Line Before The Line is the second track to be released from the forthcoming Late Nite 99 album from Super Extra Bonus Party, featuring guest vocals from Silverbacks’ Emma Hanlon.
Like previous single The Corpse, Line Before The Line heads off into previously uncharted territory for the band. It chugs along in a faux-western vein with cinematic strings and plaintive glockenspiel and melodica underpinning an insistent rhythm and intertwining vocals setting out a tale of love, loss and the hope for second chances.
About Line Before The Line, Gavin Elsted says “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do stylistically and it harks back to what we used to do the first time around. We were never concerned with what genre or style the songs on the records were, the only real criteria that we needed to satisfy was whether we liked the song or not. We were delighted to work with Emma too – she has an amazing voice and imbues the track with a quiet strength and just the right amount of emotion.”
Recorded over two weekends in late 2022 in The Meadow, Delgany with Rian Trench, Late Nite 99 is the sound of a more cohesive, thoughtful band, neatly skipping between cinematic faux-westerns, technicolour psychedelia and delicate electronica.
“I wouldn’t say that it’s our ‘grown-up record’ by any stretch, but maybe it’s being comfortable enough with each other to really refine our ideas that gives this a bit more of a focus” says guitarist Gavin Elsted, reflecting on the process behind the finished product. “I think a longer gestation period really helped us figure out what we didn’t want the album to be and gave us the space to write in a way that would allow the album to present itself instead of trying to force things together.”
While this newfound sense of comfort might extend to things behind the scenes, it hasn’t stopped the band trying to be playful wherever they can. From the amazing neon nightmare cover art by Jorge Parras to the title of the record (named after a sighting of one of the band’s parents emerging from the Heuston Supermacs with a post-work ice cream) there’s still a lot of mischief to be found in Super Extra Bonus Party.
“I think that what’s happened with this album is that we’ve learned a lot as musicians over the years, but the dynamic between us has remained the same” Cormac Brady expands. “I think when we set out to make the album, we had a vision that the album would feel a little bit more cohesive and a little less chaotic. But the reality is that we’ve poured all of our new abilities into the exact same mould. No matter how much each of us progress at what we do musically, the way we create together remains unpredictable. That’s what makes it enjoyable and maybe why we’re still doing this after so long!”
Listen to it below:
