Underlowe make their intentions clear almost immediately on ‘No Pictures’. The Cardiff outfit open with filtered vocals and layered guitars before the track snaps into distortion, giving the song the kind of abrupt lift that suits its message about stepping away from screens and actually inhabiting the moment.
There’s an obvious pop-punk foundation here, with Green Day and Blink-182 audible in the chugging guitars and vocal delivery, but the production pushes things somewhere heavier and more contemporary. The thicker guitar layers, blown-out textures and rhythmic force bring flashes of Turnstile into the mix, while the arrangement has enough detail to keep it from feeling like a simple revival piece.
Isaac Walker’s drumming is particularly effective. The recurring galloping snare fills add real momentum, while Alfie Mac’s bass gives the track plenty of weight underneath Jacob Dennis’ dense guitar work. Keaton Lammy’s addition on keys and vocals also broadens the palette without disrupting the rawness at the centre.
But what makes ‘No Pictures’ work is that the theme is refreshingly direct. There’s no grand anti-technology manifesto here, just the simple idea that not every night out, friendship or passing moment needs to be documented. It gives the track an easy relatability tone thatkeeps the lyrics aligned with the song’s restless energy.
For a song that began life as a forgotten voice-note jam from Alfie and Isaac’s previous band, ‘No Pictures’ has certainly grown into something much more fully realised.
Loud, sharp and knowingly nostalgic without being stuck in the past, it finds Underlowe taking familiar pop-punk ingredients and giving them enough modern weight to feel convincingly their own.
