The Best of New Music Friday:
Porridge Radio – Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me
One of the year’s best lyrical albums started off as poems. Porridge Radio’s new record Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me was written when the band’s frontperson Dana Margolin found herself in three ruts: She was burnt out from traditional songwriting techniques; she needed to mend her creative mind after extensively touring with her wildly popular band; she was heartbroken. Creating Porridge Radio’s fourth studio record alleviated all three pressure points.
Dana Margolin has nothing to hide at this point anyways. Her time leading Porridge Radio alongside pals Georgie Stott, Sam Yardley and their newly added bassist Dan Hutchins has been filled with much fanfare. They formed in the beautiful UK southern coastal port-town of Brighton. Together Porridge Radio composed songs to Margolin’s lyrics, toured the world and even got a Mercury Prize nomination for 2020’s Every Bad. Margolin and the band’s whole artistic lives have been out in full force and music fans haven’t stopped watching. Good thing that Margolin got herself out of the first rut by realizing she couldn’t shutter herself behind traditional songwriting anymore. “In a poem, though,” Margolin says, “you can’t hide.”
See the example of Clouds’ third track “Lavender, Raspberries.” Margolin sings, “I am a bumper car, I am a one-way street // Roots in the trees they will always be there for me // I hear it all night in the way that you sing softly //I am the asphalt, I’ll never die.” She powers through with a voice that’s not to be reckoned with. Georgie Stott’s synth playing goes to a higher level, buzzing with new purpose. Stott’s trademark keyboard playing is critical to giving Porridge Radio their style-defining sound. Margolin gets poetic again. “I take it for granted you’ll always be there for me // I write a song and you sing back the melody.”
Margolin crawls out of her next rut by taking philosophy straight from Joni Mitchell’s playbook. Mitchell follows what she calls the “crop rotation” to keep going. That means, when you fall out of love with one thing, work on another and your creativity will find a way to heal itself. Margolin began creating in new and different ways to bring herself back from the emotional experience of what was obviously a bad case of burnout. She worked on creative projects for the BBC and led the art direction for Porridge Radio’s new record (she usually paints them, but this cover is a photograph).
She perhaps even found new mixing techniques for records. Clouds opens with “Anybody,” a twinkling track that sounds like the creation of Margolin’s new world. Margolin plucks a guitar briefly, then speaks her poetry over a single stream of Stott’s synths. When Stott joins in on the lyrical action, drums chime in. Soon, Porridge Radio is in this new world together. The members all rev the throttle on their instruments for a big bang.
Margolin pulls herself entirely out of all three ruts by capitalizing on a breakup. That sounds like an oxymoron, sure, but it helped Porridge Radio find another voice on this new record. “By the time I had recovered from the burnout,” says Margolin “we broke up.” She was referring to a short-lived but intense relationship she had in 2023. This was really the driving factor into creating Clouds.
The breakup inspired love songs like “In A Dream I’m A Painting,” where Margolin relies on vocal effects to create a museum-like illusion. This song will make people cry. “In a dream I am sleeping, you reach for my head // I wake with a jolt, not sure if I’m there // In a dream I am painting, you’re looking at me, I know where I’m going, I know where I’d rather be,” Margolin sings with tranquility. The breakup also inspired “God of Everything Else,” where Margolin exclaims “Don’t need to know where you are, you’ll be hit by a wave of me // I’m the god of everything else, you’re the god of losing me.”
If the crushing weight and depth behind every track on Clouds wasn’t enough already, Porridge Radio anchors down with the optimistic closing track “Sick Of The Blues.” Margolin’s voice creeps in silently: “I’m sick of the blues, I’m in love with my life again” she sings before the band breaks into a cheery number with trumpet solos, upbeat drum fills and those traditional Georgie Stott synth notes. The band all wails together at the end in a headbanging breakdown. The trumpet carries off this album into a cloudy sunset. This record begs to be played on repeat, until it’s carried anyone who will listen out of a rut, or two or three. Porridge Radio’s new record will always be here.
New Music Friday Top Picks:
American Football – American Football (25th Anniversary Edition) [Polyvinyl]
Andrew Bird & Madison Cunningham – Cunningham Bird [Loma Vista]
The Armed – Everlasting Gaze EP [Sargent House]
The Blessed Madonna – Godspeed [Warner]
Bon Iver – SABLE EP [Jagjaguwar]
Bronski Beat – The Age of Consent (40 Year Anniversary Deluxe Edition) [London]
Christopher Owens – I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair [True Panther]
Danny Brown – Quaranta (Deluxe) [Warp]
Greg Mendez – First Time / Alone EP [Dead Oceans]
High Vis – Guided Tour [Dais]
Japandroids – Fate & Alcohol [Anti-]
Jordana – Lively Premonition [Grand Jury]
Karate – Make It Fit [Numero Group]
Kelly Lee Owens – Dreamstate [DH2]
Lin-Manuel Miranda & Eisa Davis – Warriors [Atlantic]
Machine Girl – MG Ultra [Future Classic]
MC5 – Heavy Lifting [EarMusic]
Oliver Coates – Throb, Shiver, Arrow of Time [Rvng Intl.]
Which of these tracks from New Music Friday will you add to your favorite playlists today? Any we missed? Let us know in the comments or on Instagram!
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