Since forming in Cambridge in 2016, have spent nearly a decade figuring out what six people can make together. The London-based six-piece began with a grittier, post-rock sound, before a period of self-reflection during the pandemic shifted their focus towards something more communal: layered vocals, choral arrangements and songs built through hours of collective experimentation. Their debut EP, ‘Twice Around The Sun,’ marked a turning point in this approach, but it’s on their first full-length, ‘The South Facade’, that the band really test its limits.

Written over almost three years, the album emerged from a process that was rarely straightforward. Rather than bringing in finished songs, the six members started from scratch, developing ideas through extended writing retreats in a converted barn in Ely, marathon rehearsals in London studios and countless late-night sessions at home. The result is a record shaped by six distinct musical personalities, each refining, challenging and reshaping the others. Drawing on an eclectic lineage of influences, from and to and , ‘The South Facade’ embraces the tension between meticulous arrangement and collective instinct. As the band have discovered, making music together can be an arduous exercise in compromise, but also a way of arriving somewhere none of them could have reached alone.

Their latest single, ‘In Samphedoo’, offers a glimpse into that process. First conceived during a vocal session in early 2023, the track grew from a meditative keyboard motif and improvised melodies into something more emotionally resonant, with vocalist Jasmine Miller-Sauchella drawing on complicated feelings around absence and family. It’s a fitting introduction to a record concerned as much with the relationships behind its creation as with the music itself. Ugly have carved out a space for themselves in Britain’s art-rock scene without settling on a formula. 

Ahead of a UK tour running from Leeds on October 24th to Norwich on November 10th, followed by European dates in February 2027, we caught up with the six-piece to talk about the making of ‘The South Facade’, learning to work together, and what it means to be Ugly.

How has your relationship with each other, and making music together, changed since the band first formed in 2016?

We started as a four-piece, and Harrison and I are the only two still here from the original lineup. We’ve brought people in along the way, so the dynamic has changed a lot. We’re very aware of each other’s boundaries because making music is such a personal, emotionally invested thing. We try to understand what annoys each other and recognise the sacrifices we all make. Ultimately, it’s about taking on the world together, a little doggedly. Navigating so many voices is always going to be challenging.

It’s not about tiptoeing around each other, because that wouldn’t make for a successful relationship. When making a record, we’ve learned to pick up where someone else leaves off. We’ve figured out how to do more than compromise – how to make it work.

It’s been a big learning curve in terms of compromise, and we’ve become much better at it as people. It takes a lot of diplomacy.

During the pandemic, you took a step back to reflect on what you wanted from the band. Looking back, what did you feel was missing from the music you were making before, and what did you want to explore instead?

During lockdown, we had a rehearsal in Bermondsey. We’d lost momentum, in a lot of ways, which gave us the opportunity to ask ourselves whether we wanted to keep doing things the same way. It was the first time we’d really tried playing together without an existing song to work from. Through that, we discovered what we could do as a band, both instrumentally and vocally. Before, we were fighting for space in the sonic world; now, we don’t all need to be at the forefront. We’ve learned to make room for one another.

We’d already had a few members come and go before lockdown. The lineup we had during that period is essentially the one we have now, so we were finally able to settle into who we are as a band.

COVID feels like a long time ago now. Before Theo joined, we had Dave as our interim drummer, and that was a period of deep experimentation. I revisited a live video from that time recently, and it’s bizarre. It’s much weirder than what we’ve arrived at now, even though we still make pretty weird music. We went off the deep end.

Having spent more time together with the same lineup, we’re moving in a clearer direction, in the sense that everyone feels more comfortable with what they bring to the band. It’s hard to define our sonic direction, but the record feels very evenly distributed. The mixing and arrangements were designed to let you hear all six of us and what we’re doing at any given moment.

With six members bringing different influences and ideas into the room, songwriting must involve a lot of trial and error. Can you think of a song that took a completely unexpected direction because of someone else’s contribution?

A lot of our songs end up somewhere completely different from where they started. We’d initially written and demoed around four songs, then moved on as we figured out where we were heading. When we returned to those earlier tracks, we reshaped them to fit the newer material. It took a long time. Vocals were particularly important from a guitar perspective, so we had to exercise restraint and work out where everything belonged, allowing each part room to breathe.

Our songs often begin as jams, then get influenced by whatever everyone’s listening to. ‘In Samphedoo’ probably underwent the most dramatic transformation – it ended up sounding like odd elevator music. It’s difficult to pinpoint one person’s contribution, but the way Theo or Harry interprets a rhythm can really throw me. They’ll emphasise something I hadn’t heard, completely shifting the centre of an idea.

Vocals have become a much bigger part of your sound, with several members singing and experimenting with harmonies. What drew you towards a more choral approach, and how do you decide whose voice should take the lead on a particular song?

I’m not sure I’d call it choral so much as the fact that we all sing. It wasn’t a deliberate push in that direction. We’ve been drawing on different types of vocal harmony from all sorts of music, without ever settling on one particular aesthetic. We all have different voices and enjoy singing, so we’re always looking for new ways to use them.

We’ve also wanted more people to take the lead on different songs. Jasmine and Samuel’s voices lend themselves to something rawer and less polished, which feels more personal. Harry and I tend towards cleaner, airier backing vocals.

From the outside, there are definitely choral elements. Tom, Theo and Harry grew up around that world, and we also drew on English choral music when writing the album. Often, it’s clear which voice suits a song. I tend to get the rockier ones, while Jasmine has a distinct lyrical style that lends itself to particular tracks.

Sadly, I don’t sing on any of them.

When you’re writing, do you consciously try to push contrasts, or does the unexpected emerge naturally when all six of you play together?

I don’t think we’re deliberately trying to be subversive. We just have different tastes that pull us in different directions. You end up with something quite distinctive, combining clean, hi-fi music with trashier ’90s sounds and traditional band pop. We’re an odd band in that we don’t all look alike or listen to the same music, although there’s some overlap. We’re open to each other’s tastes, and if we weren’t, we’d be butting heads a lot more.

There are things we all agree on, but you have to respect everyone’s tastes. I was telling my girlfriend today that I don’t think I have a particular fashion sense. She asked which of my male friends dress well, and I said Samuel and Harrison. I’d never dress like either of them though. Samuel turns up to rehearsals looking like Jack from , while Harrison has a dad-rocker thing going on. You respect those differences and are even a little enamoured by them.

We enjoy and appreciate our differences. It wouldn’t work otherwise, and the fact that we’re friends helps.

Your latest single, ‘In Samphedoo’, came out on the 15th of October. What was the starting point for the track and what does it reveal about your upcoming album, The South Facade?

‘In Samphedoo’ went through a lot of changes. It was one of the first songs on the record, starting with a vocal session that Jasmine, Harry and I were doing for something on the EP. We were messing around on the piano and came up with an idea. It used to be much more synth-heavy, with sweeping, blocky chords and an airy, spacious feel.

That became one of the biggest things we had to tackle because it didn’t fit the world of the album. My dad described it as sounding like a noir song. Much of the record was assembled piecemeal, with the arrangements developing over a long period. The process was quite scientific, but once everything came together, we wanted it to sound like a band in a room playing off the cuff. That’s something we’d like to explore more in the future: precise arrangements and detail, while retaining that sense of being in the room together.

We were finishing the record from our bedrooms, so I remember wondering how on earth we’d play it live. Once we started rehearsing, though, it sounded great. We had to go through that process to discover how natural it could feel. ‘In Samphedoo’ is more spacious than some of the other tracks, with more room to breathe. We’ve always wanted to do Ugly in space.

The song barely changed for a year while we were playing it regularly. It was only when we started the recording process that things shifted. I remember playing it one evening and realising it had become much more chilled out than it used to be.

What I like about it is that it’s uplifting, with some of our oddest lyrics, but it can still be emotionally resonant. The parts are precise without being as intricate or dense as those on other tracks. We wanted to showcase everyone’s abilities, which made it difficult to fit everything in. We struggle to let go of things.

You’re about to embark on a UK tour before heading to Europe in February. How does performing this music live compare with the often lengthy, collaborative process of making it in the studio? Are there parts of your songs that only really come to life on stage?

We’ve realised through rehearsals that playing these songs live well is difficult. It’s been reassuring to spend more time with them and feel that we’re getting there. This next month will be telling: we’ve played some of the new songs at festivals, but not all of them, and never consecutively. It’ll be interesting to see how they come across when we perform them properly and how audiences respond.

It’s been a really rewarding process. We’ve pushed ourselves as musicians throughout, and I think we’ve all improved. Hopefully, we’ve reached a good place with the material.

The name Ugly started out as something short and snappy, but you’ve since suggested it reflects the mishmash of influences that make up your sound. Nearly a decade into the band, what does Ugly mean to you now, and is there anything you still want the band to prove or discover? 

The name has become sentimental to me. It encapsulates a significant chapter of my life and the experience I’ve shared with my friends. It’s a stupid band name, really, but it means a lot to me, and it works. As for what we still have to prove, I think we owe it to ourselves to keep making music that interests us and to keep collaborating.

The band has been such a big part of our young adult lives, and we’re coming towards the end of that period, which is quite sad.

The name started as a bit of a joke because Samuel and Harrison were modelling. It wasn’t intentional, but half the band ended up modelling. That’s backfired a bit because we’re visibly ageing, getting beer bellies and balding. If there’s anything left to prove, it’s that we can live up to the name.

It’s an ongoing experiment in what you can achieve with the means at your disposal. We’re unsigned and have never had serious backing, so the question is whether we can stick to a vision and realise it with very little money and far too many people in the band. I think we have, but it’s taken a long time and an enormous amount of effort, and we’re still not sure whether it’ll be worth it. Ultimately, can we keep proving to ourselves that it’s meaningful and possible to do things against the odds and our material reality?

Nothing a trip to Turkey can’t fix.

I’ve already booked my flight. 

Maybe that’s where we’ll record our next album. Tom, you should get a BBL. 

Jokes aside, now that is finished, how do you feel about it? Does it feel like the beginning of something?

We’ve learned a lot through this process. We’re in a better position to make an album now, with a clearer understanding of what’s involved and what we need to do. Hopefully, we can do it again and be more successful next time. We’re excited to play these songs on tour.

I think we’ll look back on this record fondly. Right now, the memories of frustration, difficulty, pain and laughter are still fresh, but even a few months after finishing it, I’m beginning to appreciate the achievement for what it is.

When we first finished it, I couldn’t listen to it for a while. Now I can.

‘The South Facade’ is out on October 23rd, pre-order it here.