Brighton’s Porridge Radio have announced their split and shared details of a final release. The new EP, The Machine Starts To Sing is made up of tracks recorded during the sessions for the band’s fourth studio record, Clouds in the Sky, They Will Always Be There For Me and lands on February 21st (via Secretly Canadian).
“This is the last new music from Porridge Radio and marks the end of the band,” said frontwoman Dana Margolin. “The songs on this EP are an important part of Clouds in the Sky They Will Always Be There for Me, and mean a lot to us. We are excited for you to hear them. This band has been our life, we’re family now. These tours will be our last. Thanks so much for listening.”
The band are due to play their final ever run of shows, with the tour starting in the US next week and closing out in Europe. Porridge Radio’s final show is currently due to take place in Bucharest in May.
The band formed in Brighton in 2015 with their debut record Rice, Pasta and Other Fillers released without a label. The album is an intimate melancholy of bedroom recordings, with the brilliantly charming energy of lo-fi, DIY, and indie shining throughout: whilst not a groundbreaker of an album, Rice, Pasta laid the foundations for what was to come next.
What did follow was something superb: following their signing to US indie label, Secretly Canadian, the band released their second album in 2019. Every Bad catapulted Porridge Radio to the heights of alternative success: regular radio play, critical acclaim across the board and a nomination for the 2020 Mercury Prize. This success wasn’t unfounded either, Every Bad is a gorgeous blend of indie that flirted with the burgeoning post-punk scene. The way Porridge Radio weaved indie sadness through shades of punk and electronica with flavours of art rock and indie pop is nothing short of exceptional.
It wasn’t just musical brilliance that set Porridge Radio apart: Dana Margolin’s lyrics have the power to eviscerate you with one hand and uplift you with the other. The tunes had anthemic power too, their songs are melancholic rallying calls: like football chants for the saddest club in the world.
Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky was their next release: taking the themes of Every Bad and growing them into a mature, considered record. The album had more heft to it, both emotional and physical: muscular, rockier numbers once again coalesced with gorgeous, interpersonal lyrics discussing love, loss anxiety and much more. The band have continued this approach throughout the standalone singles and their most recent record, Clouds in the Sky They Will Always Be There For Me.
Despite the critical success of Every Bad, Porridge Radio remained a profoundly underrated band. The mixture of influences and the way PR explored these themes laid the groundwork for the monumental success of bands like English Teacher, Lime Garden and many more.
The demise of Porridge Radio is a loss to the UK scene.
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