ALBUM OF THE YEAR 2007. A bona fide indie album, with a Northern attitude that eats the fumes of an industrial age, where the music rises in exclamation as each track is aired. "Harehills Chapeltown" certainly deserved its place as first single off the album, its raw, grinding and gyrating melody a marvellous piece of songwriting. Every track here is an absolute gem, from the fiery wrath of opening duo "Cinenema" and "Mary Moses" through the frantic fury of "Sick Sick Sick", the rather more relaxed pop nobility of "Just Let Me Talk To Her (Part 1)" right up to the downbeat finale of "URL", this album is on the right label, being, as it is, an absolute firebomb. 10/10

Atomicduster - December '07 (click for full article)

If ever an album was mis-titled then this surely must be King. Of course they've probably done it to be ironic 'cos this is a litlle fucker of brilliance jammed with more gems than a dodgy jeweller's ring piece! A real album for a change. It's all truly wonderful.

Radio Coma - December '07

This record takes my breath away. Mixing discordant guitars, thunderous drums, booming bass and raw, impassioned vocals. Whole Sky Monitor have a heavy, heavy sound but also the tunes to back them up. This ain’t no hollow bluster. Their sound is (probably) deeply unfashionable but pretty damn cool, full of subtle shifts and changes, aided by a punchy, effective no-frills production. Whole Sky Monitor have a great dual-guitar driven sound, a brutally inventive rhythm section and passionate vocals. It’s hard to compare this record to anyone else, sure there are precedents but they leave most of their contemporaries parading ‘emotional’ rock music sounding like bedwetters. Passionate, angry and edgy, there is a real tension existing in their music, between space and claustrophobia, experimentation and melody. Beautiful music for ugly times. 5/5

Is This Music? - December '07 (click for full article)

Genius is the word you want; try “Harehills Chapeltown” for the newly British and excitingly violent Lou Reed anthem. A set that kicks arses as well as it tickles synapses.

Unpeeled - December '07 (click for full article)

This is a distinctly British indie record packed with invention, incorporating elements of a whole fistful of genres, from early metal, through punk to modern MTV2 art-rock; an album that flits between Therapy?, Led Zep, the Manics and Forward Russia at will, but always thoughtfully, productively & charmingly. It's expertly produced by Matt Elliss & is performed with a consistent panache & enthusiasm by the entire band. Some of the lyrics are to die for: an honest, intelligent social commentary without any of the pretension of its peers. More than anything, Bland Bland Bland stands out for its maturity and refinement. 4/5

Leeds Music Scene - June '08 (click for full article)

This is music for football fans on coke, designed to be chanted in the street at three o’clock in the morning.

Big Issue Wales - December '07

Stuffed to the gills with cranked, steroid-ed up guitars, lunkhead disco drums and set to a typically skewhiff narrative about life and strife in Leeds 8 'Harehills Chapeltown' is merely one of a whole arsenal of tunes these rearguard renegades have been polishing up to let off in recent times and the great news is that much of what surrounds it also goes off in your hand like an unholy alliance of Sonic Youth, McLusky and the long lost Big Flame. 'Bland Bland Bland', is the sound of yet more impressively purposeful indie guerrilla action emanating from the West Yorkshire hinterland. Significantly, it's also wall-to-wall with excitable, souped-up excellence and delights in taking a cleaver to its' own title. It's fair to say controlled psychosis has rarely sounded so resonant. 8/10

Whisperin & Hollerin - January '08 (click for full article)

A hub of angst ridden anti-pop music that sweats bullets of rawness, this album stinks of the common man living on a dead-end council estate. An individual sound indeed, with the rawness of a pre-Puzzle Biffy Clyro mixed with the swagger of Queens of the Stone Age. It’s anti-pop at its best; gruff, protesting and jam-packed with more jingle-jangle guitars than the Libertines. It’s really John Parks’ anger-driven and darn right upsetting vocals that lead this album and give it the buzz and awareness that makes it special. 5/5

Bandidge - December '07 (click for full article)

Angry northern songs are nothing new, but Whole Sky Monitor manage to lace strains of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Big Audio Dynamite, The Fall, Wire, Gang of Four and Oasis without sounding like any of them. Sonic shock and awe from the Leeds anti-popsters, WSM are shouting louder, angrier and far more eloquently than most. 4/5

Daily Echo - December '07 (click for full article)

The furious opening of Cinenema sets the scene for an album built on substantial four corners of solid rock. Harehills Chapeltown is a previous single, fizzles with post punk acrimony. The slamming bass lines and the enthusiastic widescreen guitars provide singer John Parkes with a useful foil. Just Let Me Talk To Her sounds like the best bits of Britpop gone nuclear whilst grinding the bones of The Undertones into the mix. Sick Sick Sick is a punk rock anthem to sing from the gallows and even in the title track, the band seem to mix a kind of earthy EMO with some hooklines inspired by Day Tripper - elsewhere N.O. is the band at their most melodious. Whole Sky Monitor seem to be carving their music from solid, massive lumps of industrial concrete and whilst they may seem to be pounding away at the block, the finished article is incredibly detailed and at times stunning. 4/5

Manchester Music - December '07 (click for full article)

This is a huge album full of huge songs. WSM's recent single, Harehills Chapeltown is as chaotic, loud & passionate as any guitar band i've heard. This is social commentary at its most brutal & even ironic. The stand-out track for me on this epic 14 track CD is Just Let Me Talk To Her, which perfectly gives voice to the heart-felt angst after the end of a relationship.

Sandman - January '08

A TERRIFYINGLY good slice of tyke pop here. Whole Sky Monitor's musical judgement is spot-on - great, livid, jagged, post-punk guitar riffs juggling with busy drums and angry vocals carving dark, vainglorious melodies with all the rough edges left in. Best track here is Harehills Chapeltown - a furious maelstrom which seems to team a Stranglers-style bassline with a hip hop-tinged beat, someone tinkling away on a milk bottle and a vocal with the gnarly eloquence of Mark E Smith.

Manchester Evening News - December '07 (click for full article)

John Peel would have approved of this eclectic mix of raw thrashing guitars, melody-led gems & introspective acoustic laments. The stark beauty of 'Just Let Me Talk to Her' is the archetypal new-wave thrash, full of subtle beauty hidden by loud guitars . It would have surely made the Peel festive fifty.

Rock & Reel - March/April '08

Leeds band who could do for the city what US rappers do for their hometown mean streets. The single Harehils Chapeltown is a blistering rock song with thought-provoking lyrics & is typical of the album. They are a straight ahead indie-rock band with no frills but plenty of thrills. Over the course of the album they are a little one dimensional (fine dimension though it is). With a bit more variety they could be exceptional. 8/10

Peterborough Evening Telegraph - December '07

WITH a history stretching back to the 1980s and connections including The Wedding Present and John Peel, John Parkes has taken up residence at the heart of indie-dom for nearly 20 years. The amazing thing about his latest band and their debut album is that it is, perhaps, the best thing he’s ever done. WSM are a full-throttle, full-fat band with as much in common with the Foo Fighters as The Smiths, though there is a hint of That Petrol Emotion‘s incendiary funk-rock, too. From start of finish the album is packed with big hooks, big guitars and big drums, best heard on Harehills Chapeltown, Just Let Me Talk To Her and the album‘s title track.

Harrogate Today - June '08 (click for full article)

The album follows a punk template of ramshackle riffs punctuated by stinging choruses. On repeated listening however the album unravels & reveals a different personality, a reflective heart amongst a head full of rage. The band displays versitility - with their change of dynamics & collective sense of melody - to try on different styles throughout. Ostensibly though, WSM produce raw indie with intent.

Base - December '07

(Whole Sky Monitor) sound original and authentic, and appear to be uninterested in playing the games of meeting genre expectations. What is on offer can only be characterised as rock, but it is of a desperate, even bleak strain, drawing on the post-punk innovators but without being sound-alike, copycatting or reinventing the wheel. The raw aesthetic and intoxicating punk anger really does grab the listener, and the experimental ear in evidence is a real draw.

Last Broadcast - January '08 (click for full article)

Whole Sky Monitor have produced an angular, contemporary and unusual rock record. With traces of Joy Division, Killing Joke and Warrior Soul but within a UK indie rock framework, the Leeds lads have the whole post-punk thing down like few others – meanwhile, songs like “Cinenema” and “Three Cheers For The Weirdo” bear testament to their black, bleak sense of humour. With a real knack of finding a clever, simple, yet effective hook and enough swagger and clever-clever postulation to float a destroyer, Whole Sky Monitor show themselves to be an intriguing prospect.

Subba-cultcha - December '07 (click for full article)

Top 3 in December's chart

The Mag - December '07 (click for full article)

The band have a bluesy swagger reminiscent of peak period Godfathers; and the album stomps along in this vain but then quite unexpectedly there are also some much subtler tones employed as the album builds. Indeed the final track ‘url’ is a one minute lullaby of a closing coda which emphasises as postscript the lyrical and song-writing qualities of Whole Sky Monitor that belie the boisterous bluster of the initial impressions of that first listen.

Vanguard Online - January '08 (click for full article)

WSM create full-blooded indie rock with new wave undertones. In essence, they seem to have emerged straight out of the abyss created between the 1980s and 1990s, a patchwork creature made of a composite of each decades' best bits. if you like early 90s indie and feel that your tastes are seldom catered for in the days of nu-rave then meet your new favourite band.

New Noise - December '07 (click for full article)

Second album in and we’re in a land of clattering rock and fervent lyrical concerns. There’s a buzzy rawness about the band which bodes well and the chaotic nature of the proceedings seem forever on the edge of teetering into the abyss. It’s sometimes a lovely place to be.

The Crack - December '07

The raging twin-guitar outfit from Leeds use their home town as a major influence in their music, most notably in the critically acclaimed single release Harehills Chapeltown. Like all the best young indie bands on the scene, their gritty take on local life gives them a certain cool edge and sense of being grounded in reality, in truth. This is the sort of music to mobilise the masses.

Selby Times - December '07

Punky guitar riffs juggle with busy drums, beats and angry vocals, in a style reminiscent of The Pixies and The Fall.

Romford Recorder - January '08 (click for full article)

What we have is a very honest, well-played blast of alternative, guitar pop music. They possess a decent knack for avoiding the easy route when it comes to song structures and ideas. Mixing a very gritty melodic suss with a surprisingly and angular rhythm section that brings to mind Fugazi and Gang Of Four.

Die Shellsuit Die! - December '07 (click for full article)

Cinenema - presented lovingly in the 'Axis of Evil Mix' form it finds the drums being turned up to alarming degree and WSM getting all militant, murky and downright magnificent on our ass once again. Nominal flipsides 'Sick Sick Sick' and 'N.O' are further reminders of what a polluted masterpiece 'Bland Bland Bland' is. As with 'Cinenema', both of these are impressive slices of curmudgeonly malevolence and are among the wonkiest and best provincial cries from the heart you'll hear all year. 8/10

Whisperin & Hollerin - May '08 (click for full article)

Undoubtedly, this was going to be a winner, featuring great chord progression and a killer hook, "Cinenema" was surefire to follow in the family business. 9/10

Atomicduster - May '08 (click for full article)

WSM’s new track Cinenema isn’t the rough probing punishment that you might expect from a title of such dubious promise, and upon stipping away the exterior layers your’re pleasantly surprised by what’s beneath. Actually the best new single out this week by my reckoning, even B-side Sick Sick Sick leaves you with a wide smile on your face from a band who make like they’re going to batter you senseless, but end up treating you oh so right.

The Yorker - May '08 (click for full article)

The Track is an intense wail of disco beats, discordant guitars and knock out lyrics.

Bad Robot - May '08 (click for full article)

WSM are a band on the cusp of something rather exciting with their current album ‘Bland Bland Bland’ and this latest single goes some way towards explaining why. The vocals are vaguely reminiscent of Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo and with a good dose of chunky riffs and thick, heavy drums the sound remains comparable - albeit slightly rougher around the edges. Even the B-side, ‘Sick Sick Sick’, is refreshingly decent for a bonus track, again re-iterating the band's fondness for repeating their point thrice.

Last Broadcast - June '08 (click for full article)

'Cinenema' is a rip-roaring tune that seems to be a mutation of BRMC and The Manics. They own vocals not dissimilar to James Dean Bradfield, which can't be a bad thing. The B-side track 'Sick Sick Sick', could've been the A-side. It has changes; it is fast and full of twists, turns and much more. Did someone mix the single up with the B-side?

Contact Music - May '08 (click for full article)

This Leeds outfit strip a great track from their current album “Bland Bland Bland”. This is a spontaneous crack of slightly grunged, American style indie. A lot tougher than a lot of things coming out that city right now and progressively loud too.

Manchester Music - May -08 (click for full article)

Cinenema is beefy, bass heavy dance-rock in the mould of fellow Leeds residents The Sunshine Underground. It'll appeal to the lairy and laddish, but doesn't make a great impression, unlike 'Sick Sick Sick' and 'N.O.'. The former is a gobby, Arctic Monkeys playing Shooting At Unarmed Men, punk song, directing its anger in the all the right places. The latter is awkward but chipper grunge pop about leaving someone. It was definitely worth doing them again. 7/10

Die Shellsuit Die - June '08 (click for full article)

Odd this. The spell-check-tripping ‘Cinenema’ sounds like Weezer, but with some English grit and sleazy electronics thrown in. It’s not quite the anti-pop shock and awe this Leeds quartet want it to be but it is curiously good nonetheless.

New Noise - May '08

Harehills Chapeltown is vicious, a swarming and festering slice of unravelling hardcore-styled angular art pop that all at once combines the chop-chop psychosis of early career Killing Joke, the bludgeoning brutally unswerving underpin from Big Black’s ’Kerosene’, braided with the discordant chug of Black Francis at his most manic and welded fast on to a rapidly decaying mass of unhinged blues the type of which is the proven forte of Jon Spencer. An essential three track debut - the Coolest thing on the council estate block. Joint deputy single of the missive

Losing Today - September '07 (click for full article)

a Huge, Hulking Anti-Pop song

Steve Lamacq Radio 1 - July 2007

Bold and brash, with a swagger and badass attitude that would leave the Gallaghers’ knees trembling, Whole Sky Monitor have probably reached the absolute pinnacle of their careers with this dirty, growling monster of a tune. It sounds like Mark E Smith would if you REALLY pissed him off. It’s totally wonderful, and the further tracks, “Mary Moses” and “Just Let Me Talk To Her” are equally chaotic and raw. Tremendous. 9/10

Atomicduster - June '07 (click for full article)

This is quite an experience. Lower LS8 whacks new life into New York as a revival of the down-at-heel I Love emblem is suddenly aglow. It's thanks to an opening number which sure-footedly assembles itself for fifty-odd seconds before growing minute by minute into a mature episode of rowdy and fulfilling solid proto-punk. 4/5

Leeds Music Scene - July '07 (click for full article)

Bursting with anger drenched lyrics that are spat out with venom and disgust, 'Harehills Chapeltown' is oozing with protest vocals, seething guitars riffs that sinisterly threaten to kick you in the teeth before fist pounding drums bombard their way into finish off the job; Aggressive and as close to the common man you'll likely to get, 'Harehills Chapeltown' assertively introduces Whole Sky Monitor in all their gruff and rough glory and will have you shouting along savagely in no time. 10/13

Room 13 - August '07 (click for full article)

On top of a great sound, Whole Sky Monitor also fit genuinely into the social-commentary buzz-category, the passion and anti-passion of their feelings for their home town make for an excellent gritty reality to the song (Harehills Chapeltown). 'Mary Moses' and 'Just Let Me Talk To Her' complete the single with not a bad moment between them. 8/10

The Mag - October '07 (click for full article)

Post-punk clatter that shaves off the corners from the angular arthouse stabs of Wire and sticks them onto the latter day shimmers of stoical 90’s revivalists of the genre. Rumbling bass and cut throat guitars set to the excitable but solid stomping drum beats add up to the equivalent of twisted new wave stadium anthems being played in a back alley. Compelling. 4/5

Manchester Music - July 2007

Disjointed, rock steady, alt. Rock with a sneering bite and more swagger than a Gallagher’s cloning plant…

Subba-Cultcha - July 2007

Death row drums and guitars with more jingle jangle than Jimmy Saville are complemented by the sort of protest vocals that see the band hit out and everything and everyone around them. Serious attitude and seriously good!

Selby Times - July 2007

(WSM play) songs based on energetic, pumped up, filthy blasts of guitar abuse. The band pack a rhythmic punch not dissimilar to Led Zeppelin. The singer has a fantastic strangulated rock voice and the guitars are creative while being set resolutely in pulverise mode.

Sandman - July 2007

another cracking release from Whole Sky Monitor which shows the rocking flip-side to (John Parkes') acoustic solo album

Entertainment Manchester - July 2007

A straight up and at ‘em new-wave/punk band who evoke memories of early Wedding Present tracks. The songs are very much about real life, set to twin guitar and a great deal of angst.

The Beat Surrender - July 2007

Whole Sky Monitor fuse Ian Hunter vocals with the essence of The Psychedelic Furs/US college rock. The dark & dramatic Just let me talk to Her LP is northern soul searching, verbal vehemence & intense instrumentation on a roller coaster of revolt.

Ents24 April 2005

When the album kicks in with "Unrequited", you know instantly that you're in for a fascinating ride. Frontman John Parkes has one of those voices you see - one that seems strangely out of key and off kilter, yet still sounds somehow quite splendid and is perfect for the music that goes with it…much like Ian Curtis or Shaun Ryder did at the height of their infamy. Performed with just two guitars, a bass guitar and a drum kit, you often get the feeling that you have a full brass section playing, such is the sense of uplift created by an album that is otherwise dark and sinister. It is somewhat akin to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones being pelted with horse manure by Stephen Malkmus whilst a social worker scratches their gleaming new sports cars with a penknife. A fine debut from a band with extremely bright prospects.

Atomicduster Feb 2005

Whole Sky Monitor deliver a compellingly intense sound that invokes The Wedding Present, Doves, Teenage Fanclub, Pixies & umpteen US college & garage rock bands, all against a backdrop of rain-slicked pavements & blackened Yorkshire stone. The Frazzled guitars & lo-fi production are initially unpalatable, but then the band's collective suss of dynamics, arrangements, rhythm & melody starts to work its magic. By turns intriguing & challenging, Whole Sky Monitor's gristly indie rock boasts smart, biting lyrics. Standout track 'The Chosen' boasts a chorus verging on the anthemic assisted, no doubt, by the conviction with which frontman John Parkes belts out his lyrics.

YEP Feb 2005

Eleven tracks that should go a fair way in dispelling the notion everything from the indie-guitar section is wet, pretentious and winsome. "Just Let Me…" being the absolute opposite in its alternating cheeky popiness, unashamedly slick rocking and genuine emotiveness. The highlights come with the blissy, phase-fuzzed "Rosy Tinted Eyes", the tautly gorgeous acoustics of "Fireships" and the gently exploding guitar bombs of "On A Roll". Your points of reference are; Small Faces, Arthur Turners Love Child, Beatles and Stackridge. Enjoy, we are.

Unpeeled Feb 2005

"Just Let me Talk to Her" is full of perfect pop gems. There are no innocent lyrics in this album however; they are dark, deep and passionate with strangely compelling subject matters. While the majority of the album is fragile and delicate, some of the choruses are so powerful that they could have been written by glam-rock geniuses King Adora, if they had been brought up on Bacardi Breezers and had less sex while at school. The album comes to an end with the short and sweet "Fireships" which delivers the perfect ending to a perfect piece of art. The public need to recognise John Parkes & his Whole Sky Monitors as masters of the pop game.

Floatation Suite Feb 2005

A friendly & serene album, with sporadic mixes of explosive emotions thrown in. This is what folky emo would sound like; songs about ex-girlfriends & lost loves, but with a distinctive acoustic Jeff Buckley twang to it. Whole Sky Monitor have a refined, colourful sound, which becomes more & more addictive with every listen. Great stuff.

Out of Hand Mar 2005

Commences with a typical inane plinking indieness that amateurises the first few moments of track one until they turn up the urgency. Then it just all goes completely uphill from here & all is constant & fantastic with gems dropping out all over the place.

Radio Coma Mar 2005

A very Radiohead meets the OC Soundtrack album that captures a lot of raw emotion with some rather sombre guitar. Whole Sky Monitor are worth checking out if you are a fan of the unsung indie bands from America that are slowly becoming more & more invisible. The songs are well crafted; 'We Grow Up' & 'Welcome to Utopia' (sic) are great songs.

Gair Rhydd Feb 2005

Frustratingly for a reviewer, so hypothetically intent on trawling through every disparaging remark in their vocabulary, the band rise above the huge chip on my shoulder, especially on the fuzzy feedback of 'Be Beautiful'. Closing down with the acoustic 'Fireships', recalling Radiohead, the album hangs just off the edge of beautiful.

New Noise Mar 2005 (No.5 in download chart)

The album is a definition of a slow burner but well worth it. Whole Sky Monitor's deep, dark, melodic sound is reminiscent of Radiohead in their 'Pablo Honey' days.

Degrees North Mar 2005

The most promising track on the album is the penultimate 'Fireships', largely because the sound balance is right & John Parkes' vocals finally get the foregrounding they need. The band then, have created a laid-back, raw sound that would work if it was given the right prioritisation - the lyrics are impressive, when they are audible, & the band members good musicians.

Vanguard Mar 2005

Opener 'Unrequited' comes out of the traps at pace, but things grind to a halt quickly with 'Basic Rock Song'. Things improve considerably with the explosive 'Belive' and the spiky, Larkin-quoting 'We Grow Up', songs that add a sense of drama and dynamism. There’s talent here, so keep an eye out.

Phase 9 Mar 2005

Opener "Unrequited" looks to America between 1983 and 1993 for the sound of hardcore alt.indie, layered with high pitched slack jawed singing. It's effective. The guitars carry off the jangles, the whole plot pulses forward, jerking and slicing away at one song after another. This is stuff for inspirational shoegazers as "Basic Rock Song" rocks back and forward against a slow but dusty big snare beat, as the guitars just shuffle with a crunching sparkle.

Manchester Music Feb 2005

a wordy - somewhat-pretentious - student band with big ideas. And that name is just atrocious too.

Noyz Feb 2005

Indie rock purists should jump at this debut from four northern lads with untidy distortion, stained vocals & obscure lyrics. the best songs are the simplest, which isn't to say that singer & guitarist John Parkes can't tackle big issues. For instance, his cutting anti-war song (cheekily titled 'Basic Rock Song') is hardly basic in sound, with the drummer chanting a sullen 4/4 beat & the band playing an angular riff at 3/4, the quartet excels at driving the point home. While the album is less coherent when taken as a whole, this is a great start.

Slough Express Feb 2005

'Basic Rock Song' and 'End of the Year' are intense, sweeping efforts that recall The Doves' 'Lost Souls' , and 'We Grow Up' deserves the Radiohead comparisons it drew when released as an EP. Whole Sky Monitor's better efforts shine with the layered dexterity and dry emotion of fellow northerners Elbow, while acoustic lament 'Fireships' will sound familiar to anyone aware of I Am Kloot's material.

Gigwise Feb 2005

At times sounding like a lo-fi Manic Street Preachers with the vocals of those other welsh rockers The 60ft Dolls, WSM show regular glimpses of talent and touch with songs like the superb "Be Beautiful" or the Doves-esque pounding of "Basic Rock Song".

Leeds Music Scene Feb 2005

'Just Let Me Talk To Her' is full of bombastic Manics moments and sky-scraping guitar solos. You'll hear Muse, Radiohead and a number of other over-wrought numbskulls. There must be a reason for being this pissed off about living in a nice house in suburbia that'll make WSM such a big hit with the eye-linered kids everywhere.

Tasty Feb 2005

The opening track 'Unrequited' reminds me of something that would sit comfortably on a Manic Street Preachers album with their guitar driven melodies and blistering guitar solos. The album is full of good quality songs, which at times sound like they have just borrowed sounds from other bands such as Muse and at certain points even Radiohead.

We Like Clubbing Feb 2005

A darkly intense rock record with echoes of seemingly every depressing rock act that's ever set foot in a recording studio.

Warwick Observer Feb 2005

"Just Let Me Talk To Her" kicks off impressively enough with the excellent double-whammy of "Unrequited" and "The Chosen", where the band are gritty and riffsmart and Jon Parkes and Paul Hewson's guitars work up a righteous maelstrom. "Unrequited" is especially cauterising, while on "The Chosen " Parkes' voice has an effectively eerie quality. "We Grow Up", meanwhile, is reprised from the EP and it finds WSM employing a moody restraint along the lines of early Red House Painters that's stark and attractive.

Whisperin & Hollerin Feb 2005

'The Chosen' is defined by a colourful vocal raggedness similar to Clearlaker Jason Pegg's, which thankfully never descends to the discordant caterwauling of The Others frontman Dominic Masters. Closer 'Fireships', a starkly emotive people-as-boats metaphor, served on a plain bed of acoustic strumming; at seven seconds shy of two minutes long, it sails off leaving you longing for more.

Manchester Online Feb 2005

This is an impressive debut that has a cult feeling to it. The CD has captured real emotion, with the lyrics & music blending almost perfectly. Vocalist John Parkes sings, '...Welcome to Utopia...' & utopia is the feeling that you get on repeat listens; the album is perfectly layered, every time you peel back a layer there's a new discovery underneath. This is a band that has a distinctively British sound and there is a sense of melancholy captured on the album; the album's easy to summarise, eleven intense, brooding and perfectly crafted songs.

Rockcity Jan 2005

Press response to the 'We Grow Up' EP

This is indeed a fine record....Whole Sky Monitor do things in a kind of Jeff Buckley / Headswim kind of way, and if you like your music dark but intense, then they are the band for you.

Sandman Feb 2004

Bland bland bland bland (said 100 times)

Concrete May 2003

We Grow Up is an eclectic piece that one moment invigorates a sense of true calm with its serene harmonies and smooth guitar chords and the next moment reaches out with passionate force and intense feeling.

Badger May 2003 (Single of the Week)

This is a strangely compelling EP that sounds as if Blur have grown up and taken a step back to let the music have room to breathe.

Feedback July 2003

Simultaneously fresh and mature, Whole sky Monitor have a rich, chiming sound. Railing against 'DIY and Happy Meals'. WSM continue the proud tradition of revolt against suburbia. a lively and healthy piece of work. And the other 3 tracks aren't bad either. Chalk one up for Leeds.

Vanguard May 2003

Every single feeling possible to feed through sound has been fed into these songs, making it music with an overspill of emotion. There are some amazing guitar parts, that have been merged behind the singing, and when you finally get a chance to hear the guitarist alone, he plays some really heavy stuff.

the Music Basket June 2004

the musicianship is first class throughout despite the downbeat nature of all the tracks here. Bleak but promising.

Critic May 2003

An impressively dark, brooding single from this Leeds four piece, who display their literary credentials next to towering guitars that would have made The God Machine proud. This EP also features the sardonic "Bends"-era Radiohead of THE CHOSEN, the skewed ON A ROLL, and the sprawling HORIZON, which sounds not dissimilar to long-forgotten indie types Mega City Four with sporadic Eastern overtones. It's an attractive combination.

Phase 9 May 2003

Five tracks of accomplished and seamless sound slabs that manage to achieve the slick-schtick of Coldplay by putting Bono on vox for Pink Floyd. It's very nifty, grown up, cerebral rock and should make someone a shedload of beer tokens.

Unpeeled May 2003

We Grow Up revels in an intensity that this writer hadn't been expecting.

Whisperin & Hollerin May 2003

dull indie shouting.

Bleed Music May 2003