Porridge Radio announce a new EP titled The Machine Starts To Sing, out 21st February via Secretly Canadian, and share new single ‘Don’t Want To Dance’. The band have also announced that the EP will be their final release, with Dana Margolin, who fronts Porridge Radio, releasing the below statement:
“This is the last new music from Porridge Radio and marks the end of the band. 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 EP is a collection of songs produced by Dom Monks, longtime engineer for Big Thief and Laura Marling, and recorded during the making of the band’s recent, acclaimed fourth album Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me (‘…exquisite euphoria…’ – The Observer).
Though recorded during the album sessions, the songs on The Machine Starts To Sing aren’t offcuts or extras. The EP is packed with emotive, standout moments in songs that took on a different life to the themes and sonic palettes of the album. The result is a snapshot of some of the band’s best songwriting to date.
Opening track ‘Machine Starts To Sing’ hints at ‘the idea of finding comfort in cold and dystopian places, finding reminders of life in moments of disconnection and alienation’, says Dana Margolin. “OK” follows, a warmer and more tender ballad, first intended for an early Margolin solo release but now reimagined with the help of the band.
New single ‘Don’t Want To Dance’ comes next, a song about ‘persisting, choosing life, living and trying again’, before ‘I’ve Got a Feeling (Stay Lucky)’, a song about being full of love and hope, closes the EP on an optimistic and cathartic endnote.
The Machine Starts To Sing EP
Out 21st Feb, 2025, via Secretly Canadian
Credit: Steve Gullick
The Machine Starts To Sing track list:
- Machine Starts To Sing
- OK
- Don’t Want To Dance
- I’ve Got A Feeling (Stay Lucky)
On recent album Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me:
Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me is a moment of reckoning inspired by burnout, heartbreak, and band leader Margolin’s own increasing immersion in her craft as an artist. Across the album, Margolin’s ruthlessly self-interrogating writing style is matched by some of the band’s most affecting music to date, patiently building and tragically intense.
It was recorded in Frome at the beginning of 2024. The band – Margolin (guitar, vocals), Georgie Stott (keyboards, backing vocals), Sam Yardley (drums, keyboards), and Dan Hutchins (bass) – worked more closely than ever on shaping the album to record it live in the studio. “As a band we do something very particular and very emotionally intense live, and Dom (Monks) knew how to get that feeling across and catch the magic of a live performance on record.”
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