Open & aching musical heart Astles, releases his latest single "We Could’ve Been Anything"
Notes passed between a lost uncle and living nephew across two-decades without either having met, brings about a poignant and purposeful, life-affirming beacon of song as Liverpool’s loved and loving newcomer, Astles, releases his new single We Could’ve Been Anything. Grounded in “Super Mario 8-Bit Funeral” bedroom-popping drum machine percussion, slowly swelling with swirling with grandiose strings and featuring Bill Ryder-Jones on guitar, the stage-setting song sets the clock ticking towards the release of his debut album, “Soundtrack For The 21 Bus Home” released on Fri 30 May 2025.
“Soundtrack For The 21 Bus Home” can be pre-ordered now HERE.
Happenstance, happiness and hurt all feature in the considered construction of Astles’ slowly turning planet of interlocking stories of family sorrow and joy, with the artist leaking previous album tracks 2 And A Bit (Song For A Brother) and This One’s For You, as perfect, tender examples of his heart-on-sleeve expression. Astles himself, dealing with doubt as an other-side-of-the-coin partner to the pleasure he finds in the everyday, isn’t lost amongst the picture postcard illustrations of those in his life who mean the most.
We Could’ve Been Anything blossoms from the root of the artist finding a mixtape amongst his uncle’s possessions, a soul lost to suicide before Astles was born. Records, posters, ticket stubs and other traces of a life lived too briefly, yet for that time completely immersed in music, were left in an attic to be discovered later. The songs Astles heard on the mixtape provided a connection to the past, to someone unknown yet known so well, and inspired a fertile period of focused writing.
“This is one of the songs partly inspired by my uncle’s sad and unfortunate passing”, reflects Astles. “But it focuses more on my own suicidal ideations, and how your own misery can affect the others around you. We always have the potential to be much more than we think and at any moment we can change. Sometimes I am optimistic, sometimes the opposite.
You can listen to "We Could’ve Been Anything now HERE or check out the video below:
Available in multiple formats, including vinyl and CD as well as digital, the album was produced by Sophie Ellis, a collaborator with the influential INFLO (Michael Kiwanuka, Little Simz).
Concluding and collecting as an 11-track album “Soundtrack For The 21 Bus Home” will also feature Astles’s late 2024 single Any Kind, which poured out sensitive songwriting sensibilities akin to classic Belle and Sebastian and Bright Eyes. The single was released to coincide with a run of memorable hometown shows, two of which occurred at Liverpool’s historic Philharmonic Hall, once in support of kindred spirit, Michael Head and The Red Elastic Band.
Whilst gently spoken and sweetly sung, no small amount of ambition is present in Astles’ live appearances with a band of musicians and guest vocalists ensuring a sound to match the warmth of Astles’s sentiments. Looking ahead to the run in to the release of “Soundtrack For The 21 Bus Home”, with more dates to follow, Astles returns to London to play Two Palms on Sat 8 March 2025.
