Produced by Ali Chant (Perfume Genius, PJ Harvey, Yard Act), the album news comes after the band shared 2024 single ‘Polaroid’, their first new music since the release of their acclaimed and Scottish Album Of The Year Award nominated 2023 album for Rock Action, Secret Measure.

The pair’s feather-light approach and intrinsic quiet drama remain fundamentals of the Cloth sound on Pink Silence. A daring rhythmic streak combined with the patience and restraint to let the space in their music do the talking persists, however with producer Ali Chant at the helm – and with a cast of collaborators that includes Portishead’s Adrian Utley, Owen Pallett, and Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite – their exemplary guitar interplay is adorned with synth flourishes, undulating drone textures, and strings. Together, the group’s intentional subtlety is elevated to lofty new heights as songs unfold and bloom, becoming rich, complex and emotional. Pink Silence is the sound of Cloth realising the growing pop streak that they’ve long-threatened to bring to the fore, full of the kind of rewarding ruminations that continue to make them such an engaging prospect. New single ‘Golden’ grips, hypnotises and thrums, vividly capturing how it feels to experience a relationship falling apart.

Paul Swinton comments on the new single: “I remember writing the main chorus guitar hook of this song, Rachael adding a chord accompaniment, and me saying to her “this songs needs to sound like Talking Heads!” I think that plan of action maybe got a bit lost along the way, but it’s still one of the album’s most musically upbeat moments, with a great hi-hat-driven beat in the chorus and a bridge which might be my favourite of any Cloth song. The song deals with the tough breakdown of a relationship, and the feeling of that loss being so difficult to reconcile with you’d rather have never fallen in love at all. There’s a line in the song, ‘that scar on my wall, where all of those photographs remembered us falling” which came from me staring at my bedroom wall and seeing the faint outlines – the ‘scars’ – of where photos of really meaningful memories used to be stuck on. That seemed to me to be a really powerful image, even though, in a sense, there’s nothing to look at anymore.”

On Pink Silence, a more instinctual approach to writing was adopted. They wanted to let the songs be what they were going to be, rather than pulled into a certain shape. The results feel absorbing and natural, fitting rather well with what the band wanted to draw from the title Pink Silence. They say: “This idea of pink silence describes the early morning or later in the evening, when you get this sort of strange ethereal light in the sky. It can mean one of two things; something which feels blissfully serene or something charged with a real sense of foreboding. We loved the idea that something so natural, beautiful and all-pervasive could have such an intense duality to it.”

Pink Silence:

1. Pink Silence
2. Polaroid
3. Stuck
4. Golden
5. The Cottage
6. It’s A Lot
7. I Don’t Think So
8. Stones
9. Burn
10. Write It Down

The post CLOTH announce new album Pink Silence. Watch the video for new single ‘Golden’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

The pair’s feather-light approach and intrinsic quiet drama have been fundamentals of the Cloth sound, providing a way to express the grandest of sentiments in the most persuasive of ways. A daring rhythmic streak combined with the patience and restraint to let the space in their music do the talking, make each new Cloth song feel like a world within itself. On new single ‘Polaroid’ the band toys with texture and with the addition to their palette of a string section, their intentional subtlety is elevated to lofty new heights. It is the sound of Cloth realising the growing pop streak that they’ve long-threatened to bring to the fore, and the kind of rewarding rumination that continues to make them such an engaging prospect.

Rachael comments on the new single: “We knew that we wanted to push ourselves outside our comfort zone and write a really upbeat, fast track which would feel great to play live. ‘Polaroid’ has such a strong, driving beat and a soaring string arrangement from Owen Pallett. We’ve never had strings on our music before so this was a real first for us. I was a little nervous about the idea because I think adding strings can sometimes go one of two ways – they can sound great or they can overpower the nuance of everything going on underneath. I can still remember hearing Owen’s arrangement for the first time and just turning to Paul with the biggest smile on my face – they absolutely nailed it. ‘Polaroid’ is quite different to anything we’ve done before, but I think it’s one of the most exciting songs we’ve made.”

Paul adds: “Lyrically, the song deals with the gradual loss of a friendship which used to burn very brightly. I think a lot of people can relate to the peculiar and quietly devastating feeling of becoming isolated from a person they once shared so much with. That preoccupation with loss – of friendships, of loved ones, of relationships – is such a universal thing and something I definitely found myself mired in when writing. I can trace it across a lot of the record.”

The post Cloth share new single ‘Polaroid’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

‘Ambulance’ showcases the album’s subtler side, conjuring an anxious temper that feels wholly compelling, the mood enhanced by the use of an instrument called a Santoor which adds a new melodic and percussive element to their sound while highlighting the album’s experimental traits.

Paul had to say about the track – “‘Ambulance’ is about dealing with the aftermath of losing touch with someone who was a really influential person in your life. It explores the feeling of being lost in the remembrance of that person and what they meant to you. The song came together unusually quickly for us over a couple of baking hot summer days in Bristol and features an amazing percussive Indian instrument called a santoor which belonged to our producer, Ali Chant. The whole writing and recording of this song was so organic and exciting. It’s our favourite track from the record.”

The post Cloth share new track ‘Ambulance’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

Underpinned by a playful and moody groove, Rachael’s icy delivery on ‘Never Know’ is warmed by a lush and elegant backdrop of instrumentation that carries the song through five gorgeous minutes.

Paul says of the track – “’Never Know’ was born from a really big, dark-sounding groove we came up with quite early on in the album’s writing process. We had a lot of fun building the track up in the studio and plundering Ali Chant’s synth collection. Lyrically, the song is a little different to the others on the record as it deals more with unrequited feelings and how to process them. It sounds a little bleak in places but it’s not a song of despair, but rather one of acceptance and recognition of the steps you (reluctantly) need to take to get over someone for good.”

Alongside, the band have also released a visual for ‘Never Know’, directed by Bristol’s Clump Collective. Clump Collective described the video creative process – “We wanted the video for ‘Never Know’ to feel as if you’re a voyeur on a journey into the unknown. We follow Rachael and Paul as they take a nocturnal car journey, trusting in them to bring us along for the ride. Rachael leads us to a mysterious door in a field – mirroring the Secret Measure album cover. We don’t understand where the door leads to or why it’s there, but the people queueing in front of it look pretty familiar…”

The post Cloth release new single and video, ‘Never Know’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

Accompanying the announcement Cloth have unveiled lead single ‘Pigeon’. A deliberately bold creative step forward, the spellbinding ‘Pigeon’ sparks comparisons to Cocteau Twins, with vocalist Rachael’s warm, hushed tones interweaving seamlessly with Paul’s sparkling guitar lines and washes of synth, marking a perfect entry point to the themes and stylings of Secret Measure.

Paul says of the track: “With ‘Pigeon’, we set ourselves the challenge of writing a bold, infectious bop which retained some of the slightly jarring, dissonant elements which always excite us and feature in a lot of our work. The song was born from one riff Rachael wrote which we both fell in love with and, through its development, ended up becoming one of the defining songs of the record. Big splashes of analogue synth – a world we fully embraced for the first time on this album – underpin a driving pop song which lyrically examines the importance of teaching yourself to try and be okay with the unknowns of the future, even if things seem uncertain and overwhelming in the present.”

Alongside, the band have also released a visual for ‘Pigeon’, directed by Bristol’s Clump Collective. Clump Collective described the video creative process: “It’s always great collaborating with bands like Cloth – where we feel comfortable to pitch a bizarre concept and they’re willing to let us run with it. After our initial meeting, we were all set on a narrative involving pigeon figurines and tiny red boots – going really on-the-nose with the concept… but we kept coming back to the smoky, romantic image that the vocals evoke. The idea spiralled, and a combination of the two was born.

“Determined to create an accurate 80s power-ballad video – we spent afternoons watching Billy Idol and Orchestral Manœuvres In The Dark videos, studying soft slighting and slow fades, discussing what kind of haircut is most flattering on an avian head, and where on it’s neck a pigeon might tie a bow.“

Secret Measure:

1. Secret Measure
2. Pigeon
3. Never Know
4. Lido
5. Ladder
6. Ambulance
7. Another
8. Drips
9. Money Plant
10. Blue Space

The post Cloth announce new album Secret Measure. Watch the video for stunning new single ‘Pigeon’ appeared first on She Makes Music.