Spotlight: Silent Forum

Cardiff (via London) band Silent Forum who make a mix of post-punk, indie-rock and new-wave.

4-piece Silent Forum are a contrary bunch. Cardiff dwelling but lacking the quirky and often dulcet left-of-centre pop of their Welsh contemporaries, Silent Forum instead offer up a much edgier angular noise, perhaps more representative of the gritty streets of London from which they originally came. 

Yet Silent Forum’s sound isn’t straightforward. It’s a textured, technicoloured trip that separates it from punk’s three chords or post-punk’s monochrome doom. Silent Forum have been described, very fittingly, as an “uncouth Talking Heads” (Buzz magazine), sharing a sophistication and playfulness of the latter with “the progressive pop sound of XTC and the new wave idiosyncrasy of Squeeze” (Destroy/Exist). Or as Silent Forum put it, many of their songs are “punky without being punk.”

“They’ve described as “an uncouth Talking Heads”. Also for fans of Gang of Four’s angular riffs, the new-wave of The Horrors, I can also hear a little of Good Shoes infections punk-edged jangle-indie in there.”

Watch the video for latest single ‘A Pop Act’

New song taken from the band’s debut album ‘Everything Solved At Once’

Album out on 6 Dec (Libertino Records).

Silent Forum is: Richard Wiggins (vocals), Dario Ordi (guitar), Oli Richards (bass) 

& Elliot Samphier (drums)

The band has released a string of singles and had Radio 1 play as well as coverage across a load of blogs.

Silent Forum have previously released three singles, How I Faked The Moon Landing (2018), followed by Robot, Safety In Numbers and Spin (2019). The singles have collectively garnered over thirty BBC Radio plays, including BBC Radio 1 (Huw Stephens), and lots of love from BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru (with support from Adam Walton, Janice Long, Lisa Gwilym and Bethan Elfyn).

TRACKLIST: 

1. Robot
2. How I Faked The Moon Landing
3. Safety In Numbers
4. A Great Success
5. Everything Solved At Once
6. Kind Of Blue
7. Spin
8. Credit To Mark Sinker 
9. Outmoded
10. A Pop Act

 ‘Everything Solved At Once’ was written by Silent Form, and produced, mixed and mastered by Charlie Francis at Music Box, Cardiff.  It is released on 6 December 2019 via Libertino Records and will be available digitally and also on a run of vinyl (catalogue number: LIB055). 

“Silent Forum are a combination of shadowy post-punk and the more accessible side of indie rock. They move from cold and brooding to nervy, and almost overbold.” Destroy//Exist

“Silent Forum provide a cinematic take on broody indie rock… The band melds thrumming guitar lines and emphatic vocals with an unwavering beat.” Buffablog “Smart indie rock crammed full of inventive textures, lyrics and melodies. Think the understated and emotive efforts of Palace and the playfulness of the now gone Wild Beasts.” Born Music

“There is something really interesting, almost PIL-like with those guitars.” Adam Walton (BBC Radio Wales)