The Institutes – Something Beautiful

This Friday, Coventry’s The Institutes release their new single ‘Something Beautiful’. Released via 42s Records, it’s the last release before the greatly anticipated debut album ‘Colosseums’ (released next week).

Images and artwork courtesy of 42s Records

This band’s spirit is unparalleled today. They can start songs where The La’s or Ride might climax at. It’s a sensory overload of love which, in 2021, after 11 years of this government dissecting society, is the unifying tonic we all should drink.

Reid Zappa Currie’s vocals and the hazy guitars soar high but, crucially, they’re never out of reach. As a band, they’re in that sweet spot, we are them and they are us. Their dreams are bigger and in action but, they are always beckoning us to join them!

Much like their previous single ‘I Just Can’t Keep Myself from Loving You’, it’s an outpouring of love they have no control over. Lyrically is where there this song’s superpower lies. Juxtaposed to the sonic, it’s a heart-bursting piece of joy. Even at its most overtly dark, when Currie sings “I’m down again but I wanna get up again”, the crashing drums and Cast inspired backing vocals will take your soul to a natural high. It feels more clarion call than a plea for help.

However, its ambiguity can take you to darker places. The line “I don’t think love belongs to you” is delivered with supreme majesty, blink, and you’ll miss connotations of powerlessness to addiction. Currie goes further with:

“This is like a jail sentence, in the jailhouse / caught up with the hangman and he let me down”

Despite the ethereal cadence, images of habitual reliance on drugs formulate and the song’s sense of hope becomes murkier.

Single after single, The Institutes have grown their escapist rock ‘n’ roll. Sonically they unfurl new pastures to explore and now, their lyrics are taking on interesting depths. As a result, next week’s debut album release can’t come soon enough.

Mark Gardener & 2 Square - Chained

Ride have been in scintillating form of late. ‘This Is Not A Safe Place’ reignited the feverish love of the band and, their live shows were everything a Ride fan had ever dreamed of. Not resting on his laurels, Mark Gardener has returned with ‘Chained’. A collaboration with long-time friend 2 Square (Stephen Haeri) of French outfit Telepopmusik.

Gardener’s lyrics expertly recreate his demons from yesteryear. To integrity of the words and, the vocal overlays, create such tension, it’s hard not to find it all heroic. Gardener’s vocals are eventually emerging with an innocence; a firm reminder that the fog does lift and things do get better.

If Sebastien Tellier’s classic ‘La ritournelle’ is the main body of a river, ‘Chained’ is a small subtle estuary offshoot. The vastness and dynamism of Tellier may not be present, but it stacks in equal measure for beauty and honesty.

The single is available from Gardner’s Bandcamp page.

*Image courtesy of Steve Gullick

Ride – Future Love

Ride are back and once more teaming up with Erol Alkan on their new single ‘Future Love’.

There were some genuine moments of quality on ‘Weather Diaries’ (‘Lannoy Point’, ‘All I Want’, ‘Lateral Alice’) but, a lack of clarity at times (‘Charm Assault’, ‘Weather Diaries) meant the disappointment of ‘Tarantula’ had not been fully laid to rest.

However, it was clear from the ‘Nowhere’ tour in 2015 and the supporting tours of ‘Weather Diaries’ and EP ‘Tomorrow’s Shore’, the band were in sync again.

This is self-evident on the happiness permeating ‘Future Love’. Iconic singer/guitarist Andy Bell told Pitchfork it is “about the beginning of a relationship, when everything feels possible.” The romanticism of this notion is everywhere. Lyrically, it’s as sweet a pop single you’ll hear all year.

Ride diehards though, may make a different leap. One which imagines the lyrics being about Ride members being in love with the band again. It has the pop ecstasy of ‘Twisterella’ and the escapist warmth of ‘In A Different Place’. They may have been back for five years, but now they are home.

Friday 2nd August marks our 8th birthday. Come down to the New Cross Inn for a night of great live music. Tickets available here: