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Feb 14, 2025 By Mark Redfern Photography by Perou

Andy Bell of British shoegazers Ride is releasing a new solo album, pinball wanderer, on February 28 via Sonic Cathedral. Now he has shared another song from it, the eight-minute long “apple green ufo.” It’s got a Stone Roses gone Afrobeat vibe. Watch the song’s video below.

“I had this riff on an acoustic and it was kind of like one of those Led Zeppelin folk bangers, but I brought it into the Serge Gainsbourg world and gave it a glass of absinthe,” says Bell in a press release, referencing Dougie Wright’s bass and Dave Richmond’s drumming on Gainsbourg’s classic “Histoire de Melody Nelson” as an influence on “apple green ufo.”

“The lyrics imagine if I met an alien and had to show them around Earth, what would I want to show them?” Bell continues. “It also references The Simpsons’ Mr Burns (‘I bring you love’) and ET (‘If you’re lonely, phone home’).

“I would like to highlight the ‘ring modulated’ fuzz guitar solo, which I couldn’t have made without an effect pedal called Randy’s Revenge’ by Fairfield Circuitry—my favorite company. This is not an ad!”

Ride released a new album, Interplay, last year via Wichita and PIAS. It was one of our Top 100 Albums of 2024.

Read our interview with Ride on Interplay.

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