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Jan 23, 2024 By Andy Von Pip

Leeds-based art-rock experimentalists Drahla release a compelling new single, “Default Parody,” along with news of a brand new album. The track mixes vocalist and guitarist Luciel Brown’s hypnotic vocals over angular guitars, lending it an air of controlled chaos as the band expands their sound with guitarist Ewan Barr joining Brown, bassist Rob Riggs, and drummer Mike Ainsley. Brown describes the track as the culmination of “lots of different ideas that resolve at some strange harmony. It was the first realization of writing something from start to finish with the addition of Ewan on guitar, so there’s more freedom of interplay than in our previous roles in the band.” Brown continues, “Lyrically, it’s taken inspiration from Shakespeare’s ‘to be or not to be.’ It’s navigating the loss of life and life with loss. ‘To be, I see, what is, to be’ is a one-way deconstructed conversation with yourself.”

The new album angeltape was recorded in 2023 with Matthew Benn and Jamie Lockhart and documents a tumultuous five-year period of profound personal changes and losses. It’s an album that explores themes of grief, trauma and sees the band rejuvenated and back to what they do best. The album is due out April 5th via Captured Tracks.

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