With the release of 2019’s critically applauded full-length debut, Useless Coordinates, Leeds-based experimental outfit Drahla — currently Luciel Brown (vocals, guitar), Ewan Barr (guitar), Rob Riggs (bass) and Mike Ainsley (drums) — exploded into the UK post punk and experimental rock scenes.
The British quartet’s long-awaited sophomore album angeltape is slated for an April 5, 2024 release through Captured Tracks. Recorded with Matthew Benn and Jamie Lockhart last year, angeltape is reportedly an avant-garde document oft he events that unfolded over the course of the five-year gap between albums, which saw a variety of changes — both good and bad — that steered their professional and personal lives down unfamiliar territories.
Of course, instead of succumbing to adversity, the band’s sophomore album sees the band re-emerging sounding creatively rejuvenated with deeply reflective perspectives. Over the last few years, the band’s members have suffered devastating losses and yet have expanded upon their sound with the addition of their newest member Ewan Barr.
Inspired and informed by their recent experiences — collective and individual — the album features a considerably darker, tonally more complex and conceptual sound. The addition of Barr signaled a significant shift in the band’s dynamic and ultimately reshaped the way they approached their angular arrangements, with the band being feeling the freedom to experiment with form more than ever before. Brown, in particular embraced the opportunity to find different ways to inhabit her contemplative lyrics. Naturally, because of the band’s new lineup, there was a readjustment period when they convened to write angeltape — but it helped to kickstart a renewed creative approach. “There was an uncertainty and anxiety in not knowing how to rekindle what we had, and what we did have just didn’t exist in the same format,” Brown explains. “I feel this is apparent in the music; the constant changes, opposing ideas and structures, the overall energy and drive of the songs. I think there’s also the sense of reconnection, encouragement and freedom, too. There’s excitement borne from us finding something together again.”
The album also draws some inspiration from the work of experimental rock outfit This Heat, but the band primarily found that their greatest motivation came from listening to and following one another throughout the writing and recording sessions. “I think the process and inspiration for this album has been way more experimental and insular than taking on any external musical references,” says Brown, “This record feels like it was built on a foundation of insular inspiration.” The band’s Rob Riggs adds, “When the four of us are in a room, we each bring separate things to the table. Sometimes, a session would start a little bit disjointed but then we find a way where we could all interlock together for a moment in a song and then disperse again.”
Sonically, the album’s material is rooted in the interplay of driving bass riffs and charged drum patterns provide an uneasy yet captivating contrast to Brown’s melody sing-songy spoken delivery. The material is also heightened by searing saxophone contributions from the band’s longtime collaborator Chris Duffin.
angeltape‘s third and lates single, the wild and expressionistic freakout “Grief In Phantasia” is a No Wave-inspired take on post punk — or maybe a post-punk-inspired take on No Wave — built around angular and scuzzy guitar lines, primal saxophone skronk and off-kilter yet forceful percussion serving as a tumultuously and uneasy bed for Brown’s melodic sing-songy and punchily melodic delivery.
According to the band: “This song was informed by others on the record and those we’d written in the past. It felt like the closing track when we wrote it, as though it summarised the chaos and the calm of the album.”
Drahla will also head out on tour across the EU and UK through May and June; their first since their European dates in 2023. Their reputation as a fervent live act is ever-growing, having toured across the world and shared stages with the likes of Parquet Courts, Ought, Buzzcocks, and several others. Tour dates are below.
Drahla – Confirmed Tour Dates
03/30 – Leeds, UK – Jumbo Records (in-store performance)
05/02 – Wakefield, UK – The Establishment
05/03 – Brighton, UK – The Hope & Ruin
05/04 – Brussels, BE – Les Nuits Botanique
05/07 – Cologne, DE- Bumann & Sohn
05/08 – Mainz, DE – Schon Schön
05/09 – Hamburg, DE – Hafenklang
05/10- Leipzig, DE – Ilses Erika
05/11 – Berlin, DE – Urban Spree
05/13 – Dresden, DE – Blechschloss
05/14 – Krakow, PL – Green ZOO Festival
05/15 – Prague, CZ – Underdogs
05/16 – Vienna, AT – Arena
05/17 – Munich, DE – Kafe Kult
05/18 – Bologna, IT – DEV
05/19 – Montecosaro, IT – Teatro delle Logge
05/21 – Clermont Ferrand, FR – Cooperative de Mai
05/22 – Toulouse, FR – Metronum Music Box
05/23 – Barcelona, ES – Sala Taro
05/24 – Madrid, ES – Sala Specka
05/25 – Porto, PT – Plano B
05/26 – Lisbon, PT – ZDB
05/27 – Vigo, ES – Radar Estudios & Mondo Club
05/30 – San Sebastian, ES – Dabadaba
05/31 – Bordeaux, FR – IBoat
06/03 – Paris, FR – Point Ephemere
06/04 – Lille, FR – L’AERONEF
06/06 – London, UK – Shacklewell Arms
06/07 – Bristol, UK – Dareshack
06/08 – Margate, UK – Where Else?
06/09 – Liverpool, UK – Quarry
06/10 – Manchester, UK – YES
06/12 – Glasgow, UK – The Old Hairdresser’s
06/13 – Coventry, UK – The Tin Music and Arts
06/14 – Hebden Bridge, UK – Hebden Bridge
06/15 – Leeds, UK – Belgrave Music Hall