- Speedtrain A Permanent Shadow 3:57
A Permanent Shadow is set to release their new single titled ‘Speedtrain’ on February 25th. The last taster before the album ‘Humdrum’ drops on March 4th, ‘Speedtrain’ further solidifies all that should be expected when you listen to A Permanent Shadow song. That sound is signature. That sound is recognizable. That sound is solid.
And , what we get with ‘Speedtrain’, is not so much a continuation of the sound we are becoming familiar with, but a show of the diversity within that sound we will get with the ‘Humdrum’ album. Fun and quirky. Musically relevance within the hook. Hard-edged pop-rock. Whatever you give as a designation, you can’t deny ‘Speedtrain’ is catchy.
“Speedtrain” is released on February 25th. The album “Humdrum” arrives on March 4th on all relevant digital platforms.
Check out our other features with A Permanent Shadow HERE.
About ‘Humdrum’
A Permanent Shadow have been heralding the release of their second long play with a series of singles since September 2021. After “Shining Star”, “Beautiful People” and “This Energy”, on February 25th “Speedtrain” will see the light of day as the final taster for the album “Humdrum”, out one week later on March 4th.
The single version is slightly shorter than the full album version and will be made available digitally. The song comes with a video, as always directed by Dani Moreno. In the clip we can see A Permanent Shadow singer CP Fletcher running along the rails with the train fast approaching, while the real-life lawyer Marta Guillemí acts as the one-eyed statue of justice come to life.
“Speedtrain” is a song about aging and lost opportunities which laments the passing of time and the inability to let go of the past. “As you get older, you seem to cling to the past much more, because there’s less future left and you realize how finite your existence actually is”, comments Fletcher on the song’s lyrics. “It is common for parents or grandparents to warn you that the older you get the faster time passes, which in your youthful arrogance you brush off lightheartedly. But as the years pass, you suddenly find that indeed, life is rolling like a speedtrain with no mercy, as the song’s chorus implies. And that’s when you start looking back on everything you have and have not done in life, and you ask yourself how much do you have left to make up for lost time.”
Despite the bleak lyrical content, musically “Speedtrain” is an upbeat song. Driven by a simple bass riff and an underbelly of synth arpeggios, the track, as the rest of the imminent album “Humdrum”, was recorded by CP Fletcher and his two collaborators Albert Català (keyboards, arrangements) and Valentí Nieto (guitars, bass, production) at Barcelona’s Mini Blind Studios. It is already the eighth single in the cannon of A Permanent Shadow whose debut album “Songs of Loss” was released in 2019 and gained quite a few accolades as well as healthy airplay and media exposure.
CP Fletcher cites David Bowie as his main influence. Other acts that he considers akin in style are John Grant, ex-Mansun singer Paul Draper, The Anchoress and other New Wave and Synthpop indebted artists like Editors, Mark Lanegan or White Lies.
About A Permanent Shadow
A Permanent Shadow is a band for want of a better description. Its only fixture is CP Fletcher who for the recording of the debut album “Songs of Loss” surrounded himself with a rotating cast of musicians and producers.
CP took his first steps as a frontman forming a Lou Reed tribute project, The Magic and Loss Orchestra. Such is his admiration for the curmudgeon from New York that the tribute experience ended up bleeding into A Permanent Shadow via a cover of “Sword of Damocles”, originally featured on Reed’s “Magic and Loss” album and included on “Songs of Loss” in a reworked form. The album also features a reading of “See the Lights” by another of CP’s heroes, Simple Minds. Both fit seamlessly into the record’s overall themes of loss and reflection.
Speaking of heroes: The song “Sailor” contemplates the influence of David Bowie not just on CP but on various generations of misfits, as well as the impact of his untimely passing. “Songs of Loss”, however, not only mourns the loss of loved ones. Losing faith, the fear of solitude and experiencing failing health are other themes the album explores.
The music is a blend of old and new. The songs draw from the likes of (in no particular order) Iggy Pop and Scott Walker as well as more recent artists like John Grant, Editors, Interpol and Franz Ferdinand among many others, encompassing post-punk, funk-punk and synth-pop.
SOURCE: Official Bio
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