U.K. band Porridge Radio have already shared two excellent singles off their forthcoming album Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky (out May 20 via Secretly Canadian), “Back to the Radio” and “The Rip.” Today, they’ve shared a third single, “End Of Last Year,” along with an animated video for the track created by Maura Sappilo.
Porridge Radio frontperson Dana Margolin’s considered, heart-on-sleeve lyricism steers “End Of Last Year” as she talks herself through what seems like the slow, painful collapse of a relationship she holds dear. “What you take from me / I don’t ever want it back / I don’t want to go back,” she chants over the rising crash of cymbals and the warm melancholy of horns that replace the chiming keyboards that rang out over the song’s intro, signaling that the situation will cave in on itself sooner rather than later. Though it feels and sounds gentler than the other two singles, letting itself gently unfurl rather than storming in and demanding what it’s owed, it features some of the most devastating imagery we’ve ever heard from the band: “Cut off my shoes instead of taking them off / Cut off my hands because they’re itching so much / Talk to myself because it?s getting so bad / Do you know? / You break everything you touch.”Even when they attempt to be delicate, there’s a defiance to everything Porridge Radio create, taking what could’ve been a whisper of a song in different hands and blowing it up to an eruption that could shake the ground with how much they mean it.
In a press statement, Margolin talked about the inspiration behind “End Of Last Year” and the process of making the animated video for the track:
End Of Last Year is a love song for my bandmates and for myself. It?s about not trusting my intuition, not trusting my body to heal itself, not trusting the people closest to me, but it is also an ode to all those people, and to difficult platonic love. It came out of a particularly painful period of communication breakdown and high pressure that hurt a lot, but ended in reconciliation and understanding.
The video is by my friend Maura Sappilo. I’ve been a fan of her work for a long time, and I wanted her to make the video for this song because whilst her work is playful and bright, she knows how to bring the dirty and painful and disgusting aspects of being a person and having relationships into her paintings. Her art is lyrical and sensual and painful and beautiful, and I love how she brought all that to this song.
Porridge Radio will be playing a free, sold out show at New York’s The Greene Space tonight (May 3), but it won’t be the last the U.S. will see of the band this year. Along with the single’s release, Porridge Radio have also announced their first ever North American tour, which will kick off in San Diego, CA on September 6 and wrap up in Austin, TX on October 1. The shows will arrive between U.K./E.U. tours the band have planned for both the summer and winter, the first show of which will take place in Manchester on May 20.
Check out the video for “End Of Last Year” below, and keep scrolling for a full list of Porridge Radio’s tour dates. You can preorder Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky here.
Porridge Radio Tour Dates
May
20 – Manchester, UK @ Piccadilly Records
21 – Edinburgh, UK @ The Great Eastern 2022
22 – Leeds, UK @ Crash Records
24 – London, UK @ Rough Trade East
25 – Brighton, UK @ Resident Music
26 – Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade Records
26-29 – Walton-on-trent, UK @ Bearded Theory?s Spring Gathering 2022
27 – Totnes, UK @ Sea Change Festival 2022
June
04 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound Weekend 1 2022
08 – London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton
11 – Hilvarenbeek, NE @ Best Kept Secret Festival 2022
29-30 – Ydynia, PL @ Open?er Festival 2022
July
01-02 – Ydynia, PL @ Open?er Festival 2022
08 – Soliera, IT @ Arti Vive 2022
09 – Siena, IT @ LARS ROCK FEST 2022
14 – Sat. Jul. 16 – Budapest, HU @ Reflektor Festival
15 – Stirling, UK @ Doune the Rabbit Hole Festival 2022
22 – Southwold, UK @ Latitude Festival 2022
23 – Macclesfield, UK @ Bluedot Festival 2022
August
09 – Stockholm, SE @ Hus 7
11 – Oslo, NO @ Øyaestivalen 2022
14 – Kiewit-Hasselt, BE @ HEAR HEARI 2022
15 – Wubterthur, CH @ 47. Winterthurer Musikfestwochen 2022
16-20 – Paredes de Coura, PT @ Paredes de Coura Festival 2022
September
01-04 – Sixpenny Handley, UK @ End of the Road Festival 2022
06 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah
07 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room
09 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
12 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
13 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza
15 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux
16 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
17 – Denver, CO @ Lost Lake
19 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
20 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
23 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
24 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda?s
25 – Washington, DC @ DC9
27 – Atlanta, GA @ Earl
28 – Nashville, TN @ Basement East
30 – Dallas, TX @ Three Links
October
01 – Austin, TX @ Parish
15 – Digbeth, UK @ The Crossing Digbeth
20 – Sheffield, UK @ Southampton 1865
22 – Exeter, UK @ Exeter Phoenix Arts Centre
24 – Nottingham, UK @ Metronome
25 – Bristol, UK @ Trinity Centre
26 – Cambridge, UK @ Cambridge Junction
28 – Glasgow, UK @ Saint Luke?s
29 – Manchester, UL @ Manchester Academy 2
30 – Leeds, UK @ Leeds Irish Centre
November
01 – Hove, UK @ The Old Market
02 – Hove, UK @ The Old Market
03 – London, UL @ 02 Shepherds Bush Empire
11 – Amsterdam, NE @ Melkweg OZ
12 – Maastricht, NE @ Muziekgieterij
13 – Cologne, DE @ Club Volta
16 – Lyon, FR @ Le Sonic
17 – Milan, IT @ Biko
19 – Bologna, IT @ Covo Club
20 – Annecy, FR @ Le Brise Glace
22 – Barcelona, ES @ La 2 de Apolo
24 – Vigo, ES @ Radar Estudios
25 – Guimaraes, PT @ Centro Cultural Vila Flor (CCVF)
28 – Madrid, ES @ Independance Club
29 – San Sebastián, ES @ Dabadaba
December
01 – Bordeaux, FR @ Rock School Barbey
02 – La Rochelle, FR @ La Siréne
04 – Bruges, BE @ Cactus Club
05 – Luxembourg, LU @ Rotondes
07 – Zürich, CH @ Bogen F
08 – Munich, DE @ Kranhalle, Feierwerk
10 – Vienna, AT @ Flex
11 – Prague, CZ @ Café V Lese
12 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
16 – Hamburg, DE @ Hafenklang
17 – Copenhagen, DK @ Lille Vega, VEGA
