LA Priest

Of all the bands to make it out of Castle Donington, avant-garde synth-funk four-piece Late of the Pier rank as one of most unlikely to score a Top 30 album. That record Fantasy Black Channel, produced by Erol Alkan in 2008 introduced the world to the unorthodox genius of guitarist and frontman Sam Eastgate, who formed the group in his teens with three pals. Across a string of cult tracks, Eastgate’s flair for blending new wave with neo-rave led to him becoming a sought-after collaborator. When LOTP split, Eastgate reactivated his LA Priest alias – he’d released “Engine” in 2007 on Phantasy Sound and released his debut solo album Inji in 2015, which showed his propensity for Prince-style space ballads such as “Oino”. The next year, Eastgate teamed up with Connan Mockasin for Soft Hair whose self-titled LP of candy-striped R&B spawned the outré hit “Lying Has to Stop”. For 2020’s Gene, Eastgate designed the first of his Gene synthesisers and leant into a more electronic style. He headed to Costa Rica for the psych-folk of 2024’s Fase Luna, which revealed a deeper connection to nature and mythology in head-over-heels nuggets like “It’s You”. Things come full circle on 2026’s Into the Sky, a stellar album of baroque pop shaped by laser-guided electronics that Eastgate recorded in Wales and Mexico. Produced with his friend Alex Ridha (Boys Noize) – Ridha remixed LOTP’s “Focker” in 2009 Into the Sky has a verve and immediacy that makes it LA Priest’s most satisfying work.