by Joseph Mastel
Over the past few years, Porridge Radio have become one of the most exciting bands and have consistently put out excellent records. Their latest album, Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me, is the band’s magnum opus, featuring overpoweringly cathartic moments, electrifying instrumentation, stunningly haunting melodies, and passionate lyricism. Dana Margolin’s intense and raw vocals strike a perfect balance of heartbreaking melancholy and triumphant hopefulness. It is one of the few records from 2024 that could be considered a ‘masterpiece.’
Porridge Radio recently announced a new EP, The Machine Starts To Sing, which is out today. The songs from this EP act as a continuation (or a sequel) to Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me and are undoubtedly just as fantastic.
Recently, Post Trash chatted with Dana Margolin of Porridge Radio about Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me, and their newly released EP The Machine Starts To Sing.
Porridge Radio by Steve Gullick
This interview has been edited and shortened for length and clarity.
JM: Lyrically, the album is very personal, intimate, and honest. Is it hard to be vulnerable? Are there any personal songs you were a bit wary to share or do you find it therapeutic to release songs like that?
DM: Both. Of course it’s hard. You’re making yourself vulnerable. There’s a whole process involved in it. A song is a vulnerable thing, all of them are. The album is about pain, and it is about hope.
JM: One of my favourite lyrics is from “God Of Everything Else.” I really like the line, “I’m the God of everything else / You’re the God of losing me.” Can you share the meaning behind it or what led you to write that song?
DM: It’s a classic heartbreak breakup song. It came out of a real difficult relationship that was very painful. I wrote it and called up Sam [Yardley], who plays drum, and I played it. Sam ended up kind of taking to it and said, ‘We should do something with this. This is a good song.’ But yeah, it was hard. It’s about having a hard time.
JM: I really enjoy how there are these quiet-to-loud moments in Porridge Radio songs. There are these huge, cathartic, overpowering moments, especially in the songs “Anybody,” Wednesday,” and “Sleeptalker.” When does the band feel like a song needs one of those euphoric or cathartic moments?
DM: When it calls for it, it calls for it. With “Anybody,” we ended up adding the big instrumental section at the very end in pre-production sessions because Dom [Monks], who produced the album, suggested it. But I feel like the song knows what it needs and it writes itself. I didn’t decide that a song needed an explosive moment to make it impactful. I was following the intuitive process of writing the song.
JM: I love the interplay between yours and Georgie Stott’s voices because hers is very different from yours, especially when you’re belting while Georgie's singing in a softer voice. One of my favourite moments is in the song “Lavender, Raspberries.” How and why do you two decide to do that?
DM: I love singing with Georgie. I think our voices gel really well together. We’ve been playing music together for over ten years and we’ve really learned how to sing and play together. On every song, she sings backing vocals because they’re really important parts of the song. When I write songs, I almost always write parts for her. If I haven’t written a part, there’s always a part in the arranging process where we go, ‘Okay. What would the backing vocals be? What would they be doing?’ That happened on “Lavender, Raspberries,” and she sings some really amazing harmonies. It adds another texture, another layer. It also adds to the meaning of the songs to have two voices singing it.
JM: On Instagram, you shared a demo of “You Will Come Home.” You also mentioned it felt like an English folk song, but it also has a nu metal thing going on at the end of the song. Why did the band decide to combine those two styles?
DM: I think Sam added that part on. I found it great. I think songs can go in all sorts of directions and you’re never really tied to a genre. We’ve never defined ourselves by genre. We’ve always been lumped into different genres or asked how we would describe ourselves. We like all sorts of different genres. We’ve all listened to so many different things from all different reaches, so sometimes it makes sense to bring the things you love into the things you’re making.
JM: One of my favourite songs, in terms of instrumentation, is “I Got Lost.” I like how it’s soft, quiet, and sweet—almost like a lullaby. Can you share how you came up with the instrumentation for that song?
DM: I wrote that song when we were in the studio. I had written it the day before we recorded it. I was playing it in between takes. I would sit at the table eating lunch with Georgie while playing it and she played along with a little keyboard. One night after Dan [Hutchins] and Sam had already gone home, Dom suggested recording it because we had just scrapped a song from the session. Because Georgie and I were there, we just sat down and recorded it in the same room because the others weren’t about. We ended up making a full band version but that was the one we did in the studio.
JM: For this new album, how do you think the band has evolved musically compared to your earlier material?
DM: We recorded this album live with a few overdubs here and there, but all the takes were live takes for the majority of the songs. That was something we’d never done before. Something we really focused on in the making of this album was making one we could play live and do everything we wanted to do within these four instruments and four people and the voices we have. I think it was a real combination of us learning how to be really tight. We’d already gotten really tight, it was just learning ‘How do we make something really live and really magical that would capture the feeling of when we play together.’ Getting it out on a record was great and a lot of fun.
JM: You have a new EP out on February 21, The Machine Starts To Sing. Did those songs not fit cohesively for Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me? What led the band releasing those separately?
DM: There were a few reasons. One was we recorded 15 songs in the studio, and all of us loved all of them, but we knew 15 songs doesn't fit on one LP, so we knew we had to split them up. Some of the ones that ended up in the EP were peoples’ favourite ones. “Machine Starts To Sing” was especially a massive favourite. We were like, 'Let’s give it its own release 'cause it’s so good.’ It’s like everybody had favourites and didn’t want to get rid of any, but in the end, I think the flow of that album made sense as it was. It was about putting songs together that flowed as well in one body of work.
JM: The song “Don’t Want To Dance” from the upcoming EP has been released already. It kind of reminds me a lot of “Sick Of The Blues” in how they’re both melancholic but uplifting and seem to be yearning for happiness. Do you find they are thematically hand in hand?
DM: They were actually written about two or three years apart. I didn’t really connect them ever. I think I see it, yeah. I’ve written a lot about why I wrote “Sick Of The Blues” and talked a lot about it, and “Don’t Want To Dance” was a real heartbreak song. It was really difficult. It’s about persistence and about, you know, to keep dancing.
JM: Porridge Radio toured the UK and Europe last year and are doing a North American tour to promote the new album. What song do you think has been connecting the most with fans from the new album?
DM: I think “God Of Everything Else” is the one I always notice people are really excited about. It’s really nice
JM: Do you have a favourite song playing live from the new album?
DM: It depends on the day. ,, but right now, I really love playing “Lavender Raspberries.”
JM: I really like the music videos Porridge Radio have put out for the new album. How were those experiences filming those music videos?
DM: It was really good. We recorded them at the Centre Pompidou that we did a live show at that my sister directed, Ella Margolin, and it was really amazing! We made a really big special show, and it was when we first played the album live and the EP as well. It was a really amazing show, and the film came out of that.
JM: What does Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me and The Machine Starts To Sing mean to you personally?
DM: I love them. I’m really proud of them. They are real moments that I think capture something that’s really special to me. Both the album and the EP I’m really, really proud of.
Porridge Radio’s The Machine Starts To Sing comes out February 21st via Secretly Canadian.