Northern Irish quartet Brand New Friend has released new single 'Girl', the first track to be taken from their debut album Seatbelts for Aeroplanes out 17 April 2018 on Xtra Mile Recordings. Preorder the album on magenta vinyl, CD and download. The first 100 physical copies will be signed. The band will also be heading out on tour with Pretty Vicious in March before slotting in their own dates for later this spring.
Watch the video for the second single from the album 'Girl' below. The video for ‘Girl’ was shot at their sold out gig at Belfast's Duke Of York in January 2018, and perfectly encapsulates the youthful energy, fun and thrill of a Brand New Friend gig. Taylor says: “’Girl’ was written after my little brother and I went for a swim in the sea late one Summer night. We were singing 60’s songs like ‘I Love How You Love Me’ by The Paris Sisters and I loved how beautifully simple the lyrics were, it left a real impression on me. It’s about falling for a girl at school and the innocent, blissful, total devotion that follows. You want to tell the world you love them, write their name into the blue.”
The 13-track debut album was recorded with producer Rocky O’Reilly at the end of 2017 after the release of their single 'Hate It When You Have To Go' and is a collection of classic catchy pop rock tunes celebrating their youthful exuberance and excitement.
Seatbelts for Aeroplanes captures the live feel of their supernova pop with Taylor’s songs filtered through the musicianship around them. It also charts the rollercoaster journey of his first proper love. “Something you think is going to be incredible sometimes isn’t, but that isn’t the end of the world and you learn that,” he says. From the highs depicted in ‘Mediocre At Best’ and ‘I Hate It When You Have To Go’, to the harder times in ‘I Was An Astronaut’, ‘A&E’, ‘I Love You, Goodbye’ and ‘The Blame’, Taylor is happy to admit that the album’s journey is one “that happens to chronicle this period of my life which coincided with me growing up in all sorts of ways”. Songs may flare with vigor and abandon, but do more than skim the surface and you’ll find a depth of emotion here that Taylor, catapulted by the rest of the band, can’t help but exert.
The band, who began as a duo with brother and sister Taylor and Lauren Johnson started off playing and writing when Taylor received his first guitar for doing well in his GSCE’s. After releasing an EP ‘American Wives’ they hooked up with Aaron Milligan (bass) and Luke Harris (drums) and developed a fuller, punchier sound which transformed the gigs they had been playing to much more energetic affairs. Playing their first Irish tour in January 2017, they soon followed on with shows on the BBC Introducing Stage at Hull (during its City of Culture year), festivals and support slots with local bands. In the meantime BBC Radio Ulster and Radio 1 were taking note and giving support and the new year kicked off with a sold out show at the Duke of York in Belfast.
Album tracklisting plus UK and Irish tour dates below.
Image: Ruth Kelly
Tracklisting:
1. Mediocre At Best
2. Seatbelts For Aeroplanes
3. I Was An Astronaut
4. Milk Chews
5. Slow
6. Why Are You So Tired
7. Sleep On My Floor
8. I Hate It When You Have to Go
9. Girl
10. A + E
11. I Love You, Goodbye
12. The Blame
13. Cold
UK tour (with Pretty Vicious)
MARCH
07 Manchester @ Soup Kitchen
08 Edinburgh @ Sneaky Pete's
09 Barrow In Furness @ Underground Music Society (headline show)
10 Cardiff @ Club Ifor Bach
12 Leeds @ Lending Room
13 Bristol @ Louisina
14 Southampton @ Joiners
15 London @ Borderline
Headline Irish tour
APRIL
20 Omagh @ Top of the Town
26 Derry @ Sandino’s
27 Portrush @ Kiwi’s
28 Belfast @ Black Box
Further dates to be announced soon.