When Appleton – the collective name for the duo project of sisters Nicole and Natalie Appleton, best known of course, as 50% of Brit-Canadian girl group legends from the 90s, All Saints – marked the 20th anniversary of their cult classic album Everything’s Eventual with some first time vinyl pressings back in 2023, we did (secretly) hope that it might lead to them doing something with their music outside the band they launched from again.
Suffice to say, 2026 has delivered on that quiet expectation – and then some. Initially, just some potential live dates to mark the vinyl reissue were in discussion. But it was only from the gentle persuasion of Gene Gallagher, Nicole’s son – himself now establishing a music career with his band, Villanelle, who have supported Miles Kane on tour, and recently performed a well-received set at the Reading and Leeds rock festival – that they thought about doing some new material together.
The result for Nic and Nat has been a summer of live festival dates, including Mighty Hoopla, support slots for both Michael Bublé and JLS, and this; Side By Side, a four track, independently released EP, and their first brand new material as Appleton since 2003.
A shorter body of material means that the usual review approach we take with a larger 10 or 12 track album is not required here. But actually, in the context of the two decade plus gap that has followed since their first album – which has also seen them record and release three more albums with All Saints, and accompanying touring and promo for these – an EP makes perfect sense.
Their previous output as a duo has only really, in common with a lot of underrated pop music releases from the early-mid 00s, had its long overdue retroactive reappraisal by wider outlets. Yet they are also now releasing music in a vastly different industry and musical landscape to the one of nearly twenty five years ago, that rewards shorter form releases more than it does a full album. So in that light, this EP is an inspired move; it is just enough to test the waters, whilst also making an assured statement of their return.
It is little surprise then that Shadowhands, the Cornwall based production team headed by Gareth Young and Daniel Zak Watts (aka Bnann), the former of whom was behind their very first single as a duo, 2002’s “Fantasy”, have worked with them on the entirety of this EP.
But this isn’t simply a case of being more of the same that made Everything’s Eventual such an eclectic and unique album the first time around. It’s evolved, and it has thus a euphoric yet easy confidence flowing through it sonically, one that has come from their own growth both as women and as performers, and knowing their strengths as a duo.
The first single off the EP, January’s “Falling Into You”, is a perfect illustration of this. The tentative spoken word mic checks on the intro are deceptive, because once the song kicks in, there is – and this was the immediate words we used when we first heard it – a feeling of being enveloped in a warm hug when you hear their voices together on a song like this one, all ambient and harmonic. It’s one that you can put on loop for a solid hour (as we indeed have for most of the last eight months) and feel that you are just listening to pop music of the highest quality, from two of its most frequent contributors in the last 30 years.
The second single, June’s “Ready To Begin”, also builds upon this, gradually building to a pleasing, rock-led chorus with a fuzzy hint of electropop, and is something of a mission statement: “If you and I can dream the same dream, maybe it could come true / And I’ll be back where I wanna be, standing next to you / If you and I can dream the same dream, let it never end / I think we’re ready, we’re ready to begin again / I think we’re ready, so let’s live again”.
More genre experimentation continues apace into the third track, “Strange Kinda Paradise”, which sits somewhere between the breezy yet edgy Britpop of Sleeper and Dubstar, and the airy, dream-like quality of Ray of Light era Madonna. “Monster”, the fourth and final track, is intriguing in its production, hopping from the crashing guitars that announce the chorus into more of a laidback pop rock feel, on a song that seems, lyrically, to be about confronting one’s inner critic and finding the confidence to tell said critic when to shut it.
On the digital version of the EP, there is also a bonus track, in the form of their cinematic sounding cover of the classic Glen Campbell song “Wichita Lineman”, recorded with the BBC Concert Orchestra as part of their set for the Radio 2 Piano Room series earlier in the year. It’s a timely reminder of their ability to capture feeling and emotion in a vocal performance like this one, that leaves the goosebumps on the back of your neck in a very good way. In fact, we say a further tap into a country leaning sound on any subsequent new material would actually be an inspired move, as it suits their vocal style very well.
That is, of course, for the future, and time will only tell what follows this latest chapter to the Appleton era of Nic and Nat’s career. Whatever form that takes, Side By Side is a worthy (and long overdue) addition to their canon, offering a dynamic yet familiar assertion of what they have always managed to do so well, and just why they have established the musical legacy they have that is now – at long last – getting the kudos it deserves.
RATING: 5/5
Side By Side is available to stream and download now via Appleton Recordings / Fascination. Nic and Nat will perform for the BBC Radio 2 In The Park event at Stirling on Sunday 13th September. Instagram: @nicoleappleton @natappleton
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