“Eavesdropper” the new single from Alexalone (fronted by Alex Peterson, live member of Hovvdy and Lomelda), blew the brain worms out of my head.
Alexalone, the gloomy Austin rock band fronted by Alex Peterson, announced their debut album, “ALEXALONEWORLD”, last month with lead single “Ruins”. Today, they’re back with a new one called “Eavesdropper,” an immersive extended jam that the band recorded while making their debut album. It’s filled with muddy guitars and some well-placed histrionics and a whole lot of billowing atmosphere. “This song is a cover of my old band, and it’s so fun to see it reinterpreted through this group of people,” Peterson explained in a statement, continuing:
Since we didn’t know if we’d be able to play shows when the album came out, it seemed like a fun idea to do a live version of ‘Eavesdropper’ so folks could see what our band sounds like live. Working with Brittany Reeber (the director) and crew was a dream, and Lazy Bones Audio in Silsbee, TX was the most comfortable / best sounding place to go which made things very easy for us. It was great to get out of town after a year in one place.
Alexalone: Alex Peterson: Guitar Andrew Hulett: Guitar / Tape Player Sam Jordan: Drums Mari Rubio: Synth Hannah Read: Bass
“Eavesdropper” is taken from alexalone’s debut full-length, ALEXALONEWORLD, out August 13th, 2021.
The War On Drugs have at long last announced the release of their new album. Entitled “I Don’t Live Here Anymore”, the rock band’s first full-length in four years is set to arrive on October 29th via Atlantic Records. The War on Drugs have also shared the album’s first single, “Living Proof,” and mapped out an extensive supporting tour.
I Don’t Live Here Anymore was initially conceived by band leader Adam Granduciel, bassist Dave Hartley, and multi-instrumentalist Anthony LaMarca during a retreat to upstate New York in early 2018. The trio then recorded the 10-song over the course of three years and a dozen-plus recording sessions taking place in seven different studios, including at Electric Lady in New York and Los Angeles’ Sound City.
One particularly memorable session, as highlighted by the band in a statement announcing the album’s release, took place in May 2019 at Electro-Vox, in which the band’s entire line up — rounded out by keyboardist Robbie Bennett, drummer Charlie Hall, and saxophonist Jon Natchez — convened to record the affecting album opener and lead single, “Living Proof.”
“Typically, Granduciel assembles The War On Drugs records from reams of overdubs, like a kind of rock ‘n’ roll jigsaw puzzle. But for ‘Living Proof,’ the track came together in real time, as the musicians drew on their chemistry as a live unit to summon some extemporaneous magic. The immediacy of the performance was appropriate for one of the most personal songs Granduciel has ever written.”
Watch the video for “Living Proof,” directed by Emmett Malloy and shot on 16mm film at the historic Panoramic studio in Stinson Beach, California, below.
The supporting tour launches in early 2022, and includes dates at some of the largest venues the band has ever played, including Madison Square Garden in New York City, the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, and the Bill Graham Civic Center in San Francisco.
As a whole, the band describes I Don’t Live Here Anymore as “an uncommon rock album about one of our most common but daunting processes—resilience in the face of despair.”
The War on Drugs have steadily emerged as one of this century’s great rock and roll synthesists, removing the gaps between the underground and the mainstream, between the obtuse and the anthemic, making records that wrestle a fractured past into a unified and engrossing present. The War On Drugs have never done that as well as they do with their fifth studio album, I Don’t Live Here Anymore, an uncommon rock album about one of our most common but daunting processes—resilience in the face of despair. Just a month after The War On Drugs’ A Deeper Understanding received the 2018 Grammy for Best Rock Album, the core of Granduciel, bassist Dave Hartley, and multi-instrumentalist Anthony LaMarca retreated to upstate New York to jam and cut new demos, working outside of the predetermined roles each member plays in the live setting.
These sessions proved highly productive, turning out early versions of some of the most immediate songs on I Don’t Live Here Anymore. It was the start of a dozen-plus session odyssey that spanned three years and seven studios, including some of rock’s greatest sonic workshops. Band leader Adam Granduciel and trusted co-producer/engineer Shawn Everett spent untold hours peeling back every piece of these songs and rebuilding them.
Granduciel assembles The War On Drugs records from reams of overdubs, like a kind of rock ‘n’ roll jigsaw puzzle. But for “Living Proof,” the track came together in real time, as the musicians drew on their chemistry as a live unit to summon some extemporaneous magic. The immediacy of the performance was appropriate for one of the most personal songs Granduciel has ever written. The “Living Proof” video, directed by filmmaker Emmett Malloy, and shot on 16mm, captures Granduciel at the historic Panoramic studio in Stinson Beach, California.
I Don’t Live Here Anymore serves as the band’s fifth album to date and the follow-up to their Grammy Award-winning “A Deeper Understanding”
Following its recent deluxe reissue of the Monkees debut album, Run Out Groove is turning its attention to “More of the Monkees“, the group’s follow up LP featuring the chart-topping “I’m a Believer” and top 20 hit “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone.” More of the Monkees displaced its predecessor from the top of the Billboard 200 where it remained for a staggering 18 weeks. A sign of the times, it became the first pop-rock LP to top Billboard‘s year-end sales chart. In addition to Neil Diamond’s ‘I’m a Believer” and Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart’s “Steppin’ Stone,” the album also featured Diamond’s “(Look Out) Here Comes Tomorrow,” Carole Bayer Sager and Neil Sedaka’s “When Love Comes Knockin’ (At Your Door),” and Gerry Goffin and Carole King’s “Sometime in the Morning.” Michael Nesmith shone with “Mary, Mary” as well as “The Kind of Girl I Could Love,” the latter co-written with Roger Atkins. The album was previously expanded on CD by Rhino in 1994 (1CD), 2006 (2CD), and 2017 (3CD) but this presentation marks its first deluxe edition on vinyl.
Run Out Groove’s full press release is reprinted below:
The Monkees’ 1967 classic, “More of the Monkees” (Deluxe Edition), is Run Out Groove’s new pre-order title. The iconic quartet’s second studio album remained on the Billboard 200 chart at No. 1 for 18 weeks – the longest of any Monkees album and went on to become 5x platinum certified in the U.S. Notable for being the first pop/rock album to be the best-selling album of the year in the States., it includes iconic tracks such as the Neil Diamond-written “I’m A Believer,” which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone,” which peaked at No. 20.
When asked about the reissue, Micky Dolenz said, “”Those were crazy times! I would film the television show for ten hours a day, grab a burger, then race over to RCA Records to lay down tracks for the first album. Sometimes a couple of lead vocals per night! I don’t remember much from those overloaded days, but I’m told I had a great time.”
For the standard album tracks, lacquers will be cut directly from the original stereo analog tapes by Kevin Gray and Andrew Sandoval for the best sonic experience. The album will be expanded to a 2LP set, featuring rarities making their debut on vinyl. If that wasn’t enough, it will come in a beautiful gatefold, tip-on style jacket with new liner notes by Andrew, and lots of photos.
A limited 180g transparent green vinyl edition will be available that can only be purchased exclusively at RunOutGrooveVinyl.com while supplies last. There is also a standard black vinyl edition available. “More of the Monkees” (Deluxe Edition) will be available to preorder through August 17th, 2021 and then will get a one-time limited and numbered pressing.
Each month, Run Out Groove allows fans to vote on the label’s next high-quality vinyl pressing, chosen from selections of unreleased material, reissues of out-of-print titles, titles that have never seen a vinyl release or brand-new collections compiled from the Warner Music vaults. You can vote on this month’s titles here.
For a selection of previous titles now available in stores, check our past titles section on the website. To locate older titles in our catalog that are sold out, please check our retail store locator.
The Monkees, “More of the Monkees” (Deluxe Edition) The iconic quartet’s second studio album remained on the Billboard 200 chart at No. 1 for 18 weeks – the longest of any Monkees album and went on to become 5x platinum certified in the U.S. Run Out Groove is going to put together THE definitive edition of this classic #1 album that includes iconic tracks such as “(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone,” and “I’m A Believer.”
Lacquers cut from the original analog stereo tapes for maximum Monkees-fidelity!
Includes a second LP of bonus tracks: several exclusive to this set. All tracks making their vinyl debut in these mixes.
Pressed on 2-180g records, comes in a deluxe tip-on style gatefold jacket, with new photos and liner notes
We are both reliable and unreliable narrators in our own lives, which means our perspective is really just that. But the multiplicity of thoughts in our heads is why every interaction with someone is so interesting, each one underpinned by our sense of self and a whirlwind of unspoken dynamics and narratives. Olivia Kaplan’s debut LP, “Tonight Turns to Nothing“, examines her relationships with others and herself, and it demonstrates the complexities of each one with care and detail.
Her contemplative folk-pop also captures the tension of the present day at large, which can overwhelm without warning and forces everyone to be at their best or crumble. The awe-inspiring vocal take off at the end of “Ghosts” is worth a listen of the album alone, harnessing a tidal wave of emotion that cuts deep.
“Spill” is another tear-jerker, as Kaplan uses the sea as a symbol of blissful freedom and writes about the urges that prevent us from reaching that state of peace. “Quote me pages from the book / You say defines you but I can tell by the look / On your face you’re still waiting to be saved / I might be good at that, but I’m really trying to change,” she sings. Kaplan’s self-compassion and forgiveness are made even more affecting by her vocals, which flow with serenity and poise. Tonight Turns to Nothing not only captures the candid warmth and timelessness of the singer/songwriter genre, but it also embodies the hopes and fears that are rattling around our brains in 2021.
“Ghosts” is taken from Olivia Kaplan’s debut album ‘Tonight Turns to Nothing,’ out June 25th, 2021 on Topshelf Records
Whenever a band has more than six members, I assume there are either a brass section of musicians, or someone must be in the corner playing some sort of weird instrument. The band Caroline has eight members, who play an array of brass, strings, guitars and percussion, so sadly, no one’s blowing into glass jars or preparing a charcuterie board in the background. The London based post-rockers have been quiet since they released their debut single “Dark blue” in early 2020 via Rough Trade, but they returned last month with “Skydiving onto the library roof” (which was accompanied by b-side “Everything for everyone”). Equal parts dignified and askew, the single has a pretty impressive arc. Its repetitive string swells and experimental clamour are fascinating and pretty, until they transform into something much more affecting. The rapture gradually becomes a tide of overwhelming beauty, as if you’re being slowly overcome by a powerful movie scene, one that’s not overtly sad but leaves your cheeks streaked with tears anyway. Maybe it’s so potent because it sounds like the nebulous feeling of contentment with simple pleasures in the face of gloom, or maybe it’s their inspired musicianship.
Caroline signed to Rough Trade Records in 2020. New song “Skydiving onto the Library Roof” reminds me of the esoteric end of the indie rock boom, think artists like Beirut and Jens Lekman, who filled their music with string instruments and allusions to books I haven’t read. This sprawling 8-minute song is similarly heady, but something about it pulls you in closer with each repeat listen.
Meat Wave thought they’d spend most of 2020 touring and preparing for the release of their next, yet-to-be-titled album. As was the case for most in the world, the band’s plans wouldn’t come anywhere close to materializing. Determined to push forward, they’ve created “Volcano Park”, a six song EP, recorded at the end of everyone-in-the-world’s least favourite year.
Meat Wave, made up of vocalist/guitarist Chris Sutter, drummer Ryan Wizniak and bassist/engineer Joe Gac, managed to stay connected as a band throughout the global lockdown, through occasional practices and writing sessions. Toward the end of the year, eager to keep things sharp and creative, the group went to their rehearsal space to record a single.
Volcano Park soon went from an intended single to a full-fledged six song EP, and the extra material began to surprise the band. They’d quickly put together a concise, intentional collection of songs. With much of the new material, it was “jam sessions” that found the band experimenting in more psychedelic and spaced-out territory, showcased in songs like “Truth Died” or “Nursing.” On the other hand, Meat Wave’s stabs at post-hardcore melodies and riff-raging are all the more honed. “Tugboat,” the leading track on the EP, as well as it’s blistering follow-up “For Sale,” rival the same level of thoughtful intensity of their 2012 self-titled debut LP.
Taking its name from the book 1-800 Mice by graphic novelist Matthew Thurber, Volcano Park is the band’s first major output since 2017’s The Incessant and a series of proceeding singles in 2018. Much like the book, the music weaves in-and-out of fantasy and reality, a kaleidoscope of paranoia and existential dread. The EP also marks Meat Wave’s 10th year together. As was the case of writing and recording the material, the band additionally created the artwork, videos and managed the pressing of the EP.
The group’s identity remains clear and pronounced; it is steadfast in the stratospheric firmament of driving-yet-haunting riff-centric punk. But within that well-defined groove, an even more dependable factor is Meat Wave’s ability to continue to innovate and transcend the stock descriptions grounded in genre and influence. With every release, the band has made the task of categorizing their work more difficult and are steadily looking less like a rock band and more like an art collective. What’s become clear on Volcano Park is a draw of artistic vision that is not grounded in punk, rock, or even music at large. The release edges on the cinematic and, at times, feels more like a piece of installation art than a gritty Chicago rock record.
“Volcano Park” releases digitally June 11th, with a physical release out on August 6th via Big Scary Monsters.
Nathan Williams returns to record company Fat Possum with a new album “Hideaway”, his seventh album with Wavves. Produced by TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek, the new album was recorded in the garden shed in Williams’ parents’ backyard where he wrote much of his early work and, of course, released on the label that originally made him famous.
Wavves back with the music video for a new single, “Sinking Feeling” It’s the first piece of new music from NathanWilliams’ rock project since 2017’s “You’re Welcome”, and the first new song since his return to the Fat Possum roster. (Fat Possum released Wavves’ 2009 debut album, as well as the band’s breakout record King of the Beach.) The new track was produced by TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek.
“‘Sinking Feeling’ is a song about a wave of depression that keeps coming back,” Nathan Williams said in a statement. “It’s that sinking feeling that drags you down and no matter what you do or where you go it follows you.”
Last year, Wavves reissued “King of the Beach” on vinyl. Plans to tour behind the 10th anniversary of the album were scrapped due to the pandemic .
Wavves will release new album Hideaway on July 16th and “Help Is On The Way” is the band at their most optimistic. Sounding like “Warning”-era Green Day, Nathan Williams makes peace with the world’s ills and floats on past with barely a care in the world.
“Across Hideaway‘s brief but impactful nine tracks, the album, is about what happens when you get old enough to take stock of the world around you and realize that no one is going to save you but yourself, and even that might be a tall order. “It’s real peaks and valleys with me,” Wavves’ Nathan Williams says. “I can be super optimistic and I can feel really good, and then I can hit a skid and it’s like an earthquake hits my life, and everything just falls apart. Some of it is my own doing, of course.” It’s this self awareness that permeates each of Hideaway’s songs, marking them each as mature reckonings with who he is. Hideaway features Williams’ most universal and urgent songs yet.”
Nathan Williams is back on Fat Possum Records, too Wavves are back with new single ‘Sinking Feeling’ out now on Fat Possum Records.
Their upcoming album ‘Hideaway’ due out on July 16th on Fat Possum Records.
“Sling”, is the second full-length from Clairo, was recorded at a moment when the young singer-songwriter was unsure if she wanted to continue pursuing music at all. Produced by Clairo and Jack Antonoff and recorded in a remote studio in upstate New York, the new LP takes sonic inspiration from those woodland surroundings. Across “Sling“, whose track “Blouse” features background vocals from Lorde, Clairo describes depression and being a young woman navigating the music industry.
When it was time to release a first single from Claire Cottrill’s hotly anticipated sophomore album under the name Clairo, somebody chose an interesting one: “Blouse” a downcast ballad about feeling sexualized and ignored that sounds like Phoebe Bridgers singing a Simon & Garfunkel song. The contrast between “Blouse” and Immunity provoked several questions: Was the single representative of the rest of the new album? Or would it turn out to be a curveball? Was it indicative of a change in direction for Clairo? Or was it just another one of her sad songs, this time stripped of the production touches of former Vampire Weekend studio wizard Rostam Batmanglij, whose influence is heavy throughout Immunity? A little more than a month later, Clairo’s new album “Sling” is here, and we have our answers.
Yes, “Blouse” is somewhat representative of the work as a whole, in that it is one of Cottrill’s sad songs—resolute, plainspoken, emotionally resonant, melodically inviting—and Batmanglij’s thumps and squiggles are nowhere to be found. In their place are string sections and horns, rubbery bass lines and warm organ tones, layered harmonies, hushed acoustic folk, modest indie-pop and ‘70s singer/songwriter vibes.
And in Rostam’s place is Jack Antonoff, super-producer to stars like Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Lorde and The Chicks. Together, Antonoff and Cottrill recorded Sling at Allaire Studio on a verdant hilltop in upstate New York, where Cottrill found solace after a whirlwind few years that included Immunity’s success, lots of touring and, before all that, her viral rise. Which is probably why Sling sounds like a long exhale after a wild ride: constructive, much-needed, a little bit messy. And while setting Sling next to Immunity proves Cottrill has more than one pitch in her arsenal, it turns out her curveball is the one that’s most dazzling.
Here’s hoping she makes an album full of them someday.
Who’s that bored-looking guy on the album cover? Sitting on a chair in a nearly empty room that seems to be in the process of decoration, his eyes look down, avoiding the camera. The cigarette in his right hand’s almost burned out, and a 1956 Fender Stratocaster with a sunburst finish leans unused against his leg. He looks to be in his mid-20s, bearded and long-haired, not unlike many of his generation in 1970, when the photo was taken. The only hint of panache is his snazzy cream-coloured suit. Could this be, possibly, the Guitar God Eric Clapton.
A new 4-CD deluxe anniversary edition of Eric Clapton’s first solo album will be released on August 20th, 2021, by Polydor Records. The self-titled album, originally released on August 16th, 1970, will be presented in three separate mixes: “The Delaney Bramlett Mix,” “The Tom Dowd Mix (The UK Version),” plus “The Eric Clapton Mix,” which is being released in full for the first time. This anniversary collection also includes singles and session outtakes.
Writing in his 2007 autobiography, Clapton described what happened to him in 1969 when he discovered Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett and invited their band to open the U.S. tour for his supergroup Blind Faith: “I was lost in Blind Faith.
I was the man in the hallway who has come out of one door, only to find it has closed behind him while another one is opening. Through that door were Delaney & Bonnie.” Bonnie was the daughter of an Illinois steelworker, and Delaney was raised in Mississippi, steeped in gospel and blues. The first white act signed to Memphis’ “Stax Records” label, D&B filled their band with stellar musicians (drummer Jim Gordon, saxophonist Bobby Keys, bassist Carl Radle, trumpeter Jim Price and organist Bobby Whitlock among them), and were key to the creation of both Clapton’s debut solo album and the other album he issued in 1970, “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs“.
At loose ends after Blind Faith folded after a single album and tour, in late ’69 Clapton signed on as a touring member of Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, enjoying the easy going collaboration and “sheer joy of playing,” and the relative anonymity it afforded him as a sideman on stage. Early in the new year he began writing songs with Delaney Bramlett, which became the core of his first solo LP, which was released in July 1970.
Beside Clapton, Bramlett and Russell, the personnel includes the other members of Clapton’s 1970 band Derek and the Dominos as well as guest spots from Stephen Stills, Rita Coolidge, Bonnie Bramlett, Sonny Curtis and others.
Later that year he also wrote with Whitlock in England, eventually recording those songs in sessions with DuaneAllman and most of the same musicians, dubbing the group Derek and the Dominos (more anonymity, which his record company had to counter by belatedly printing up “Derek is Eric” buttons). “I’ll never be able to repay Delaney for his belief in me,” Clapton later wrote. “He saw something I had stopped looking for in myself.”
Clapton had found new confidence in his singing, Delaney encouraging him with a sentence that stunned Eric: “God has given you this gift, and if you don’t use it He will take it away.” Mostly recorded at Village Recorders in Los Angeles when Clapton was staying at Delaney and Bonnie’s Sherman Oaks, California, house, some of the tunes were spontaneous creations: One day when nothing particular was planned, Leon Russell gave Clapton a line about how people viewed him, an idea that became “Blues Power,” with its opening lines, “I bet you didn’t think I knew how to rock and roll/Oh, I got the boogie-woogie right down in my very soul.” Clapton liked the informal atmosphere: “When I am trying to write songs, I like to leave things as unfinished as I can, so that whoever I am going to play the song with has a chance to influence, by the way they play it, the way the song will end up,” he later explained.
Still, the album is a sometimes uneasy blend of self-effacement and frontman swagger. Bramlett’s production and arrangements are dominant, and the disc sounds very much like the Delaney and Bonnie albums that preceded it. Clapton eschews the long, expeditionary solos he was known for, and keeps it succinct. Strangely, the opener, “Slunky,” is an energetic but simple instrumental jam led by Keys’ sax and Russell’s funky piano, with a so-so, somewhat clichéd, tinny-sounding Clapton solo. Why this was deemed worthy of starting such an important album is a mystery—Clapton doesn’t command the track or make it focus. Likewise, the following “Bad Boy” is a fairly standard blues written by Bramlett and Clapton, but it does have an excellent horn arrangement and biting guitar solos, fading out on what seems to be a brief Delaney-Clapton duel.
J.J. Cale’s “After Midnight,” with a driving march rhythm from Gordon, has rightly earned its iconic status as one of rock’s greatest recordings. The gospel chorus echoes Clapton, and his solo is precise and concise. Issued as the album’s lead single, it made the top 20 on Billboard’s singles chart and powered the LP, which debuted on the album chart on August. 1st, to a high of #13. (In 2006 Clapton and Cale finally issued a long-planned duo album, The Road to Escondido, which won them a Grammy.)
After the rather tepid self-penned ballad “Easy Now,” in which Clapton fairly obviously imitates his friend George Harrison, “Blues Power” brings the first side of the LP to an end. Here, everything comes together: fantastic guitar playing, a versatile vocal that ranges from grit to falsetto and another tremendous arrangement that bears the fingerprints of Leon Russell (with some bumping stop-start effects). If “Blues Power” had been placed first on the side, it would have blown listeners away from the start—as it is, it’s well-placed to make you want to turn the vinyl over.
The shuffle “Bottle of Red Wine” begins side two, with Bonnie and Clapton duetting to fine effect and Clapton’s guitar tone the clearest on the album. The track has a great spontaneous feel, thanks especially to Bonnie’s wailing fills. “Lovin’ You Lovin’ Me” and “Told You For the Last Time” (a Delaney co-write with Steve Cropper) are mid-tempo, country-gospel-flavoured tunes, with perfectly good Clapton vocals in service of second-tier songs.
After that, the album ends very strongly, with the R&B love song “Don’t Know Why” (Clapton’s guitar interjections are primo) and “Let It Rain,” which stretches out to over five minutes (the longest on the album). The track has a killer guitar figure to kick it off, and contains several very different instrumental sections, one of which features Stephen Stills’ guitar and has a hint of Buffalo Springfield. Clapton’s guitar work is closer to Blind Faith than anywhere else on the LP. “Let It Rain” wasn’t released as a single until 1972, and only barely scraped into the top 50, but it’s become a radio staple.
Despite his crucial participation, Delaney’s original sound mixes were rejected in favour of those by Atlantic Record’s in-house star producer Tom Dowd. Bramlett’s were finally released in 2006 as part of a “deluxe edition” double-CD, and contain their own delights and surprises, including a smashin version ofg “Blues Power” that bests the Dowd version. In the wake of the album’s modest commercial success, the worldwide “Clapton is God” graffiti probably diminished a bit. From Clapton’s point of view, that was “mission accomplished.”
The album received an expanded edition in 2021. Clapton, who turned 76 years of age on March 30th, 2021, continues to perform but is touring for the first time in years, with concerts scheduled for 2021 and 2022.
Manic Street Preachers have shared their new single ‘The Secret He Had Missed’, featuring bass player Julia Cumming from Sunflower Bean. Having previously spoken of his love for Sunflower Bean for Nicky Wire explained the new collaboration came from “a real fanboy thing”.
Sunflower Bean’s “Twenty Two In Blue” is just one of my favourite records of all time,” Wire said. “We were looking for something with no histrionics. We get really tired of singers just going up and down scales and showing off in the modern era. The genius of Abba is how the vocals are always so controlled, they’re never over the top.”
He continued: “Julia can do that easily anyway. She’s always really controlled and within herself. Once she got the Abba thing and the Billy Joel pianos she really enjoyed it and just breathed through it. She’s an unbelievably underrated talent.”
The song also comes with a cinematic video starring fellow Welsh star Aimee-Ffion Edwards ofPeaky Blinders, Skins and The Detectorists fame, directed by long time collaborator Kieran Evans.
Following on from the recent single “Orwellian”, ‘The Secret He Had Missed’ is the latest taster from the Welshrock band upcoming 14th album ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’. One of two duets on the album – the other being ‘Blank Diary Entry’ featuring Mark Lanegan – the song is described as a “cousin” to the elegiac ‘The Girl Who Wanted To Be God’ from their classic fourth album ‘Everything Must Go’.
“It’s probably the most Abba-influenced track on the album, the piano track especially,” said Wire . “It all came out really naturally. It’s what we would call pop in our world – that glacial kind of controlled energy that comes out in something melancholic, but uplifting.”
Lyrically, the song was inspired by “the inner dynamics between family relationships” – particularly that of the celebrated Welsh painters Augustus John and Gwen John, who grew to fame at the turn of the 20th Century.
“It’s about by how opposite their lives were,” said Wire. “Augustus John was bohemian, reckless, amazingly talented but some might say wasted his talent. Then Gwen John was much more about the interior world, living an almost nun-like existence in France with very little possessions. It just goes to show how different it can turn out between a brother and sister.”
As for the sound of the rest of the record, Wire said that ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ would find a home with fans of the band’s more esoteric and experimental but “controlled” work.
“I think it’s got traces of ‘Lifeblood’ [2004] and ‘Futurology’ [2014], but I think it is a step into a new dimension, he explained. “It’s got the high modernism of ‘Futurology’ and the underplayed, glacial power of ‘Lifeblood’.
“I’m not going to pretend that we’re reinventing the wheel in terms of modernity, but it’s definitely framed within that era of time.”
The band will also be hitting the road in the months ahead, where Wire promised that the band would be playing “something different” to the usual set at their headline shows, offering “more deep cuts” alongside new material. “We can play every song off the album because we’ve rehearsed it so much,” he added. “I’m not saying that we’re going to play every song, but we’ve got the muscle memory.”
The new album, ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ is out 3rd September 2021
The Fat Angel Sings 
