The Great British summertime. Much like recent warmer days, Leeds has sagged beneath a 30-degree heat dome.
But inside The Lending Room on a particularly muggy Wednesday evening in Woodhouse, the air was thicker still: part sauna, part greenhouse, but exactly the right conditions for Exploding Flowers to bloom.
I was first acquainted with Exploding Flowers for their lockdown-released album Stumbling Blocks, which served as something of a soundtrack to the similarly heated days of furlough and restrictions. Their combination of bright melodies, trumpets and synthesizers patterned my weekdays during a time where every day felt like Sunday. A sense of humility to their sound, there is a humour in their presentation, though never at the expense of the songs.
I would not have imagined six years and a day later being witness to Exploding Flowers live and in living colour, branching out and rapidly approaching a new endeavour.
Having checked out Watermelon/Peacock earlier this season, it was enough to reacquaint my current self with the past; what brought me to check them out in what felt like a fever dream, several years ago.
Static Caravan
Static Caravan followed early support The Seven Inches and brought the temperature up further in the room. The Leeds group’s restless meshing of electronic and pop-punk made for the night’s most abrasive turn.
Tracks from their brand new hit Absorb Everything! created a twitching sensation, which familiarised many in attendance as the room first began to spread out. Their guitars and synths had periods of fighting one another.
Even in oppressive heat, they managed to generate the movement of a frenzied audience.
The Gentle Spring
The Gentle Spring were a refreshing exhale, travelling all the way to West Yorkshire’s drought on a Wednesday night.
Straight out of Paris, France, their understated indie-pop found strength in the restraint. Through acoustic linings, soft keyboard accompaniment and intertwined vocals, it brought songs from their 2025 debut Looking Back at the World a bruised, yet reflective beauty.
“Sugartown” particularly composed the vibe of the room, building for a room listening closely. Admittedly a stranger to them, I appreciated The Gentle Spring brought an alternative taste to the night of music.
Hereon came the headline act. Exploding Flowers made themselves feel even more at home, though thousands of miles away from native Los Angeles, California. Sharif Dumani’s ringing guitar and poised vocals sat at the heart, while the bass, drums and warm keyboards transformed songs into rich coloured worlds around it. Their set moved easily amongst songs from their past, to peeks at the forthcoming Alphabet Window, which drops this October. Indeed, “The Grass Grows On” carried a hazy, psychedelic glow. “Life on a Timeline” afforded classic pop crafted into several breathless minutes. Their new single “Spinning Carousel” caught me by surprise – truly the clearest glimpse at what is to come next, with its delicate melody circling above a propulsive arrangement.
By the closing surge, sweat had become communal and unavoidable – yet nobody seemed to mind. Everyone had embraced it, melting around the Exploding Flowers. They simmered but never wilted, harmonising through hooks of precision. For one sticky midweek night, four approaches to pop had converged into a coherent, generous and accompanying life experience – all under the low lights of The Lending Room.
Alphabet Window is released through Meritorio Records on October 16, with “Spinning Carousel” out now.
If their past works announced the band in full colour, this Leeds appearance more than suggested that the next album may burn brighter still.
Photography by Kev Trotter.
