Porridge Radio present a new single/video ‘End of Last Year’, from upcoming album Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky, out May 20th May on Secretly Canadian. Following ‘The Rip’ and ‘Back to the Radio’, ‘End of Last Year’ glows with synth and gentle, crashing percussion as the track unfurls with Dana Margolin’s visceral lyrics: “Cut off my shoes instead of taking them off // Cut off my hands because they’re itching so much // Talk to myself because it’s getting so bad // Do you know? // You break everything you touch.”
Margolin elaborates on the track and the video: “‘End Of Last Year’ is a love song for my bandmates and for myself. It’s about not trusting my intuition, not trusting my body to heal itself, not trusting the people closest to me, but it is also an ode to all those people, and to difficult platonic love. It came out of a particularly painful period of communication breakdown and high pressure that hurt a lot, but ended in reconciliation and understanding.”
The video is by my friend Maura Sappilo. I’ve been a fan of her work for a long time, and I wanted her to make the video for this song because whilst her work is playful and bright, she knows how to bring the dirty and painful and disgusting aspects of being a person and having relationships into her paintings. Her art is lyrical and sensual and painful and beautiful, and I love how she brought all that to this song.”
Porridge Radio – comprised of Margolin, drummer Sam Yardley, keyboardist Georgie Stott and bassist Maddie Ryall – are one of the most vital new voices in alternative music, having transformed from DIY darlings to a Mercury-nominated tour de force for their 2020 album, Every Bad, in the space of less than a year. If Every Bad established Margolin’s lemon-sharp, heart-on-sleeve honesty, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky takes that to anthemic new heights. Co-produced by Tom Carmichael, Margolin and Yardley, the album’s sound is panoramic and sparkling. Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky seems to be eternally striving for balance – joy, fear and endlessness in harmony. It scores someone in their late twenties facing down the disappointment of love, and life, and figuring out how to exist in the world, without claiming any answers. It’s also catchy as hell.
Watch the “Back To The Radio” Video
Pre-order Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky
Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky Cover Artwork (by Dana Margolin)
