Dublin-based dreamwave band, A Ritual Sea, release new single ‘Radiate’ on 3rd September 2021, through French independent label Icy Cold Records, in advance of their debut album release.
Following the success of recent single ‘Because You Hate to Care About’, ‘Radiate’ is a beautiful wash of melancholic dreamwave, with reverb-soaked vocals and the band’s signature layering of shimmering shoegaze guitars and synth. The song explores the breakdown of a friendship, and the push and pull of trying to keep it alive.
Formed in 2016, the band’s distinctive sound is heavily influenced by the esoteric imagery of Andrei Tarkovsky, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Robert Altman and Ingmar Bergman. Having featured at the renowned Other Voices Festival in 2018 and supported international acts such as Gwenno and Jane Weaver, the band played a sold-out headline show in Dublin’s Whelans venue in early 2020.
Donna McCabe, singer and songwriter, explains the song came about following the breakdown of a friendship: “We went through a painful period of trying to keep an eye on someone that was in a really bad place, but respect their need to isolate themselves. Having lost friends to suicide, you know that no matter how far they distance themselves, you need to stay connected, to keep an eye. The song channels that invisible link. The pain on both sides is so visceral, that sometimes you have to learn to let go. The ending soars into something hopeful, reaching out to try to manifest a different, more joyful reality.”
‘Radiate’ precedes the band’s highly anticipated, self-titled debut album due out on 24th September 2021. Self-produced and recorded at A Ritual Sea’s home studio, mixed by Paris-based musician and sound engineer Nicolas Subréchicot (Vagabond, Lou Doillon) and mastered at Biduloscope, it will be released through French independent label Icy Cold Records.
