Howie Payne is aLiverpool-born and-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. And although his music career started in earnest in the early 1990s when he played in a number of local bands including The Magic Clock, The Windmills, Telephone, Blueseed (who, released their debut single “The Only Ones” in 1997 and their debut EP, 1998’s Special Care and Spare Change through Ultimate Records) and The Big Kids, Payne is best known for his solo project-cum-full-fledged band The Stands, an act that was both critically applauded and championed by the likes of The Stone Roses, Spiritualized, Jack White, Noel Gallagher and Bill Ryder-Jones.
The band supported their two albums together, 2004’s All Years Leaving and 2005’s Horse Fabulous, with tours opening for Paul Weller, The Libertines, The Coral and Oasis before Payne ended the project in late 2005. Since then Payne has developed a reputation as a critically applauded solo artist releasing two albums 2009’s Bright Light Ballads and 2017’s Mountain. Payne is gearing up to release his highly-anticipated third, full-length later this year. But in the meantime, his latest single, the self-produced and self-engineered “Into Daylight” is the first bit of new material from the acclaimed Liverpool-born and-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer since Mountain. Clocking in at a little over 2 minutes, the track is a breakneck, Brit Pop take on psych rock that’s a decided change in direction from Payne’s previously released solo work, as the track is centered around fuzzy and darting power chords, a motorik-like groove, a bluesy and expressive guitar solo and an enormous hook before a sudden fade out.
“The first person I played it [the song] to said, ‘It sounds like if Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac and early Pink Floyd were in the same band’ . . . I’m having that thank you very much,” Payne says of the song inn which he plays all the instrumental parts. “It’s the first full on electric rock and roll tune I’ve put out since I was doing The Stands, definitely the most psychedelic and the first guitar solo I’ve cut in a while. I’ve been listening to a lot of rock and roll and rediscovered my love of playing the electric guitar and of volume and it sent me off in a new, heavier direction. ‘Into Daylight’ is a pure rock and roll song. It’s loud, fast and exciting to play live. I can see us absolutely jamming the shit out of it at the shows down the line.”