Release Talk

New Release – A Song About You by Postindustrial Poets and Time To Act

todayJanuary 18, 2023 282 17

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Postindustrial Poets are an alt-rock project, founded by Pete, a Brit living in Luxembourg. They have been recording since 2019 and began releasing in 2020. For their upcoming release A Song About You’ they joined forces with Belgium based act Time to Act – the project of Manu Pallage, who is primarily a lyricist.

Pete: “We met before playing a gig in Belgium in November 2021. So Manu saw Postindustrial Poets live and knew what he was getting into! He made a big impression by immediately singing a Postindustrial Poets song to us – ‘I Was In Two Minds’!”

Manu asked if Pete would be interested in collaborating on a song and sent the lyrics over. Pete was in charge of the recording, which was all done in Luxembourg.

Manu: “Well, we were sitting by the pool in Umbria and I realized how lucky I was. I started to write about my better half. It took me a good hour writing it down as it was all obvious, but it took me three days to dare letting her read it. And … she cried…”

Pete: “The cover art is a photo of Manu’s wife – so the person the song is about. It is a romantic song. That is why we timed the release for the run up to Valentine’s Day!”

Manu wrote the lyrics a couple of years ago. He sent them to Pete of Postindustrial Poets in early June 2022. They then spent a couple of months sitting on Pete’s piano – where he would work on parts of the tune between other projects. Manu wasn’t very prescriptive about how it should sound, but obviously wanted a big arrangement. Pete was interested in doing something with the kind of arrangement you used to get from big West Coast studios.

“The song is pretty chilled. At the centre of the arrangement is a pretty typical band sound: guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion. But around that you have cellos and double bass adding some depth and complexity to the sound. And there was a point where everyone said it was ready and Pete said “we are not there yet”. And he went away and wrote a countermelody for oboes that goes through the chorus. That does bring the chorus to life.”

Pete: “To me it sounds different from anything either of us have done before. And for me it was the first time I have tried to turn someone else’s lyrics into music – it was an interesting challenge!”

Pete: “The lyrics obviously have a special meaning to Manu and his wife, and there were things in the original lyric that probably meant something very specific to them. But I had to edit it down, and so I focused on keeping the parts that will mean something to – I hope – most people. I hope at the end of the editing it is still special to them, and that they will speak to a lot of people…”

‘A Song About You’ will be out 25th January. A pre-save is available.

Written by: leancool20

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