Los Angeles quartet Exploding Flowers are heading back to the UK this August, carrying their jangling, harmony‑rich guitar‑pop across a run of dates that feel tailor‑made for fans of Big Star, The Soft Boys, and the Paisley Underground’s kaleidoscopic shimmer. It’s a tour that lands just ahead of their fourth album — due later this year via Meritorio Records — and arrives with the promise of new material, including the forthcoming single Spinning Carousel.
For a band who’ve quietly carved out their own corner of the indie‑pop universe, these shows feel like a chance to see Exploding Flowers in the environments where their music thrives: intimate rooms, DIY spaces, and venues with character baked into the walls.
Led by Sharif Dumani — whose CV includes work with Alice Bag, Cody Chesnutt and Sex Stains — Exploding Flowers operate in that sweet spot where melody, melancholy and sunshine all coexist. Their sound is a swirl of chiming guitars, organ flourishes, vibraphone sparkle and a rhythm section that keeps everything buoyant without ever rushing the mood.
The current lineup — Dumani, Josh Mancell, Happy Tsugawa‑Banta, and Mark Sogomian — has spent three albums and an EP refining a style that nods to Flying Nun’s 80s catalogue as much as it does to West Coast jangle. It’s familiar territory, but they occupy it with a looseness and charm that feels entirely their own.
This run is a reunion of friends, influences and long‑time collaborators. Across the tour, Exploding Flowers will be joined by:
Rachel Love (Dolly Mixture, Railcard)
Jowe Head (Swell Maps, Television Personalities)
Local favourites including Static Caravan, The Xoxos, The Gentle Spring, The Seven Inches, and more
It’s a bill that reads like a love letter to the DIY pop lineage the band sit within — a cross‑generational mix of cult heroes, underground lifers and new names keeping the flame alive.
The tour culminates at Glas-Goes Pop, where Exploding Flowers share the stage with The Clientele, The Bats, and Feel (members of Felt). It’s a fitting finale: a festival built around the very aesthetic the band have spent years nurturing.
The new single “Spinning Carousel” lands on 7th August, offering the first glimpse of their upcoming fourth album. Mastering comes courtesy of Mark Gardener (Ride) — a detail that hints at the record’s sonic ambitions without giving too much away. If the band’s previous releases are anything to go by, expect something melodic, textured, and quietly adventurous.
UK Live Dates
7 Aug – Brighton, The Prince Albert with Rachel Love and Telecom
8 Aug – London, Waiting Room with Rachel Love, Jowe Head and Infernal Trinity
10 Aug – Nottingham, JT Soar with The Leaking Machine and Terza Rima
11 Aug – Sheffield, Delicious Clam with Sumos and The Xoxos
12 Aug – Leeds, Lending Room with The Gentle Spring, Static Caravan and The Seven Inches
13 Aug – Newcastle, Cluny 2 with Dancer and Knitting Circle
14 Aug – Glasgow, Glas-Goes Pop
Tickets available here
Exploding Flowers are one of those bands who reward close listening — the kind of group whose songs feel deceptively simple until you notice the details: the vibraphone shimmer, the organ hum, the way the guitars interlock rather than compete. Seeing them in small rooms across the UK is the perfect way to catch those subtleties.
For more information:
