Tulpa – Transfixed Gaze (Skep Wax)
Before they’d shared so much as a digital single Leeds-based Tulpa signed to Skep Wax for the release of their debut album and with Transfixed Gaze, the latest track to be shared from it, they are proving well worth the hype.
Artist: Tulpa
Track: Transfixed Gaze
Label: Skep Wax
Released: October 2025
Find it: Bandcamp | YouTube
There is something delicious in the juxtaposition Leeds indiepoppers Tulpa have created on their second single Transfixed Gaze. Against jangling guitars that fizz with life is the lyrical imagery of trying to stay awake among the hoards of brainwashed.
Bridging between the contrast is the sweetly crystalline vocal from Josie Kirk. The rhythmic structure of repeating lyrical refrains only reinforce the hypnotic tone and theme, while also making this a track that will be stuck in your head for days.
‘Crushed by a town you said you wanted out of / And you felt so in love / and you might be hungover but…’
Echoing with the classic indiepop era of the ’80s and ’90s there is as much crunch to the guitars as there is that aforementioned jangle. There’s inventiveness here, and the sort of subtle layers that the best pop songs employ: on the surface there is the catchy chorus, listen closer and you find yourself swimming among more sinister depths with a strong undertow of clever musical motifs formed between the twin guitars.
This band may have gained the attention of both their label and the likes of Gideon Coe and Marc Riley before they’d even released a track, but they are repaying that early belief in them in spades right now. Transfixed Gaze heralds a debut album which will both take you back to indiepop of the past while giving you something ambitious, new, and full of intriguing sonic texture.
Transfixed Gaze by Tulpa is out now digitally. Album Monster Of The Week is out 28 November on vinyl, CD and digital via Skep Wax Records.
Find Tulpa: Bandcamp | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook
Live dates:
- 26 October – The Carousel, Nottingham
- 27 October – Music Hall, Ramsgate
- 28 October – Kola, Portsmouth
- 29 October – The Lanes, Bristol
- 31 October – Delicious Clam, Sheffield
- 1 November – Kamara, Manchester
- 29 November – Wharf Chambers, Leeds
- 30 November – Lexington, London
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Sarah Lay
A long-standing music journalist she's also co-founder of independent record label Reckless Yes, an author of novels, and when not messing around with words and music, a digital strategist.
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