Porridge Radio – “Back To The Radio” [Video]

UK-based band Porridge Radio are one of the most vital new voices in alternative music, having transformed from DIY darlings to a Mercury-nominated tour de force for their 2020 album, Every Bad, in the space of less than a year. Today, they announce their third album, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky, out May 20th on Secretly Canadian, and release its lead single/video, “Back to the Radio.” If Every Bad established frontperson Dana Margolin’s lemon-sharp, heart-on-sleeve honesty, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky takes that to anthemic new heights. It’s the sound of someone in their late twenties facing down the disappointment of love, and life, and figuring out how to exist in the world, without claiming any answers. It’s also catchy as hell.

The album opens with new single “Back To The Radio,” a powerful call to arms that contrasts Margolin’s lyrics of panic and closing herself off – “lock all the windows and march up the stairs” – with a rousing end-of-night chorus made for clutching your friends closely. The song’s ambitious one-shot video was directed by Dana’s sister Ella Margolin and features the band – drummer Sam Yardley, keyboardist Georgie Stott, and bassist Maddie Ryall – immersed in a pastel papier-mâché world.

‘“Back To The Radio’ feels like a huge introductory hello or a big ceremonial goodbye,” comments Dana. “I wrote it at the end of 2019 when we were gearing up for the release of Every Bad and I felt like a lot of things were coming that I wasn’t sure I knew how to handle. The song grew out of a feeling of intense loneliness and being unprepared for what everybody was promising me was about to happen – and a strong desire to escape without knowing what I wanted to escape to. To me there’s a huge feeling of catharsis in this song, of letting go and letting it sweep you away.”

You can pre-order the new album HERE.