BRAD STANK
PRESENTS NEW SINGLE ‘I BELONG TO YOU’
NEW ALBUM IN THE MIDST OF YOU
TO BE RELEASED ON JANUARY 26TH VIA SUNDAY BEST – PRE-ORDER / PRE-SAVE HERE
Liverpool’s acclaimed sensual existentialist Brad stank shares ‘I Belong To You’, his fourth single from his upcoming resolutely romantic new album In The Midst of You, out on January 26th via his new label Sunday Best Recordings. This release also sees the announcement of a UK in-store album release tour, starting on the day of In The Midst Of You’s launch at Shoreditch’s Rough Trade East.
The new single ‘I Belong To You’ is an ode to love and vulnerability— complete with a sultry, lush instrumental, and of course, stank’s signature drawl. Brad describes the track as “A short but sweet song influenced heavily by the Love Unlimited band. Rhythmically kinda awkward and drunken, expressing how it can feel sometimes to be vulnerable to somebody.” Keeping in theme with the religious-influenced undertones of the album, he elaborates on the vibe of the single, saying, “The title is pretty Gospel-esque but lyrically quite romantic, towing that line again. Lydia Kitto on the gorgeous backing vocals. Really doubling down on the romantic vibes here, and one of my favourite songs on the record.”
The ever-compelling, magnetic charm of Brad is ready to enthral and hook at every level throughout the new single. Soothing, calming at turns, completely immersive and just mesmerizing, as per Brad’s musical outlook, this track attracts on its soulful charm and serenity of the blissful voyage. The energy of the sweeping instrumentation and the harmonies, simply dazzle.
In The Midst of You finds Brad in late night lothario mode, his previous seductive style now taking a more resolutely romantic and perhaps surprisingly spiritual direction. The phrase “in the midst of you” comes from the Bible, Zephaniah 3:17, “the full quote is something along the lines of “God is in the midst of you” – basically meaning that you have to look inward for peace or enlightenment, etc. the album is about that in parts and also, as always, I tried to put a romantic twist on it so that the “in the midst of you” is about being in love with somebody. It’s kind of a juxtaposition but I’ve always enjoyed taking spiritual messages and giving them a double meaning, explains Brad. “Hopefully it’s a positive message of prostrating yourself to somebody, or to spirituality or something – but giving yourself fully to something , being in the midst…”
The stoned baritone of his voice brings the after-hours vibe to a collection of songs which playfully traverse R&B, laidback psychedelia and jazz – often simultaneously echoing Barry White and Love Unlimited with Marvin Gaye, Ween and Mac DeMarco. If you enjoyed Brad’s previous impressively unhurried slow jams such as ‘Flirting In Space’ or ‘O.T.D.’, you will discover that In The Midst of You lives up to his early potential with new-found grace and elegance, as well as his original desert dry humour.
Beyond ‘Natty Wine’ and the recent slacker rock single ‘Flicker On!’, In The Midst of You drifts lackadaisically between standout moments such as the sizzling ‘80s soul of ‘My New Heaven’ and ‘Don’t Go, Don’t Go’, a ballad of tender sophistication that was inspired by his love of Canadian indie-poppers TOPS. Elsewhere, the hazily hypnotic ‘Cry Baby’ mixes things up with charismatic rhymes from rapper Lord Apex, while the title track is something else entirely – a sonic journey that begins with downbeat atmospherics before taking flight into joyous, swelling gospel. It’s a song which really showcases what Brad is capable of, and closes the album on a high.
In The Midst of You was recorded in Bermondsey with Andy Ramsey of Stereolab. Joe Watson from Stereolab also played all the piano on the record “he was supposed to come and play on a couple of tunes but I loved how it made all the songs sound a little more 70s and Barry White-like so I asked him to play on pretty much everything” says Brad. The album also saw Sean O’Hagan (The High Llamas) giving his assistance on the arrangements, while Lydia Kitto (Jungle, Ezra Williams) adds gorgeous vocal parts throughout. Gal Go (King Krule) on the saxophone adds his own stamp to the record, while Brad’s Liverpool friend Rachel Dover (Mike Blue) also plays some lovely warm saxophone on a couple of tracks.
In The Midst of You is now available to pre-order or pre-save HERE.
Brad stank’s first memory of music was air-drumming to Dinosaur Jr. as a child and one of his first notable music projects was drumming for real for Trudy and the Romance. Raised in Chesterfield, he relocated to Liverpool where he started to rise as part of the city’s resurgent and varied underground scene. His debut body-of-work was the 2018 EP ‘Eternal Slowdown’ before his full-length debut album ‘Kinky Om’ followed in 2020. Notable shows to date have included gigs with Clairo and Her’s, who Brad was close friends with having played together at university, as well as this year’s SXSW. In addition to his wide-ranging musical influences, his interests in literary icons like Jack Kerouac and the world of spirituality also informs his work, specifically the poets and philosophers Rumi, Mirabai, Krishnamurti and Li Po “I would say I’ve been directly influenced by their works in the process of writing the album,” explains Brad. “Krishnamurti appears on the album, and ‘Don’t Go, Don’t Go’ is the title of a Mirabai poem. She also has a poem called ‘In The Heat of Midnight Tears’, which is where I took the name of the intro from.” This, alongside an addiction to the NYT crossword.
In The Midst Of You – TRACKLISTING:
01. Midnight Tears I
02. My New Heaven
03. Flicker On!
04. Don’t Go, Don’t Go
05. Long Distance
06. I Belong To You
07. Natty Wine
08. Cry Baby
09. Midnight Tears II
Upcoming live shows:
2024
Fri 26 Jan – Rough Trade East In Store
Sun 28 Jan – Pie & Vinyl, Portsmouth
Mon 29 Jan – Jumbo Records, Leeds
Tue 30 Jan – Jacarnarda, Liverpool
Fri 2 Feb – Banquet Records, Kingston
Mon 1 April – Jazz Cafe, London
Tue 2 April – Strange Brew, Bristol
Wed 3 April – Yellow Arch Studios, Sheffield
Thu 4 April – YES, Manchester
Fri 5 April – King Tut’s, Glasgow
Sat 6 April – The Workman’s Club, Dublin
No Comments