• News

• All

Nov 15, 2021 By Dom Gourlay Web Exclusive

Hotly-tipped Derby based shoegaze outfit Goddesses release their eagerly anticipated second album Alectrona in the new year. The follow-up to 2017’s self-titled debut, Alectrona will be the first collection of songs to feature the band’s current line-up - founder members Jay Dean (guitar, vocals), Paul Beal (bass) and Greg Rawson (drums) having been joined by former Escapologists guitarist Nick Jonah Davis in 2018. It represents a progressive shift in the band’s sound, with sonic patterns that have drawn comparison with the likes of Slowdive, Can and Talk Talk among others.

Bass player Beal tells us, ““When Nick joined we decided to scrap absolutely everything we’d done before that and start again. That meant sniffing each other out once more, and with Nick being new to the band, he had to make himself heard. I think that’s definitely happened now, and our music has infinitely improved since he joined.”

Recorded at guitar player/vocalist Jay Dean’s Dubrek Studios in Derby then mastered at Black Bay Studios on the Scottish Isle of Lewis with former Nottingham based producer/engineer Pete Fletcher, Alectrona is a sonic representation of the disparate locales that reared its creation. “Working with Pete Fletcher on the mix in the Hebrides was next level stuff ,” enthuses guitarist Davis. “We were doing creative mixing like using a grand piano as a reverb unit, running the drums through a half-dead monitor

wedge, all the while staring out at the windswept harbour over several days of listening and tweaking.”

It’s not just the music that reflects changes in the band, Alectrona also reflects the world (personally and collectively) the band found themselves creating in, bookended by a new member and a global pandemic and forcing some profound effects on the final album. For drummer Rawson, the death of his father halfway through working on the epic track “Satellites” shifted his creativity. “At times I felt like I lost my creativity and it might be why there is less drums and percussion across the album. It’s very much a guitar album compared to the last one where there were loads of rhythmic textures,” he says.

Which brings us onto the lead single, “Armageddon”. Released today ahead of Alectrona which has a provisional release date of May 2022, “Armageddon” comes accompanied by a video shot by Mixed Milk’s Martin McNally that sees the band, dressed as monks, tethered by ropes to an unknown force in the Derbyshire Dales. “Towards the end of the song there’s a shift to a major key that brings the song out of that darkness, and it changes the mood to one of potential optimism, something that you might find some people would have if the world was ending,” suggests bassist Paul Beal. Which probably explains the beauty and catharsis within the song and video’s dynamics.

Goddesses will also be touring next year, and have today announced they’ll be supporting Brisbane shoegazers Flyying Colours at The Chameleon Arts Cafe in Nottingham on 7th May 2022.

With more dates to follow shortly, 2022 promises to be an exciting one for the self-proclaimed loudest band in Derby.

Bandcamp