Photo: Thanira Rates
Ride have teased their forthcoming new album with their first new song in twenty years, ‘Charm Assault’.
The intense, politically-charged track, produced by legendary Trash DJ and producer Erol Alkan, is a preview of their forthcoming fifth album due in the summer, and marks a return to their early 90s peak.
“Charm Assault is a pretty straightforward expression of frustration and disgust at the people who currently run our country,” said guitarist Andy Bell. “The tour in 2015 was a good way of reminding us what we were good at in the first place and ‘Charm Assault’ feels like a natural continuation from our peak. When we started writing together again we tried to imagine we'd kept on making music all this time, and this was just the latest one.”
Ride reformed in 2014 to great critical acclaim, playing shows at Primavera, Coachella and Field Day as well as their own sold-out tours. Alkan has promised that the new album “contains all the great elements you want from Ride - Great songs, loud guitars, beautiful harmonies, powerful rhythms.”
“'Nowhere' and 'Going Blank Again' were big records for me and my friends when we were growing up,” Alkan continued. “I've vaguely known Andy for a few years through his brother-in-law but we didn't actually meet until a couple of years back. I had an email from them asking if I'd like to collaborate with the band, and once I'd heard the demos, I was 100% in. Andy's very well versed in electronic music, so we had a common bond in that as well as alternative music.”
Hear the new single below:
Ride have also announced a set at the BBC 6music Festival in Glasgow on 24 March, adding to the following previously-announced shows:
21 March - Limelight, Belfast
22 March - Olympia Theatre, Dublin
13 Jul - 16 July - Festival Internacional de Benicàssim
