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Nov 15, 2024 By Mark Redfern Photography by Stew Baxter

British shoegazers bdrmm have announced a new album, Microtonic, and shared its lead single, “John on the Ceiling.” Microtonic is due out February 28, 2025 via Rock Action. Check out “John on the Ceiling” below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover artwork, as well as the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Vocalist and guitarist Ryan Smith had this to say about the new single in a press release: “The themes surrounding ‘John on the Ceiling’ are that of confusion and doubt. When something ends and another starts, you lure yourself into a false sense of security that the mistakes made won’t happen again. This happens over and over until you are paralyzed in limbo. Can people ever truly change?”

Microtonic is the Hull-based band’s third album and the follow-up to 2023’s I Don’t Know. The new album features Sydney Minsky Sargeant of Working Men’s Club and Olivesque of Nightbus.

Smith had this to add about the album: “I felt very constrained writing a certain type of music to fit the genre [we were known for] but something lifted and I felt more free to create what I want. And what I seem to be doing at the moment is a lot of electronic music—taking influence from different spans of electronica, from dance music to ambient and more experimental sources.”

Bdrmm is Ryan Smith (guitar, vocals), Jordan Smith (bass, synth and vocals), Conor Murray (drums), and Joe Vickers (guitar).

Read our 2020 interview with bdrmm.

Read our review of I Don’t Know.

Microtonic Tracklist:

1. goit (ft. Sydney Minsky Sargent)
2. John on the Ceiling
3. Infinity Peaking
4. Snares
5. In the Electric Field (ft. Olivesque)
6. Microtonic
7. Clarkycat
8. Sat in the Heat
9. Lake Disappointment
10. The Noose

bdrmm Tour Dates:

March:

6 Wylam Brewery, Newcastle UK
7 The Welly, Hull UK
8 Project House, Leeds UK
9 Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow UK
11 Gorilla, Manchester UK
12 Rescue Rooms, Nottingham UK
13 The Castle & Falcon, Birmingham UK
15 Hove Old Market, Brighton UK
16 Papillon, Southampton UK
18 The Fleece, Bristol UK
19 Electric Ballroom, London UK
22 Club Volta, Cologne GE
23 Säälchen, Berlin GE
25 Bogen F, Zurich SWI
26 Santeria Toscana 31, Milan IT
27 TPO, Bologna IT
29 Trabeno, Paris FR
30 Botanique - Orangerie, Brussels BE
31 Melkweg OZ, Amsterdam NL

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