Brooding and snarling, 'Loving & Still' is a visceral indictment of the contrived pressures of modern life. Ideal Living's latest track fuses art-rock with gothic overtones, delivering a cathartic release of frustration.

Describing the song as "the opposite of a love letter", frontman Billy Marsh deals in postmodern poetics, grit and realism. He confronts the harmful idea that success must be achieved by the time you're thirty - or you’ve failed. The song explores the frustration of weighing personal expectations against the hollow ideals society places on the meaning of success. It's an uncomfortable and confusing bundle of feelings familiar to most (if not all) creative twenty-somethings trying to give it a go in Brighton.

'Loving & Still' erupts with pounding drums and guttural vocal growls, a release of primal anger usually hidden from public view. The track oscillates between tense introspection and full-throttle instrumental overloads. Gothic keys and eerie brass build an uneasy atmosphere, answered by four rapid-fire lines in the song's climax - a surge of pent-up frustration, delivered with the urgency of someone desperate to let it all out. Billy's Tom Waits-esque rasp combines with swirling instrumentation to create a grimly exhilarating listen. Something like the soundtrack to a noir cult thriller.

Formed in 2022, Ideal Living draw on a diverse array of influences, from the narrative-rich songwriting of Nick Cave to the cinematic theatrics of Ennio Morricone. This latest cut, released via Crafting Room Recordings and produced by Ben Hampson (Lambrini Girls, Ditz), amplifies the band's dark and alluring sound.

Catch Ideal Living on their autumn UK tour.

24 Oct // Portsmouth, The Deco (supporting Borough Council)

26 Oct // Brighton, Green Door Store 

28 Oct //  London, The Old Blue Last 

31 Oct // Bristol, The Louisiana

01 Nov // Northampton, The Garibaldi Hotel

05 Nov // Liverpool, The Jacaranda Club

06 Nov // Leeds, Wharf Chambers (Supporting Draags)

08 Nov // Sheffield, Sidney and Matilda

09 Nov // Brighton, Mutations Festival

10 Nov // York, The Crescent