Angeltape

This year, Drahla make their long-awaited return with their astounding second record angeltape. It’s an offering that was not only interesting for the Leeds-based art-rock experimentalists to make, but offers an intriguing world for audiences to explore with a similar curiosity that informed the songwriting process. This inclination to eschew conventional melodic structures and embrace uncertainty across their latest material gives fans an unfiltered insight into a challenging transitional period the band found themselves in following the release of their 2019 critically acclaimed debut, Useless Coordinates.

That blistering introduction, described as a “darkly affecting uncompromising listen”, along with the success of their Third Article EP from 2017, saw them share stages with Parquet Courts, Ought, Buzzcocks and several more. angeltape, recorded with Matthew Benn and Jamie Lockhart in 2023, is an altogether more introspective and abstract examination of the self: “The core is off kilter I’m sure / When you feel too detached for your own words,” Brown intones on ‘Lip Sync’, an early glimpse into Drahla’s extraordinary artistic evolution.

angeltape is an avant garde document of the events that unfolded over the five-year gap between records which saw a variety of changes – good and bad – steer their professional and personal lives down unfamiliar territories. Instead of succumbing to adversity, however, Drahla re-emerge sounding creatively rejuvenated and examine this time with deeply reflective perspectives. Over the last few years, they suffered devastating losses and expanded their sound with guitarist Ewan Barr joining vocalist and guitarist Luciel Brown, bassist Rob Riggs and drummer Mike Ainsley. These recent experiences – collective and individual – culminate in a sound that is considerably darker and tonally more complex and conceptual in its essence. Delving into themes of grief and trauma whilst simultaneously celebrating moments of sentimentality and support during difficult times, angeltape shifts between being a challenging, comforting and ultimately rewarding record for both artist and audience

Released: April 2024
Cat: CT369LPC1
Label: Captured Tracks

Listen

Tracklist

1. Under The Glass
2. Default Parody 
3. zig-zag
4. Second Rhythm 
5. Talking Radiance
6. Concrete Lily
7. Lipsync
8. A
9. Venus
10. Grief In Phantasia