The latest project from Ride’s Andy Bell is a full-length collaboration with the Essex-based harp and Theremin duo Masal, which came about after Masal opened for Bell in Chelmsford last year and they bonded over their love of Promises by Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders. “After hearing it, I felt there was something in that area for me, if I found the right collaborators,” Bell says in a press release. “So, I was kind of on the lookout from that point. I’ve always loved the sound of harp music – Alice Coltrane and Joanna Newsom are both firm favourites – and so, when I met Oz [Simsek] and Al [Johnson], it seemed like it could be a good combination.”
Comprising four extended tracks, Tidal Love Numbers finds the three musicians exploring “ambient, astral jazz” — a pivot from the shoegaze Bell made his name on, but also a natural outgrowth from that sound in a way. The dreamy lead single “Tidal Love Conversation In That Familiar Golden Orchard” makes that connection explicit, though as Bell points out, this song is more tethered to the ground than most of the record: “It’s the closest we have come to a conventional arrangement. It has a recognisable riff and a beat, but still floats free of it most of the time.”
Below, hear the single edit of “Tidal Love Conversation In That Familiar Golden Orchard,” set to a video by Jean de Oliveira.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Murmuration Of Warm Dappled Light On Her Back After Swimming”
02 “The Slight Unease Of Seeing A Crescent Moon In Blue Midday Sky”
03 “Tidal Love Conversation In That Familiar Golden Orchard”
04 “A Pyramid Hidden By Centuries Of Neon Green Undergrowth”
Tidal Love Numbers is out 5/19 via Sonic Cathedral. Bell and Masal will make their debut performance together 5/21 at The Social in London.
