Fuelled by a kaleidoscope of influences and melded with sheer ambition, racecar have announced their debut album and sun soaked third single. With an eloquent genre-fluid blend of indie-pop, electronic elements, funk and jazz, the East Lothian trio’s new single Better Than You Know out today precedes the 11-track Orange Car which is set to drop 10th June.
Today’s single follows the synth-infused Chapter and Verse; as well as the band’s debut single Flood, which was made Track of the Week on BBC Introducing Scotland upon its release last December. Now Orange Car sees them continue to drive listeners further into a blue-skied soundscape of their own, carved from unabashed pop-fuelled melodies and soul-stirring lyricism.
Speaking on the forthcoming album, the band said: “We are very proud to release our first album. These songs were written several years ago and they focus broadly on themes of loss: loss of love- particularly new love; nostalgia; and yearning for something that was or may never have been. In terms of tone, this collection of songs has a melancholy throughout but also contains moments of massive exaltation and euphoria. It is a fantastic privilege and joy to be able to play and create together again.”
Better Than You Know is the fourth track on the eleven-track debut from racecar – aka Izzy Flower, Robin Brill and Calum Mason – who, over the course of Orange Car, traverse across a lot of musical and emotional terrain. Pop-glazed songwriting are distilled with rock, jazz, funk and even the band’s favourite video game soundtracks as racecar guides the listener through love, loss and everything in between. From the album’s glitchy, sugar-coated opening track ‘Animals’ that conjures influences like Charli xcx; to Salt, with anthemic synths stoking a sense of euphoria under Izzy’s soaring vocals, Orange Car is a confidently ambitious debut album from a band who show no signs of slowing down.
Childhood friends and individual artists in their own right, racecar formed in 2018 when the band got together to begin tentatively rehearsing a few demos. Fast forward to 2021 to an intensive two week recording session in Robin’s home studio and Orange Car was born. Curated from a range of their individual influences, racecar’s sound refuses to be categorised as anything other than simply theirs. While the stirring guitars and the nostalgia-steeped synths of ‘Stranger Shores’ brings Bruce Springsteen to mind, the album’s final track ‘To You, When It Comes’ brims with a sparse, melancholic magic – a testament to the sheer breadth of musical landscape covered in Orange Car.
To celebrate the release of Orange Car, the band are hosting a launch night in Edinburgh’s Voodoo Rooms on 7th June. The whole album will be performed live, complete with an extended live band and some amazing support. Tickets available here.
The Scotsman – “The suitably streamlined racecar arrived seemingly fully formed and in sleek, elegant style at the turn of this year with a haunting debut single Flood.”
