Irish sextet THUMPER release Natasha Bedingfield cover ‘Unwritten’ & new track ‘Circles’

Irish noise-pop sextet THUMPER has released their cover of Natasha Bedingfield classic ‘Unwritten’, a firm favourite in their live setlist, out now via Reckless Records. The band have also released a B-side alongside the cover, their brand new track ‘Circles’.

Stream/purchase the tracks here: https://lnk.fu.ga/thumper_unwritten

In 2019, THUMPER performed a live and very ramshackle version of ‘Unwritten’ by Natasha Bedingfield for BBC Introducing. Calling on the propulsive fuzz of bands like King Gizzard and Parquet Courts, they essentially cooked up their own song, while lead vocalist Oisín Leahy Furlong simply belted whatever lyrics from the tune he could remember over the top. 

The song lay dormant in the THUMPER back catalogue until 2022, when the band decided to bring it out of retirement while touring their lauded debut album Delusions of Grandeur across sold-out shows and festivals, including Reading & Leeds, Reeperbahn, Iceland Airwaves, Haldern Pop and United Islands of Prague. Much to the bemusement of the band, their heavily doctored version of ‘Unwritten’ began to gain traction. Fans began requesting it and their inbox began to fill up with increasingly aggressive requests to release a studio version. 

Now in 2023, fresh from Delusions of Grandeur being nominated for the Choice Prize Album of the Year alongside Fontaines D.C., CMAT and Dermot Kennedy, the band make the next logical step in their upward trajectory: dropping an official studio version of the 2004 hit.

Accompanying the release, which comes days before the coveted Choice Prize Awards, is a brand-new, never heard before original THUMPER track ‘Circles’. 

This left turn in THUMPER’s catalogue cements them as one of the most exciting and unpredictable acts to emerge from Ireland’s booming guitar scene. As Natasha herself once sang; 

“I am unwritten. Can’t read my mind, I’m undefined. I’m just beginning. The pens in my hand: Ending unplanned.”