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Oct 24, 2016 Editors By Christopher Roberts Photography by Brian Sweeney

Minor Victories is a supergroup featuring Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell, Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite, Editors’ Justin Lockey, and Hand Held Cine Club’s James Lockey. The band’s self-titled debut album came out back in June via Fat Possum in the U.S. (and [PIAS] in the rest of the world). Now they have announced a new album, Orchestral Variations, that is an instrumental reinterpretation of their self-titled debut. It’s due out in the U.S. on 180 gram double vinyl on November 25th as part of Record Store Day’s Black Friday event and will be released worldwide and digitally on January 27, 2017. Below is a black & white video for the new version of “Cogs,” followed by the album’s tracklist and cover art and the band’s tour dates.

Justin Lockey had this to say about the album in a press release: “I don’t really know that much about music in terms of theory, notes, scales etc. I generally just fuck about with things until it sounds right to my ear… So I guess to call this album Orchestral Variations, it would have to be in the loosest ever sense of the term.

“When we were putting together the Minor Victories album, a lot of the music came about through string arrangements, motifs, melodies, countermelodies and other such noodlings I was messing about with. This record kind of takes it back to that initial point, and re-imagines the whole record from that standpoint - the bare bones, the hint at a vocal melody, not relying on any backbeat - but stripping the songs back to the base elements and then piece-by-piece making an entirely new record. It takes the songs and elements around them and the phrases into a new place, mostly born out of hindsight and I guess a curiosity to fuck around with it all long enough until it sounded right to my ear. From all that an entirely new record was formed. It’s not a remix album, or b-sides…it’s just another way at looking/hearing things.”

Read our interview with Goswell and Braithwaite about Minor Victories.

Also read our 2014 print article on Slowdive’s recent reunion, our separate 2014 web-exclusive interview with Rachel Goswell about the reunion, and our 2014 web-exclusive article about the bands that influenced Slowdive. Plus read our 2014 interview with Stuart Braithwaite on Mogwai’s Rave Tapes album.

Orchestral Variations Tracklist:

1. Cogs
2. Breaking My Light
3. The Thief
4. Give Up The Ghost
5. Scattered Ashes
6. Folk Arp
7. For You Always
8. A Hundred Ropes
9. Higher Hopes
10. Out To Sea

Minor Victories Tour Dates:

10/24 - Minalo, IT - Santeria Social Club
10/25 - Vienna, AT - Ottakringer Brewery
10/26 - Lausanne, CH - Les Docks
10/27 - Brussels, BE - Botanique
10/29 - Port-Jérôme-Sur-Seine, FR - Pitchfork Music Festival: Paris
10/30 - Düsseldorf, DE - Zakk
10/31 - Berlin, DE - SO36
11/01 - Dresden, DE - Beatpol
11/02 - Munich, DE - Feierwerk
11/04 - Reykjavik, IS - Iceland Airwaves
11/05 - Den Haag, Netherlands - Crossing Border Festival
11/06 - Hamburg, DE - Markthalle
11/07 - Copenhagen, DK - Pumpehuset
12/02 - Glasgow, UK - The SSE Hydro *
12/03 - Leeds, UK - First Direct Arena *
12/05 - Manchester, UK - Manchester Arena *
12/06 - Nottingham, UK - Motorpoint Arena *
12/08 - Birmingham, UK - Barclaycard Arena *
10/10 - Dublin, IE - 3Arena *
12/11 - Liverpool, UK - The Magnet
12/12 - Newport, UK - Newport Centre *
12/13 - Oxford, UK - O2 Academy 2 Oxford
12/14 - Brighton, UK - Brighton Centre *
12/15 - London, UK - Wembly Arena *
* supporting Placebo