Future Sound: The Cords
Our column celebrating new music to watch continues with sibling duo The Cords. The Tedeschi sisters tell Fiona Shepherd about early music lessons and mixing with Scottish indie royalty
The musical generation gap has been thoroughly smashed by the advent and omnipresence of streaming, with kids happily accessing the sounds of their elders as never before. Teenage sister act The Cords, comprising singer/guitarist Eva Tedeschi and older sibling Grace on drums, have taken it a step further. They are happy to indulge their parents’ tastes but have done their own digging on the 80s DIY indie sounds.
Speaking from their Inverkip home, Grace indicates a wall of records just out of shot. ‘A love for music has always been in the family,’ she says. Eva chips in: ‘BMX Bandits were always playing, The Pastels as well. But I found Shop Assistants myself; I’d heard of them and then I became obsessed with them.’
So seamless is The Cords’ evocation of the C86 indie aesthetic, with their jangling buzzsaw guitars, Moe Tucker-style tubthumping, twee but irresistible melodies, and insouciant girlish vocals, that they have been adopted by the very musicians they revere. Their first ever gig in September 2023 was with The Vaselines and they both confess that the starry-eyed highlight of their career to date was headlining two launch events for Grant McPhee’s indie oral history book Postcards From Scotland, with members of BMX Bandits, Shop Assistants, The Fizzbombs and Jesse Garon And The Desperadoes joining them onstage.
Their self-titled debut album, released last autumn, is a vibrant testament to just how well versed they are in bygone indie whimsy, from the thrashing jangle and pert drumming of ‘Fabulist’ to the breathless grunge pop of ‘Yes It’s True’, which is just a tambourine shake away from Lush. The first song they ever wrote, ‘Just Don’t Know (How To Be You)’ is a plaintive indie pop jam, opening a portal back to The Primitives. ‘But there was stuff in between that was really wonky,’ admits Grace.
By this point the siblings had over a decade of playing experience in some form or other. Grace was first to take up the baton, attending drum lessons from the age of six. ‘I got a toy drum kit for Christmas one year and I was never off it, so my parents thought they’d get me drumming lessons.’ Not to be outdone, four-year-old Eva had a stab at guitar but ‘gave up after a while because it was hurting my fingers. Then I started drumming when I was also six because I wanted to be like Grace.’
Eva switched back a couple of years ago, enjoying an epiphany with electric guitar, and The Cords were birthed, named after their favourite fabric. Keeping it in the family, dad is manager and mum is driver. The sisters also credit Carla J Easton as their mentor (‘we wouldn’t have any idea what we were doing if it wasn’t for Carla’) and are lavish in their praise of Simon Liddell, Easton’s partner in Poster Paints, and Chvrches/The Kills drummer Jonny Scott who co-produced the album. ‘They completely understand what our sound is and they make it work,’ says Grace.
Keeping with the intergenerational indie love-in, The Cords will support The Charlatans on tour in the spring, and are already looking to their next album. ‘It’s going to be more punky,’ reckons Grace. Before then, they have an upcoming gig at Mono, the Glasgow indie mecca which is practically a second home to the band, so often have they graced its stage. ‘Everyone was laughing that we’re playing there again,’ says Eva. ‘But we just love it.’
The Cords play Mono, Glasgow, Thursday 12 February.