The debut album from Love Is Noise, To Live In A Different Way, is a sonic exercise in emotion, power, and vulnerability. To be released on February 14, 2025, via Century Media Records, the album finds the band balancing the raw energy of their DIY origins with the soaring melodies of shoegaze, the punch of post-hardcore, and subtle Brit-pop influences. Co-produced by the band alongside engineer Kel Pinchin and mixed by John Markson (Drug Church, Drain, The Story So Far), To Live In A Different Way delivers a cathartic and deeply personal listening experience.
From the opening track, “Devotion,” it’s immediately clear that Love Is Noise has crafted something special. Vocalist Cam Humphrey’s delivery transitions from passionate crooning to throat-shredding intensity, setting the emotional tone for the album. This energy carries into “Soft Glow,” the album’s lead single, where Humphrey’s vocals soar over a wall of punchy guitars and relentless drumming. The combination of melody and aggression establishes Love Is Noise as a band unafraid to embrace both beauty and chaos.
The album’s title track, “To Live In A Different Way,” serves as the emotional core of the entire record. Humphrey describes it as the song that solidified the album’s identity, even bringing him to tears during the track recording process. With powerful lyrics like, “Visions of you, let me escape this barren world,” the song encapsulates the feeling of longing and the need for an emotional release in such turbulent times.
While the band’s post-hardcore roots are evident throughout the record, they also show an impressive range. Tracks like “Sunshine” lean into evocative melodies, enhanced by the addition of a live cello that adds depth and warmth to the song. Whereas, “Evelyn” strips things down for a few moments with acoustic strumming, proving the band’s ability to explore softer moments without losing their emotional weight or driving too far away from their sonic backbone. Meanwhile, the track “Jawbreaker” unleashes a metallic fury, demonstrating that Love Is Noise hasn’t lost touch with their heavier influences and roots one single bit.
Lyrically, To Live In A Different Way is deeply introspective. Humphrey, a Bolton native, uses the album as a platform to explore themes of love, loss, and self-discovery. His ability to weave personal storytelling into the band’s dynamic soundscape makes for an album that is as thought-provoking as it is sonically immersive. The album’s closer, which clocks in over six minutes titled, “Ascending,” serves as a fitting conclusion, leaving listeners with a sense of catharsis and resolution to the band's debut effort.
For a debut album, To Live In A Different Way is remarkably cohesive and ambitious. Love Is Noise has managed to create a body of work that feels both deeply personal and universally relatable. It’s an album that demands to be felt as much as it is heard, a testament to the band’s ethos of making every moment matter. With this debut release, Love Is Noise cements itself as one of the most compelling new voices in the alternative scene, proving that their journey is only just beginning.