Part of the glory of the current DIY punk scene is that it encourages and fosters musical expression and experimentation in place of the usual competitiveness and rivalry between bands. An example of this is the First Timers event at DIY Space London, created to combat the lack of diversity in the scene and where people who’ve never played before are encouraged to have a go and newly formed bands can try out their sound.

Fresh from First Timers are pop punk lovelies Charmpit with their self-produced debut EP, ‘Snorkel’. And it’s just joyous. Cute vocals, melodic guitar beats… Their sound reminds me of some of the best pop punk garage bands that have cropped up over the decades: like The Ace of Cups, Dara Puspita, The Delmonas, Julianna Hatfield 3, Daddy Issues. Bands who make us realize how glorious the genre is. But Charmpit is warmer and more beautiful. And they can scream.
Charmpit are on tour right now, catch them at these dates

Buy Snorkel and other tracks on their Bandcamp

Review by Fallon Gold