Underappreciated dynamos of the trip-hop and contemporary electronica scene, The Actions, will be releasing their coming album, Flourish, on February 15th, 2021 via Niteo Records, and its profoundly moody opening track, Leap, is attached to a captivating video which streams for the first time in this post.
Hailing from trip-hop capital, Bristol, UK, The Actions have had a solid live presence, including gigs opening for first class acts such as R.E.M., Green Day, Garbage, Distillers and more.
The band's new album was written, recorded and produced by the duo in their own studio in Easton, Bristol, and then finalized at the Invada Studios with Stu Matthews (Portishead, Beak>, Quakers).
"What some creatives do with ferrofluid is mesmerising and we found those images and footage particularly fitting with the music," the band state. "Leap is a song about change, rebirth and transformation, but it’s also about facing your fears and the art of ‘mastering’ them in a way that they become innocuous.
"In particular, the spiked creatures coming from the melting magnetic fluid look really dark and scaring but as long as you let them ‘melt with you’ and slide over your skin they become something marvellous in a way, and it’s kinda like you’ve beaten the monster, surrendering to it at the same time. Sometimes the only way you can feel immune to what scares you is just letting it in.
"That’s what the song is about. 'Once all fear is gone, there is no return, no-one’s gonna harm you'.
"For a very strange coincidence 2020 is a leap year and fear has been the global feeling throughout the year and it still is…we wrote the song before the pandemic and the spiked creature in the video looks like a virus, but we didn’t do that intentionally of course…"
With the album being set to a completely imposing start, The Actions seem to be moving ahead with the consistent evolution of their sound, while in keeping with the trip-hop truisms, more or less replenishing the genre with a fresh perspective.
The Actions are Marta Argenio aka Silty (vocals, bass) and Mo Stellato (guitar, electronics).
Band photo courtesy of A Badge of Friendship
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ZR