The band Ride stand facing the camera
Image © Cal McIntyre

Shoegaze stars Ride get set to release seventh album Interplay 

Ride have announced details of their seventh studio album, Interplay. Released on 29 March via Wichita Recordings / PIAS, the new record is the Oxford four piece’s third since reforming in 2014.

Produced by the band with Richie Kennedy and mixed by Claudius Mittendorfer, the record draws inspiration from bands such as Tears For Fears, Talk Talk and early U2.

Ride release new album, Interplay, in March

Shaking off the past

Guitarist and singer, Andy Bell, said: “This album has taken a long time to make, and has seen the band go through a lot of ups and downs; maybe the most of any Ride album. But it has seen us come through the process as a band in a good place, feeling able to shake off the past, and ready to celebrate the combined musical talents that brought us together in the first place.”

The announcement is accompanied by the album’s first single, Peace Sign, listen below:

“Peace Sign  started life as a jam recorded at Marks’ OX4 studio, in early 2021,” continues Bell. “We called it ‘Berlin’ and initially it featured Loz on drums, Steve on bass and myself on a prophet 5 synth. About six months later I got hold of the recording and wrestled it into song form.

“Lyrically I was inspired by a film called The Alpinist about the visionary free climber Marc-André Leclerc. Soon after I’d finished working on the song I remember I was raving to my bandmates about Leclerc at OX4, and a good memory of that time was us all watching that film at Mark’s studio.”

Interplay tracklist: 

1. Peace Sign
2. Last Frontier
3. Light in a Quiet Room
4. Monaco
5. I Came to See the Wreck
6. Stay Free
7. Last Night I Came Somewhere to Dream
8. Sunrise Chaser
9. Midnight Rider
10. Portland Rocks
11. Essaouira
12. Yesterday is Just a Song

Completed by Mark Gardener (guitar and vocals), Laurence “Loz” Colbert (drums) and Steve Queralt (bass), Ride  formed in Oxford in 1988. Their debut album, Nowhere, was released by Creation Records in 1990 and is regarded as a seminal ‘shoegaze’ classic.

Having now been together longer in their current second phase than their original iteration, Interplay follows 2017’s Weather Diaries and 2019’s This Is Not A Safe Place.

To pre-order Interplay click here

Want to know more about the history of Ride? Check out The Story of Creation Records