Continuing my quest to “return to the scene of the crime”, I decided to have a go at a new interpretation of one of my favorite tracks from 2018’s TRIALS, “And Rainy Days”. It’s an upbeat tune that owes no small amount to New Order, let’s be clear!

I had very fond memories of creating this track – from coaxing Kathryn Brawley Suda out of retirement to let the angels sing through her again, to my very first experiences recording with my man Josh Stevens (and some very strange banter about whales and auto-erotic asphyxiation?!), and I could go on and on.

The track has already been remixed by some amazing people, for the TRIALS companion remix album TRAILS – from Mars Hall‘s moving Cetacea Mix, to a somewhat more slamming reimagining by Poizon Party IV, and a droning abstract experimental piece courtesy of Memphis’s Revenge Body.

Like my return to “Over & Over”, I did not want to veer too far from the original track. I made sure I kept most of the parts in the same place and did a minimal amount of new programming (if any … to be honest, I can’t remember). I did a very light amount of pitch correction on my vocal – I never like to go very far with software like that, as I value the performance and don’t want a certain plasticity to creep in. You watch, one day I’ll decide to do that. Who ever knows.

It really wasn’t strange to revisit it, as I think I’ve probably played it in every set since the TRIALS release show. There are other tracks I hope to go back to (staring at you, Confidence!) and some of those will probably be completely new versions.

For this single, I’ve included the new “Shelter Mix”, an instrumental of said mix, a bonus beats-style track for anyone who might like some new beats to play around with, and a real treat … the isolated vocals that Kathryn laid down in my living room back in the summer of 2017 that I called “Umbrellas On A Cloudy Day”. It’s gorgeous. Put it on and play it loud, or better yet … play it in headphones. Great stuff.

You can find the single on Bandcamp by clicking here.