Pleasant Sense: teen band release EP

Boys get Radio Exe airtime

A young band from Exeter have leaped onto the local music scene with the release an EP, and have their first track played on commercial radio.

The EP (extended play, since you ask) called Kickstarter consists of three songs of different genres - meaning there's something for everyone, whether you like rock, pop or lofi (that's something a bit easier to listen to).

The seven-piece group met at St James High School, Exeter, and formed their band in the midst of the pandemic in 2021.

The group of 15 and 16 year-olds wrote their first song that year for a school showcase - and that song became Flying, the first song on their EP. They wrote the other two songs - Moonlight and Running Back - not long after and, with lots of positive comments - a bit more than one normally gets from family and friends - clubbed together to hire a professional studio to record the three tracks.

It is already something of a success, on a small scale right now - 5,000 streams within the first month - but that could pick up after Radio Exe chose one song, Flying, to end its new podcast, called Devoncast.

The song will also feature this weekend on presenter Ollie Heptinstall's show.

The band said : "We plan to release a few singles throughout the year and hopefully a full album around this time next year.

Our inspirations include local band Pattern Pusher, whose bassist Benny G helped to record and mix the tracks, as well as more well-known performers such as Michael Jackson, the 1975 and Vulfpeck, but as we are a mix of lots of different personalities and tastes, our music is unique as an amalgamation of everyone. Our newest songs edge into funk and jazz, which we hope shows our versatility.

"Live performances are also definitely on the agenda, but because we're all under 18, finding places to play gigs is very hard. So for now, we rehearse when we can, and spend time writing new music."

Listen to Pleasant Sense's full interview with Radio Exe's Josh Tate on this web page, which includes their song Flying.

Listen to the EP here. And Pleasant Sense's social media channels are here.