All Photo Credit: James Mitchell
Breaking the Mold: Sarah Crean Finds Her Freedom as Lime Garden Embrace the Beautifully Unruly
Lime Garden’s gloriously off-kilter, pop chaos, celebrated deep into the night. Carving out space to be unapologetically themselves as artists. A perfect mix of reinvention, and raw honesty. The best music happens when artists trust their instincts and play by their own rules, and that was certainly proved to Norwich.
Lime Garden
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Reach a certain level in the music industry and the balance between the financial and the artistic seems to tip quite firmly towards the money. Unless you’re a “must have” new artist for a label, the chances are that you may be edged, cajoled, even pressured, into moving in a direction you don’t particularly want to go. Overnight viral success can result in many tempting offers, but it can be too good to be true.
Labels are not shy in letting artists go if their early promise fails to translate to sales and often this is no fault of the artist. In pushing them towards what it wants, a label can destroy much of what made the artist the instant hit in the first place. Label influence can make the artist so unhappy that being released may actually be the best thing that could happen to them.
Such seems to have been the case for Sarah Crean. If location and background were a predictor of success, Crean would be right up there. Based in Brighton, but originally from near Dublin, one might think that success as an indie-pop artist might come as naturally as it has done for so many from there.
After her song 2 A.M. went viral in 2022, she signed to AWAL records, part of Sony Music, and released the EP Death By Laundry in 2023. But a move to London, pressure from her early success and, most importantly, a sense of being underestimated and belittled by people she worked with seem to have taken their toll and she parted ways with the label in early 2024.
One could see this as a setback, but on the evidence of tonight’s performance it seems to have acted as a shot in the arm for Crean. 2024 and 2025 became break out years, during which she played numerous festivals and toured with the likes of Florence Road and Pillow Queens. Now with her second album, Heirloom, released only weeks before the start of this tour, she seems to have found a groove that suits.
Much of her set is drawn from the new album, Crean’s deeply personal lyrics reflecting the rollercoaster of emotions and experiences during the last 3 years. There’re the disappointment and frustration of her time with the label, the relief of breaking free and the positivity of rediscovering who she is as an artist and her love for music.
Overlaying these are a soft, synth-layered indie-pop base which is a delight to hear live. While you can hear influences drawn from many different corners of that world, her songwriting and live delivery lift her music above many of her contemporaries. It’s variously a mix of upbeat, melodic pop and poignant, personal reflections on what must have been a weird and unsettling time for a young artist trying to carve a career out of the hype of a viral hit.
Confident and chatty in front of the mic, her songs demonstrate the depth of her ability and deserve to be heard by a much wider audience as she continues to promote the album.
The last time Lime Garden played in Norwich they were supporting Bombay Bicycle Club, but with the success of their album Maybe Not Tonight, released in time for this year’s festival season, they fully deserve their status as headliners. Unlike Sarah Crean’s experience, the band have credited their record label with giving them space to make the kind of music that they want to make.
The result is what the Brighton-based band themselves describe as “wonk-pop” and it’s a sound that they’ve been steadily developing since they formed pre-COVID. It’s tempting to agree wholeheartedly with their own assessment. Their tracks are unashamedly pop – bouncy, funky and eccentric – but the standout feature of their music is its unmistakeable raw honesty. They’re making music for themselves, and it’s damn good.
That rawness and honesty is on full display in their opening track, “Body,” the lyrics of which read as a bullet-point summary for negative body image. It’s far from downbeat, but unlike many of the other tracks on tonight’s setlist, there’s a darker, moodier tone to the guitars and synths which is totally in keeping with the lyrics.
It’s followed by “Pop Star,” from their 2024 debut album One More Thing, a vivid picture of the frustrations of having to work a day job when all you want is to be a pop star in a band. The song’s a showcase for the rhythm section; drummer Annabel Whittle going heavy on the ghost notes while Tippi Morgan’s bass line plays a highly effective central role in the track.
Singer Chloe Howard introduces current single, “Moving Target,” with a confession that: “…this one was released in a futile attempt to rekindle a long distance situationship… which didn’t work even though it’s been playlisted on Radio 1.” It’s a song that’s worthy of the recognition it’s been getting from the mainstream media. Performed live, it’s a fine example of just how well tracks like “Moving Target” and “I Want To Be You” are put together. From Leila Deeley’s catchy and distinctive guitar hooks to the well-crafted lyrics and complex drum tracks, they just fit right.
Howard’s slightly off-kilter vocals have inevitably been compared to some of the other recent breakthrough British indie-/alt-pop acts of the past couple of years, notably Wet Leg and The Last Dinner Party, and they’re very much a standout feature of the band’s music. Whether or not they are truly comparable, it’s no bad thing if Lime Garden are getting to build on the popularity of those bands. Why should the unwritten industry rule of (as they put it recently) “…one girl band at a time…” apply?
Clockwork, released in 2021 (“…back when we weren’t cool…”, says Howard) comes midway through the set. It’s a welcome nod to their early fans before they launch into the more upbeat, danceable section of the evening with the single “Maybe Not Tonight.” Its lyrics tell a tale of messy nights out with friends fending off unwarted attention, and it’s pumped full with the hedonistic energy of, say, a Bloc Party track.
After this, dancing to the funky disco of “All Bad Parts” is inevitable. Along with “Cross My Heart” (“…dedicated to my evil moustachioed ex-boyfriend…”), and the closing track “23,” it’s a high point of the set. These songs are at the opposite end of their musical spectrum from “Body,” and that’s intentional in showcasing the breadth of their ability. And while they’ve clearly drawn inspiration from many genres, the originality in their music is equally obvious.
As their national radio playlisting shows, Lime Garden have all the right ingredients to build on the success of their album. Bucketloads of talent, hard work, steady growth and a take-no-shit attitude suggest that 2027 could be a very good year for them.
Article by: James Mitchell
Plug In. Tune Out.
Brighton-based four-piece Lime Garden bring a restless, off-kilter energy to indie rock, blending dance-punk, disco, and sharp pop hooks into their own self-described “wonk pop” sound. Beneath the infectious rhythms and playful edge, their music explores the messy realities of relationships, growing pains, and finding your place in the world. Unpredictable, bold, and effortlessly cool, Lime Garden make a dance floor out of life’s beautiful chaos.