Insect Guide

Formed in Leeds in late 2005, Insect Guide – Su Sutton and Stan Howells – have been sending ripples through the musical underground ever since thanks to their distinctive brand of dark, cinematic pop.
After two years of intensive activity – songwriting, gigging, recording, and filming – Insect Guide's debut album, 6ft in Love, appeared on Leeds' Dead Penny Records in October 2007. Uniquely, the release included not just a CD, but also a DVD of self-produced videos for each and every track. Sometimes bizarre and disturbing, sometimes gentle and reflective, the videos complemented the music perfectly; fans of the band's immersive, audio-visual live shows would have expected no less.
An Uncut magazine 'Debut of the Month', 6ft in Love attracted reviews that ranged from the enthusiastic to the near-ecstatic. Subba-Cultcha described it as 'a beautiful and idiosyncratic pop album'; Drowned in Sound called it 'an irresistible pop masterpiece... as dark as the most potent Velvet Underground'. Elsewhere, the album drew favourable comparisons to The Jesus and Mary Chain, Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine.
6ft in Love was followed in January 2008 by a limited EP featuring remixes of two tracks by Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3/Spectrum). The CD quickly sold out.
The first half of 2008 saw the Insects gigging heavily in support of both releases, supporting the likes of Ulrich Schnauss and Maps. A mini-tour of the USA in March was followed by appearances in Norway and Poland. Meanwhile, the band's profile in the UK was raised by the unexpected appearance of their cover of Dinosaur Jr.'s 'Freakscene' – originally given away free at gigs – on Radio 1's Steve Lamacq show and in the pages of the NME ('an amazing cover of Dinosaur Jr.'s finest moment').
In late 2008 – with the Sonic Boom remix of 'Frozen' finding a whole new audience on Northern Star Records' groundbreaking Psychedelica Three compilation – Insect Guide began gigging and recording with drummer Chris Cooper, of 4AD legends The Pale Saints. The result is a new batch of songs that show Insect Guide, far from struggling to follow their debut, are just hitting their stride: still darkly atmospheric, still multi-layered, still beautifully crafted – but louder, more direct, and more unashamedly 'pop'.
Insect Guide are currently in the studio putting the finishing touches to their new album...
- Greg Owens 2009
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“accessible and joyously barbed pop songs” - UNCUT (debut of the month)
"an irresistible pop masterpiece" - DROWNED IN SOUND
“a beautiful and idiosyncratic pop album” - SUBBA-CULTCHA
Amazing cover of Dinosaur Jrs finest moment, slowed down and pumped full of mogadon" - NME
“recalls the likes of Slowdive and The Mary Chain at their most subtle and brutal” - CONTACTMUSIC
"sparkingly produced, beautifully written" - SOMEWERECOLD.COM
"beautiful, and sometimes sinister" - LEEDS GUIDE
"pure stratospheric fuzz-pop bliss" - SUBBA-CULTCHA.COM
“as dark as the most potent Velvet Underground” - DROWNED IN SOUND
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