Ride’s Steve Queralt announces debut solo album ‘Swallow’ with shoegaze-inspired single ‘Lonely Town’

nme.com:

Ride – has shared details of an upcoming solo album called ‘Swallow’. Check out the lead single ‘Lonely Town’ below.The record marks the first venture into a full solo release from Queralt, and is set for release on June 13 via Sonic Cathedral.In terms of the sound, the record is set to capture a beautiful yet brooding collection of nine songs, and hones in on elements of shoegaze to capture darkly textured soundscapes similar to that of M83 and Sigur Rós.It also contains a number of collaborators, including labelmate Emma Anderson (formerly of Lush and Sing-Sing) and Verity Susman (Electrelane, MEMORIALS).Today (March 26), Queralt has shared the first preview of the record in the form of the lead single ‘Lonely Town’.

Emerging with an energetic riff, the track captures an electronic sheen reminiscent of Boards Of Canada, and the vocal melody by Emma Anderson gives the song a shoegaze feel.Check it out below.“I’d been going through another Joy Division stage and so the rhythm and tempo were the starting point and, once they were in place, the bass part followed naturally,” explained Queralt of the track. “Emma follows the synth melody for the chorus, but it’s the bridge part that does it for me.

Just after we finished it, Emma came up with more vocal parts which were too good to miss out on, so back to the studio we went.”According to Anderson, the lyrics were written about “revisiting a familiar place and having your memories jogged and remembering things how they were in reality and not how you thought you remembered them”.The album was gradually pieced together by Queralt across five years, allowing for a slightly dystopian feel to find its way into the guitar-driven tracks.