London three-piece Sutlej have been making noise the old-fashioned way – two DIY UK tours and a reputation for intense live shows before they’d even released a song. Made up of Lewis Maddison, George Power, and George Butcher, the band blends 90s grunge and emo with modern post-punk, landing somewhere in the same orbit as Deftones, Sunny Day Real Estate, and Wunderhorse without sounding like a copy of any of them. Their debut single, “Let Me Out” arrived in February, produced by Alex Mountford, formerly of Dead!, and dealt with frustration and the search for clarity when everything feels boxed in. “Tell Me You Care,” released June 5th and also produced by Mountford, is the follow-up, with five more singles already lined up through 2026 and into 2027.
“Tell Me You Care” is an emotionally overwhelming song, despite it being deceptively simple in its approach, but its melodicism and harmony is so genuine that it completely envelopes you as you listen to it. Harmonically, it actually perfectly sounds like someone desperately calling out for someone to confess to caring about them, asking to see if they really care, so even without words, it manages to say so much. If it’s that effective without them, you can imagine how powerful it becomes with these objectively great vocals that convey such deep yearning and desperation and adapt to the song’s dynamics and soar in the chorus in a way that actually made my heart skip a beat.
For a band still early in its catalog, that kind of emotional precision is a rare thing to land this cleanly. Sutlej clearly know exactly what feeling they’re chasing and has the musicianship to actually catch it. With a full slate of releases still ahead, “Tell Me You Care” suggests this band is only going to get more dangerous from here.
