Expectes 18/10/24
Porridge Radio are one of the most vital voices in UK alternative music, having escalated from being darlings of the DIY underground to one of the UK’s most thrilling bands. With ‘Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me’, the band present us with their most mainstream look yet. “All the songs started out as poems,” says Porridge Radio’s Dana Margolin of the work that became ‘Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me’, “I wanted to challenge myself.” In a song, Dana argues, the writer can always hide behind the tricks of the music and well-worn techniques such as repetition. “In a poem, though,” says Dana, “it’s just words and that’s it.”
Recorded in the Somerset countryside in early 2024 by longtime Big Thief and Laura Marling engineer Dom Monks, ‘Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me’ is Porridge Radio’s new album and first new music in two years. The UK band’s new album is a coming-of-age moment inspired by burnout, the music industry, the brutal collapse of a relationship and - crucially - Dana’s own increasing immersion in her craft as an artist. “A lot of this album is about a more frenetic and desperate kind of love,” says Dana, “it is about completely losing my sense of self in a relationship, and the deep residue of insecurity and pain that lingered and clouded a new relationship.” Songs that were written as love songs - like ‘In A Dream I’m A Painting’ - took on new meanings as Margolin viewed the songs with a new distance. “There was a lot of love and confusion, all interspersed with exhaustion and pain.”
The ‘Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me’ sessions took place in Frome as Winter melted into early Spring at the beginning of 2024. “There were a few breakdowns,” grins Dana, in a fair assessment of recording such intimate and personal songs, “after some takes I would just collapse on the floor, so upset.” An environment was fostered where Dana could express herself and be nurtured. “We would have these big communal meals every night,” she says, “it felt very close knit and caring and warm and special.” Today, Dana reflects on ‘Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me’ with the enthusiasm of a real creative breakthrough. “It feels like the first time we’ve made something,” she explains, audibly delighted at the album. “It captured something about our friendship and the way that we have learnt to play together. I love the songs, I love playing them, they haven’t gotten old and it feels like it’s a special thing.” A pause. “It’s taught me so much. Following your gut to the nth point, trusting your friends and their loyalty, trusting to be able to fight with people properly. How I want to live is how I want to make records, because making records is my life because my work is my play is my job is my life. It all ties together in this thing, and there are ways to do this that might not kill me.”