Everything is quickly coming together for
Galen & Paul, a new project from
Galen Ayers, the singer-songwriter whose artistic projects include the rightly acclaimed solo album
‘Monument’, and
Paul Simonon, bassist with
The Clash, Gorillaz and
The Good, The Bad and The Queen. Their first track
‘Lonely Town’ earned airplay from
Craig Charles at
BBC 6 Music and
Gary Crowley at
BBC Radio London, while news of the
May 19th release of their debut album
‘Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day?’ resulted in a spread of coverage from Rolling Stone,
NME, MOJO, Louder Sound and
Louder Than War.
Now Galen & Paul share a brand new song from the album in the shape of ‘Room At The Top’, which has just been premiered by Rolling Stone US. Listen HERE. It is accompanied by an official video, which was filmed in London, and was directed and edited by Paul with Dan Donovan credited as DP. Watch it HERE.
Featuring an evocative Farfisa played by Dan Donovan (Big Audio Dynamite), the instantly memorable ‘Room At The Top’finds the duo painting a picture of an unappealing – yet somehow also strangely alluring – hotel room: the lyric “The hand of Chopin plays a melody” being its most revealing clue. The music is just as engagingly off-kilter: Latin-tinged rock with a folky edge and a haunting gothic ambience.
Galen & Paul also today announce details of a series of 7” vinyl singles which will each be available in limited edition pressings of just 500 copies. Set to become instant collectors’ items, their first two singles, ‘Lonely Town’ and ‘Room At The Top’, are now available to pre-order exclusively from their official website ahead of their release on May 19th. Details of two further singles will be announced soon. All four singles will feature their instrumental version on the b-side. A special bundle compiling all four singles is also available.
As with the rest of the parent album, ‘Room At The Top’ was produced by the legendary Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T-Rex, Sparks) with a band that also features Simon Tong (The Verve, The Good, The Bad and The Queen) and Sebastian Rochford (Polar Bear, David Byrne, Patti Smith). Elsewhere, the album journeys across the continent, taking in French chansons, Spanish pop and English sea shanties; evoking scenes stretching from Edgware Road to Hydra Island; and painting pictures of everything from chic Parisian cafes to drunk tourists in Magaluf.
The album is available to pre-order or pre-save HERE. The duo’s official store offers a range of bundles including signed vinyl and CDs, while select retailers offer a transparent pink vinyl format.
Just last week, Galen & Paul announced details of their first shows together at London’s Tabernacle (June 7th) and La Maroquinerie in Paris (June 11th). Any remaining tickets are available HERE for London and HERE for Paris.
