Liverpool four-piece east exchange have released their debut EP, torn between ties. – a six-track introduction to a band taking the rawness of 90s grunge and giving it a fresh, melodic edge.
Released via AWAL, the EP explores emotional struggle, self-reflection, relationships and connection, bringing together previous singles ghost., unspoken., lily. and fall. alongside new tracks bleed. and torn.
For a debut EP, there’s a real confidence running through torn between ties. It’s heavy when it needs to be, melodic in all the right places and, crucially, feels like the work of a band beginning to establish an identity of their own.
Opening track unspoken. makes an immediate impact. A melodic opening gradually gives way to something heavier and more abrasive, setting out the 90s grunge influence that runs throughout the record. There are shades of the alternative rock that shaped that era, but east exchange avoid simply sounding like a throwback.
That balance between melody and weight continues through fall., a track centred around the push and pull of holding onto a relationship that perhaps isn’t meant to last. lily. shows another side to the band, with soaring guitars accompanying a song filled with yearning and devotion.
Then comes bleed., where the EP takes a dirtier turn. Gritty guitars and a heavier rhythm push the band’s grunge influences to the foreground, with vocalist Sonny K delivering one of the record’s more forceful performances.
The title track, torn., is another highlight. Big guitars and crashing drums give the song an almost early Foo Fighters feel, but once again there’s enough of east exchange’s own personality underneath to stop the influences becoming overpowering.
The EP closes with ghost., arguably one of the clearest examples of what makes the band so promising. Moving between restrained alternative rock and much bigger, emotionally charged moments, it brings together the heaviness and melody that define much of the record.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, torn between ties. was partly shaped in surroundings that were far from glamorous.
While still figuring out exactly what east exchange was going to sound like, the childhood friends were kicked out of their rehearsal room and relocated to a freezing, run-down warehouse on the edge of town. As bleak as the new surroundings were, they ended up becoming an important part of the band’s development.
The band explain: “We were still figuring out our sound and identity when we got kicked out of our rehearsal room, and ended up moving into this freezing, run-down warehouse space on the edge of town. It was dingy and depressing but, looking back, it suited the music east exchange were trying to make far better than the room we’d left behind.”
It was there that ghost. began to take shape, alongside several of the songs that would eventually become torn between ties.
They added: “We can’t wait for everyone to experience the EP the way we envisaged it, because we worked really hard together on it, and we’re extremely proud of how it’s turned out. Working with Adrian Bushby really helped bring our vision to life.”
That Adrian Bushby connection is another interesting chapter in the band’s rapid rise. The GRAMMY Award-winning producer and mixer – whose credits include Foo Fighters, Muse and Feeder – discovered east exchange through TikTok, where the band have built an audience of more than 110,000 followers and amassed over 3.8 million likes.
That online momentum has increasingly translated into the real world too. The band have already packed plenty into 2026, with their first festival season taking in 2000 Trees, Outbreak, The Great Escape, Liverpool SoundCity and Dot to Dot, alongside support slots with the likes of Enter Shikari, letlive. and Return To Dust.
Friends since childhood, there’s a sense with torn between ties. that east exchange are reaching the end of one stage and the beginning of another. The uncertainty and experimentation involved in finding their sound is still embedded in these songs, but the finished EP sounds like a band considerably more certain about where they want to go next.
There are obvious nods to the grunge and alternative rock bands that came before them, but east exchange are beginning to carve out their own space within that world – combining big guitars, strong melodies and emotionally exposed songwriting without sanding away the rough edges.
For a band that was, not too long ago, figuring things out in a freezing warehouse on the edge of Liverpool, torn between ties. feels like a significant first statement.
And if this is east exchange still figuring out exactly who they are, there could be plenty more to come.
torn between ties is out now via AWAL.
Follow @east_exchange.band on Instagram for updates.
