B-Side Guys

There’s something deeply generous about writing a tribute to someone who leaves toast crumbs everywhere. Madeleine Rose Witney’s “Struttin” arrives as both roast and reverence, a swaggering funk number dedicated to her former flatmate Strutter—a sixty-something mod who’s apparently survived three decades on Jack Daniels and burned sausages alone. It’s the kind of character sketch that could easily tip into caricature, but Witney’s delivery is too warm, too lived-in, too genuinely affectionate for that.

The production leans hard into retro soul grooves, all strut and brass and head-nod rhythm, matching the track’s subject with musical swagger that never winks too hard at its own nostalgia. Witney’s vocals carry the same full-bodied presence she’s honed studying Julie London and Lena Horne in Camden’s jazz bars, but here she’s playing with a lighter touch, letting humor and fondness color every line. There’s real vocal control in how she shifts between playful jabs and genuine warmth—it’s a showstopping performance for a showstopping character, as she puts it.

What makes “Struttin” work beyond its immediate charm is how it functions as both personality sketch and cultural document. This isn’t just about one eccentric flatmate; it’s about London’s fading underground, the characters who refuse to update with the times, who remain defiantly themselves while the city transforms around them. Witney captures something bittersweet in that stubbornness—the romance of being untouched by time, even if that means perpetual toast crumbs.

The track serves as a tonal shift for Witney ahead of her debut EP ‘From Now On’, scheduled for November 13th release. Where other tracks like “Shine” lean into darker noir territory, “Struttin” proves she can inhabit multiple registers without losing her voice—literally or figuratively. It’s still quintessentially her: narrative-driven, character-focused, rooted in the specific textures of London life. But it’s got room to breathe, to laugh, to celebrate the ridiculous alongside the sincere.

For a self-taught torch singer stepping into original material after years of covers, Witney’s found her angle: she’s documenting a vanishing world with enough humor to keep it from feeling like mere nostalgia, and enough heart to make you care about the Strutters of the world, toast crumbs and all.