Porridge Radio - Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me *Pre-Order

“All the songs started out as poems,” says Margolin of the work that
became Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me (2024), “I wanted
to challenge myself.” In a song, Dana argues, the writer can always hide
behind the tricks of the music and well-worn techniques such as repetition. “In
a poem, though,” says Dana, “it’s just words and that’s it.” Recorded in the
Somerset countryside in early 2024 by longtime Big Thief and Laura Marling
engineer Dom Monks, Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me is
Porridge Radio’s new album and first new music in two years. The UK band’s
new album is a coming-of-age moment inspired by burnout, the music
industry, the brutal collapse of a relationship and - crucially - Dana’s own
increasing immersion in her craft as an artist.
“A lot of this album is about a more frenetic and desperate kind of
love,” says Dana, “it is about completely losing my sense of self in a
relationship, and the deep residue of insecurity and pain that lingered and
clouded a new relationship.” Songs that were written as love songs - like In A
Dream I’m A Painting - took on new meanings as Margolin viewed the songs
with a new distance. “There was a lot of love and confusion, all interspersed
with exhaustion and pain.”
The Clouds sessions took place in Frome as Winter melted into early
Spring at the beginning of 2024. “There were a few breakdowns,” grins Dana,
in a fair assessment of recording such intimate and personal songs, “after
some takes I would just collapse on the floor, so upset.” An environment was
fostered where Dana could express herself and be nurtured. “We would have
these big communal meals every night,” she says, “it felt very close knit and
caring and warm and special.”“Our little house looked over a big hill,”
remembers Dana, “there was a river running through it, it was big and bright
and beautiful.” The studio itself was bright - full of beaming natural light from
the large windows, a blessing for musicians used to the sealed tomb world of
most recording studios, and for once the band were all able to record in the
same room as the producer.
Today, Dana reflects on Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There
For Me with the enthusiasm of a real creative breakthrough. “It feels like the
first time we’ve made something,” she explains, audibly delighted at the
album, “it captured something about our friendship and the way that we have
learnt to play together. I love the songs, I love playing them, they haven’t
gotten old and it feels like it’s a special thing.” A pause. “It’s taught me so
much. Following your gut to the nth point, trusting your friends and their
loyalty, trusting to be able to fight with people properly. How I want to live is
how I want to make records, because making records is my life because my
work is my play is my job is my life. It all ties together in this thing, and there
are ways to do this that might not kill me.”