Charlie Pinhey
Music journalist & online sub-editor for CLUNK Magazine based in Bristol. Fumbling around on social media trying to tell people about my interviews and reviews. Follow me @charvawritesstuff
Bristol based Factor 50 return with latest single ‘Comfort‘ ahead of UK tour and new EP ‘Good News!‘ releasing 17th October
Factor 50‘s latest single is perhaps their biggest and best demonstration of the rich tapestry of sounds they pull from. Yes, they’re an art-rock band, so the unexpected perhaps should be expected, however each time I have listened to the track, my ears have honed in on something new.
‘Comfort‘ kicks off somewhere in the realm between 90s grunge and 80s alternative, with a single guitar fading in with plenty of wah before the band launch into a muddy two note hook. Then, the faded and folky vocals from Eddie Akers and Florence Stirrup adds an element of bedroom pop to the equation, allowing the track to bounce between the anthemic and the intimate.
Lyrics such as ‘He saw and withdrawed. He picked comfort over confusion’ and the frantic, ‘Just take a bite. You won’t regret it,’ paints a picture of a person at a fork in the road, unsure of which way to go.
On ‘Comfort‘, Akers shared, “‘Comfort‘ is a song about taking risks and being too scared sometimes. Sometimes, when you take those risks, you feel pain but is that a bad thing?”
The music video for ‘Comfort‘, directed by Akers and Billy Evans, shows the band in DEVO-esque boiler suits, standing up straight and hanging off to one side as they move between one note back to the other. The video, with the band in a shimmering field opening up orbs to other places, changes ‘Comfort‘ again into an ambitious psychedelic track and teases the cosmic adventure the EP will take listeners on.
The EP, ‘Good News!‘ was written by Eddie Akers and Tom Oliver and was recorded in Norfolk and in bedrooms across Bristol. ‘Good News!’ was produced and mixed by the band’s own Tom Oliver, with additional engineering from Mike Hayes and Alfie Tyson-Brown and mastering from Emily Magpie.
Factor 50 are heading on tour soon, with dates across the UK below.
‘Good News!‘ will be released on October 17th. Listen to ‘Comfort‘ here:
Catch Factor 50 at the following:
10th October – Porters, Cardiff
11th October – The Old England, Bristol
12th October – Daltons Showrooms, Brighton
13th October – The Cavern, Exeter
14th October – Cornish Bank, Falmouth
15th October – Purple Turtle, Reading
16th October – Jam Factory, Hereford
18th October – Lamplighter Pub, Northampton
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