Sea Breeze – Nighthawks (2025)
Manchester-based trio Sea Breeze glide back onto the scene with ‘Nighthawks’, a sleek, genre-blurring cut that cements their position as one of the UK’s most exciting emerging psych-rock acts. Straddling the borders of psychedelia, funk, and soul, the track is the first taste of their upcoming debut album, UNTITLED, due later this year, and it’s a bold, deeply listenable offering that oozes style and understated confidence.
Formed in 2022 by bassist Jack Tonner and guitarist Joel Eastwood, with drummer Ivan Renac joining the fold in 2024, Sea Breeze has built their sound on groove-forward psych-rock foundations. But don’t be fooled, this isn’t your dad’s trip-out prog. There’s no indulgent noodling or retro cosplay here. Instead, ‘Nighthawks’ thrives on space, feel, and finely tuned restraint. Think the chilled instrumental textures of Khruangbin with a Mancunian pulse, laced with flickers of Altın Gün’s Anatolian shimmer and a dash of the cosmic funk that Yin Yin play so well.
From the opening seconds, ‘Nighthawks’ leans into a smoky, twilight atmosphere. Tonner’s bassline anchors the groove with hypnotic precision, laying down a funk-infused rhythm that feels alive and nocturnal. Eastwood’s guitar is fluid and deliberate, weaving in crystalline licks that never overstate themselves, allowing each note to breathe. Renac’s drumming, meanwhile, is impressively self-assured, tight, groovy, and just loose enough to keep things effortlessly cool.
While the track is largely instrumental, its melodic lines feel vocal in their phrasing, this is music that speaks without words. The mix is rich but never overstuffed, with each instrument occupying its own space in a way that suggests a band deeply in tune with one another. There’s a clear emphasis on feel over flash, something many psych bands aim for but few truly nail.
What’s striking about ‘Nighthawks’ is its accessibility. Sea Breeze has taken the sprawling, often abstract aesthetics of psych and repackaged them into a form that’s inviting without dumbing down their sound. It’s danceable yet introspective, refined yet raw. It plays equally well through headphones on a solo midnight walk as it would reverberating across a festival stage at golden hour.
If ‘Nighthawks’ is anything to go by, UNTITLED might just be one of the year’s low-key essential listens. Sea Breeze is carving out a lane entirely their own, with groove as their guide and atmosphere as their anchor.
Find out more about Sea Breeze on their Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp and Spotify.
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