Ride‘s new album ‘Interplay’, reviewed by me here, is already a contender, for me, for one of the albums of the year. It represents a spectacular continuation of a return from an hiatus and shows a band willing to expand and develop their shimmering sound. We are now treated to the news that Ride is returning to Australia and New Zealand on the leg of their world tour to promote the album. And if you have ever seen the band live, you will already know what a treat you are in for. The news is further augmented by news that the legendary Mercury Rev will be supporting.
Forming in Oxford, England in 1988, Ride set the blueprint for the shoegaze scene with the release of their landmark debut album ‘Nowhere’ – a timeless classic which inspired a wave of shoegaze bands to follow in years to come.
Armed with their stellar seventh studio album ‘Interplay’, the music Ride has produced has remained nothing short of exciting – a band at the very top of their game.
‘Interplay’, is Ride’s third album since reforming in 2014, having now been together longer in their current second phase than their original iteration as 90’s shoegaze pioneers.
It will follow 2017’s ‘Weather Diaries’ and 2019’s ‘This Is Not A Safe Place’, which re-lit the Ride spark, both pleasing old diehards and introducing one of the most forward-thinking guitar bands of their generation to a whole new audience. It connects all the dots from their career, taking the frenzied guitar attacks, hypnotic grooves and dreamy melodic hooks of their early work and setting it to a more expansive sonic template, inspired by 80’s pop gems like Tears For Fears, Talk Talk & early U2.
Led by Jonathan Donahue and Sean ‘Grasshopper’ Mackowiak, Mercury Rev has continued to reinvent and celebrate their classic sound that has been unafraid to explore new forms throughout the ‘90s, ‘00s and into present day. The band’s last studio record, a reimagining of Bobbie Gentry’s seminal album, The Delta Sweete, saw Mercury Rev collaborate with a number of artists in reworking the classic material. Bobby Gentry’s The Delta Sweete Revisited featured the likes of Norah Jones, Phoebe Bridgers, Beth Orton and Margo Price, brought into the Mercury Rev world. Eleven studio albums, as well as numerous compilation, soundtrack and live albums to their name, Mercury Rev’s impact is undeniable.
Details of the tour are as follows:
Early Bird pre-sales: Wednesday 15 May, 9am local time
www.destroyalllines.com/tours/ride
Tickets on sale: Friday 17 May, 9am local time
via www.destroyalllines.com | www.sbmpresents.com
Thursday 8 August Hindley Street Music Hall Adelaide
Friday 9 August Enmore Theatre Sydney
Saturday 10 August Forum Melbourne
Wednesday 14 August The Tivoli Brisbane
Friday 16 August Metropolis Perth
Sunday 18 August Powerstation Auckland
Feature Photograph: Cal McIntyre
