When the band broke through with their debut record they did so with firm intent and rousing success. The duo of Ray Aggs (Trash Kit, Shopping) and Eilidh Rodgers (Golden Grrrls) took their roots in the punk world and wound it together with myriad influences, from Afrobeat, through pop and post-punk, to create a glorious and unique hybrid.

Formed of eleven new songs, Jump Into Life takes the roots of the Sacred Paws project and breathes fresh life into it, blossoming into something both abundant and more colourful than has come before; a gentle skewing of their signature sound that feels wildly thrilling.

Late last year first single ‘Another Day’ introduced the thematic thread, of remaining positive in the face of heartbreak, that weaves throughout the record and it breeds affection the more explicitly it reveals itself – both in sound and sentiment.

It’s a theme that continues on today’s new single ‘Turn Me Down’ – a track the band say is “about the rawness of rejection” where the refrain “do you even feel the pain?” juxtaposes against jubilant handclaps and guitars that burst with vitality. They add: “It’s something I reckon everyone feels at some point in their life – those moments when however irrational it might seem to feel so deeply the feeling is still there. It felt cathartic to write a song about it with quite dramatic rhythms and a big vocal melody.”

Sonically, The track ripples with the unyielding spirit of their more recognisable African and roots influences, the vocal harmonies again lending the track a world-weary edge that allows the whole thing to linger long after the song is wrapped up. “We really loved working on the vocal melodies for this song,” they say. “The harmonies took a while to figure out as it’s not something we have done a lot in the past but the singing added something really epic. The lyrics are so simple and raw that it really needed to pack a punch as a song.”

Jump Into Life:

1. Save Something
2. Another Day
3. Fall For You
4. Simple Feeling
5. Through The Dark
6. Turn Me Down
7. Jump Into Life
8. Slowly Slowly
9. Ask Myself
10. Winter
11. Draw A Line

The post Sacred Paws return with new album Jump Into Life. Hear new single ‘Turn Me Down’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

When the band broke through with their debut record they did so with firm intent and rousing success. The duo of Ray Aggs (Trash Kit, Shopping) and Eilidh Rodgers (Golden Grrrls) took their roots in the punk world and wound it together with myriad influences, from Afrobeat, through pop and post-punk, to create a glorious and unique hybrid.

Strike A Match, the band’s urgent and infectious first offering, was released on Mogwai’s Rock Action label in 2017 and won the prestigious Scottish Album of the Year Award that same year. That success was quickly capitalised on with another full-length effort, the band’s second LP Run Around The Sun, which was released in 2019.

More than five years have now passed since that release, and while Sacred Paws’ absence wasn’t necessarily deliberate it was certainly intentional – Ray and Eilidh deciding that rather than force the work, they would take as long as they felt they needed to produce the album they knew they were capable of.

Today they return with new single, ‘Another Day’ introducing a theme of remaining positive in the face of heartbreak. The track exemplifies a broadening shift in their palette. Gorgeous vocal harmonies and a real pop spirit are underpinned by banjo, played by Ray’s father, and fiddle that lends the track a playful edge but also a real heartfelt sheen to the whole thing; a forthright step into something bold and new.

“We loved how this song instantly sounded kind of country to us” they comment. “The harmonies have a really satisfying longing that sums up the emotional drive of a song about not really knowing where a new relationship is going but anticipating heartbreak. Ray added fiddle in the demo but it wasn’t until the mixing stage that we had the idea to put banjo on it. Ray has been playing music with their dad since forever but this is the first time they have been on a record together.”

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