Silk Cut release their third album ‘Corridors of Light’ + new single ‘Heavy Lifting’
When a cracking tune arrives at the door, you just have to answer and show it through. A little hospitality can go a long way.
So it is with the third long player by Auckland indie-rock quartet Silk Cut, titled Corridors of Light. Staying the course plotted by 2024’s self-titled release, Corridors of Light ups the ante with a dozen new originals by axemen Andrew Thorne and Justin McLean. Clearly, both have an open-door policy.
Joined once again by drummer Jayden Lee and bassist Aidan Phillips, Silk Cut recorded most of the album as a live unit at Chapel Studio, Puhoi, with sonic champion Dave Rhodes engineering. This captures a concentration of effort with the excitement of a shared moment. A magic component of the session’s sound was a 1970’s Marshall Plexi guitar amp once owned by AC/DC legend Malcolm Young. Hells bells indeed!!
Details and embellishments followed at Bell Curve Studio with the ever-convivial musical oracle Wayne Bell tracking vocals and more guitars – all mixed and mastered by Dave Rhodes.
Also out today, is the second single from Corridors of Light, Heavy Lifting.
The song’s writer Justin McLean says, “Heavy Lifting is about how we have to get through life, lifting the heavy stuff, even with a broken arm.
It came about early this year after a day’s bodysurfing went bad, resulting in a broken collarbone. It’s about trying to do the hard stuff like communicating with someone you care about who’s drifted out into deep water, and the sadness and frustration when you realise you’re powerless to reach them. You don’t always win, but you do your best with what you’ve got. Broken arm and all.”
Silk Cut is a creature of idiom, revelling in mod-like power-pop and indie rock with chiming head-music interludes. Guitars run hot, layering and weaving melodies unto themselves – harmonies burst in, and the rhythm section has its mitts all over the gaff. It’s an enduring model (“my dad had one of those”), recommissioned with local parts.
As if by design, but by chance, the songs hang together like a stream of thought: a dash of hope here, a rude awakening there, love as a buttress and a moderator, enforced selfawareness, clear nights by the window, a sense of place…
We all go looking for somewhere, something, someone – and a clear way there. What better than a corridor of light? Moreover, one you can travel up and down at will.
Corridors of Light – a new package via Parcel Postmodernism.
