English shoegazers RIDE have a new album out next month, and last week (February 14) we are greeted with an exciting piece to the record’s unfolding puzzle. It’s a single called “Last Frontier,” and it swirls with a noisy buzz and kaleidoscopic precision that feels and sounds like an old friend reconnecting after a time away. This wonderfully warm new track, as well as last month’s feel-good groove in “Peace Sign,” will be featured on the Oxford quartet’s forthcoming seventh studio album, Interplay, out March 29 via Wichita Recordings / PIAS.
“This was the runt of the litter of the very first jam session from Mark’s OX4 Studio, and I didn’t even include it on my shortlist of the best tracks,” says guitarist and singer Andy Bell, referencing bandmate Mark Gardener. “It was our producer, Richie Kennedy, who saw the potential of the song, and we attacked this with a vengeance at Vada studio. A complete revamp of the backing track and arrangement was needed and we took it right back to basics, more towards a pounding Joy Division feel.”
The always affable and amenable Bell adds: “For the topline, I tried improvising at the mic, singing it all different ways, and coming up with new parts on the spot. I felt really exposed but kind of said to myself, ‘you’re among friends, it’s good to push yourself to try new ways to write.’ It feels different to every vocal I’ve ever done. It’s still a new way of working for me but it’s something I want to continue trying as I think it makes for better vocal lines; a good mixture of written and improvised.”
Shortly after the album drop, RIDE head back across the Atlantic for a string of North American dates, including a tour kickoff at Big Night Live here in Boston. Get all the dates after the Spotify jump.
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