a cold, dislocated world. \u201cThere is a power in externalising your internal monologue,\u201d Rowland says. \u201cIt\u2019s like, this is how I feel \u2013 do you feel like that too? I suppose that\u2019s what a lot of lyrics are meant to do, right? But it\u2019s quite a punishing voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"EbbbEbbb on The Cover of NME. Credit: Ed Miles for NME<\/p>\n

It is, but through Ebbb\u2019s music he has found a constructive way to respond to its constant needling. Completed by Scott MacDonald, whose move from live drummer to full-time member has reconfigured their sound into something more tactile and dynamic, the London trio have a lot going for them. Tipped in the NME 100 of 2025<\/a>, Ebbb have hooks for miles, a complementary sense of formal adventure and virtuosic musical chops that have already secured them a deal with Ninja Tune, home to Bonobo<\/a>, Kae Tempest<\/a> and Thundercat<\/a>, and a hand-picked support slot with Radiohead<\/a> offshoot The Smile<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s their ability to turn Rowland\u2019s lacerating, intensely personal lyrics into communal gatherings live, dialling up that early-hours emotional weight so that it chimes with hundreds of people at once, that really sets them apart. \u201cThe songs, from my point of view, always start off as this very private, introspective act,\u201d Rowland says. \u201cI\u2019ll sit in my room and write lyrics over a period of time, really craft them. Then there is this purging when it gets brought to the stage. I love that dissonance between the euphoric production and the internal lyrical voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LevLev Cylan of Ebbb. Credit: Ed Miles for NME<\/p>\n

Coming up alongside the fizzing Brixton Windmill scene, which earlier spawned Black Country, New Road<\/a>, Black Midi<\/a> and Squid<\/a>, Ebbb initially forged a rep as a sense-shattering live band, with MacDonald\u2019s dexterous playing clattering into Ceylan\u2019s chaotically rhythmic synths. Rowland, a former chorister, uses his voice as both a melodic scalpel blade and a textural element, his plaintive cries meeting tiered harmonies and moments of catharsis. Meanwhile, his lyrics smuggle gut-punches into songs that are otherwise primed for club-wide bliss outs.<\/p>\n

We live in a time when bands are expected to be social media account managers first and musicians second, shovelling snappy content into the algorithm\u2019s gaping maw. Ebbb have eschewed that grind in favour of something more traditional, deciding early on that they\u2019d do the bare minimum online and instead rely on their performances as a calling card, using word of mouth to create a more organic sort of buzz. \u201cWhen we started the band, we were sitting at mine like, \u2018We don\u2019t want to do social media,\u2019\u201d Ceylan recalls. \u201cWe were just gonna post the gigs in our stories. People have 24 hours to be part of it, or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that dissonance between the euphoric production and the internal lyrical voice\u201d \u2013 Will Rowland<\/p>\n

Quickly, they found that the vibrancy of each show and those short-notice posts generated a sense of curiosity and momentum. As their profile grew, they formulated a sound that they\u2019d eventually describe as \u201cBrian Wilson<\/a> meets Death Grips<\/a>\u201d. It was a label that felt apropos on their 2024 debut EP \u2018All At Once\u2019, which housed churning, gnarly drum machines alongside Rowland\u2019s spectral vocals. Now, it feels somewhat reductive. \u201cWe probably said that once or twice after a show when someone asked us how we would describe it,\u201d Ceylan notes. \u201cIt was a very vague way of expressing extremes.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is nothing vague about the band Ebbb have become. Beyond the detail in their sound, from the warmth and humanity of MacDonald\u2019s drums to Rowland\u2019s lattice-like vocal arrangements, their writing is informed by rich, idiosyncratic personal histories that they have somehow managed to slot together, the joins barely visible. As a result, they are making pop<\/a> music that is wired differently. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t until I started doing sessions as a producer that [I realised] I can\u2019t put a gabber beat in a verse,\u201d Ceylan admits. \u201cI\u2019m kind of learning backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WillWill Rowland of Ebbb. Credit: Ed Miles for NME<\/p>\n

At home in Germany, music wasn\u2019t really a thing \u2013 he estimates he was 16 when he first heard an album front to back \u2013 but Ceylan became enamoured with rock<\/a> and metal<\/a> through his desire to play guitar, which grew after seeing a friend pick one up. He later got a job at the Philharmonic Hall in Munich as a technician, feeling his horizons being forcibly broadened by the sights and sounds he witnessed each night. \u201cIn my spare time, I would have all the crazy metal stuff, but then at work it would be opera, jazz<\/a>, world music, classical,\u201d he observes.<\/p>\n

In London, meanwhile, Rowland was being educated at Westminster Abbey Choir School, receiving classical training and essentially foregoing pop until his teenage years, when the heavyweights of mainstream indie<\/a> \u2013 Tame Impala<\/a>, The Strokes<\/a>, Foals<\/a> et al \u2013 came knocking and set him on a path towards more esoteric guitar realms. \u201cThen it was a lot of dream-pop, bands like Pale Saints, and chamber-pop like Belle & Sebastian<\/a>,\u201d he says. \u201cI was very inspired by The Beach Boys<\/a>, which was a big one for me. \u2018Pet Sounds\u2019 was one of my favourite albums.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a big aspect of getting these ideas together without it being too avant-garde\u201d \u2013 Lev Ceylan<\/p>\n

Their paths began to converge when Ceylan moved over to study at Goldsmiths. There, he met MacDonald, whose drumming developed in the scuzzy surroundings of the Glasgow punk<\/a> scene, and discovered electronica and hip-hop<\/a> as he whiled away the pandemic\u2019s sterile hours. \u201cWhen I had the opportunity to get into production, there was almost this feeling of finding treasure,\u201d Ceylan says. \u201cLike, \u2018Oh my god, I can mix orchestral samples with ambient electronica?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowland was thrown into the mix following a chance meeting at a show, and they soon found common ground in their rapidly developing tastes, from the melodic riddles of Cocteau Twins<\/a> to Broadcast<\/a>\u2019s deconstructed psych experiments. \u201cThere have been multiple moments when we were on flights, all listening to Broadcast and timing it with takeoff,\u201d Ceylan says.<\/p>\n

Between these poles, Ebbb\u2019s treatment of Rowland\u2019s otherworldly voice makes perfect sense. At first, it appears that they take perverse delight in corrupting something beautiful, spotlighting its pristine appearance only to assault it from all sides with maximalist splurges of noise. But it is this very dynamic that makes their take on straight-up pop writing so compelling.<\/p>\n

\"ScottScott MacDonald of Ebbb. Credit: Ed Miles for NME<\/p>\n

Splitting the difference between Everything Everything<\/a> and imperial-phase Years & Years<\/a>, it is easy to imagine latest single \u2018Side On\u2019 as a genuine chart-bothering concern. But its indelible hook emerges from a tangle of multi-tracked voices, sitting atop a skittering drum\u2019n\u2019bass beat. \u201cThen all your dreams turn into dust,\u201d Rowland sings, reaching for a moment of perfect, celebratory melancholy. \u201cThere was a big aspect of getting these ideas together without it being too avant-garde,\u201d Ceylan says. \u201cIt\u2019s easy, once you put a drum\u2019n\u2019bass instrumental over choral vocals, to go too far and make music that only works in your head.\u201d<\/p>\n

At their best, Ebbb blow this concept wide open. \u2018Home Ground\u2019 is nominally a song that\u2019s all the way in its own head as Rowland lays out his many regrets \u2013 the things he said and did, and what you think of him after last night \u2013 amid a complex knot of warped vocals, floating overdubs and multisyllabic percussion. But when they arrive at its ecstatic chorus, it\u2019s transportive. You\u2019re on a dancefloor, eyes closed as tomorrow is kept at bay. \u201cThat song is purely about post-social anxiety,\u201d he says. \u201cI guess one of the reasons why you write lyrics is to try and overcome it and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"EbbbCredit: Ed Miles for NME<\/p>\n

The pace that Ebbb work at certainly helps in that regard. If Rowland is feeling ruminative, time is never on his side. Dig up interviews from a couple of years ago, and you\u2019ll find the band talking about having a record out by the end of 2024. They could have done that \u2013 they had plenty of songs \u2013 but they were evolving at such a clip that each new idea shoved an old one to the back of the line, the hopes and fears in each verse going with them. \u201cWe\u2019ve always been prolific,\u201d Rowland says. \u201cWe write a lot and things quickly change in terms of what becomes the priority. We feel like we\u2019ve outdone ourselves by writing something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

That \u2018Shallow Hits\u2019 made the cut as a cohesive unit speaks to its quality, but it\u2019s not entirely shielded from the unpredictability of Ebbb\u2019s restless creative process. They plan to start populating their set with new songs in the not-too-distant future, almost working one record ahead when playing live as they seek to preserve the artistic drive that\u2019s got them to this point. \u201cWe\u2019ve always had a very quick turnover of what\u2019s in the live set, because we get very excited about a specific idea,\u201d Rowland says. \u201cThen we\u2019re like, \u2018We\u2019ve got to play this.\u2019 In the early days before we\u2019d released anything, it didn\u2019t really matter what we played \u2013 we were constantly experimenting with different stuff, which was all part of the joy of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

For Ebbb, the relentless pursuit of that joy is part of their method. But, for us, it offers a chance to experience the buzz over and over again, like we\u2019re the first ones through the door at a show that might change how we feel, that might make us feel less alone.<\/p>\n

Ebbb\u2019s \u2018Shallow Hits\u2019 is out on July 10 via Ninja Tune.<\/p>\n

Listen to Ebbb\u2019s exclusive playlist to accompany The Cover below on Spotify or on Apple Music here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Words: Huw Baines
Photography: Eddie Miles
Label: Ninja Tune<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The world’s defining voice in music and pop culture: breaking what’s new and what’s next since 1952. When…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":732716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":["post-732715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/732716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}