Porridge Radio - The Machine Starts To Sing (2025)

When Dana Margolin started working on the fourth Porridge Radio album, there was something different in how the songwriter approached creativity.

“Almost all the songs started out as poems,” says Margolin of the work that became Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me (2024), “I wanted to challenge myself.” In songwriting, Dana argues, she had learnt that the writer can always hide behind the tricks of the music and well-worn techniques such as repetition. “In a poem, though,” says Dana, “you can’t hide.”

Recorded in the Somerset countryside in early 2024 by longtime Big Thief and Laura Marling engineer Dom Monks, Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me is Porridge Radio’s new album and first new music in two years. The UK band’s new album is a coming-of-age moment inspired by burnout, the music industry, heartbreak and the brutal collapse of significant relationships and - crucially - Dana’s own increasing immersion in her craft as an artist.

The recording sessions for the Clouds In The Sky album resulted in a vast amount of material, more than made sense for one album. Therefore, Dana carved out an EP's worth of material that didn't slot neatly with the cohesive themes/sounds of the album.

The opening track 'Machine Starts To Sing', and the EP title 'The Machine Starts To Sing', nods to an idea that began to exist as a tangent from the rest of the material, where Dana contemplates finding comfort in cold and dystopian places. However, this is balanced out by tracks such as 'OK' and 'Don't Want To Dance', which are warmer and more tender, yet also feel separate from the laser focused vision that existed for the album.

Ultimately, the EP acts as an extension of the Clouds album, showcasing more sonic journeys and exploration of themes, while also not disrupting the cohesion of the album as a single entity. If anything, both the LP and EP are a stamp in time of a band at the top of their game in terms of using the studio as an instrument to express themselves.
credits
releases February 21, 2025

TRACKLIST

1. Porridge Radio - Machine Starts To Sing
2. Porridge Radio - OK
3. Porridge Radio - Don't Want To Dance
4. Porridge Radio - I’ve Got A Feeling (Stay Lucky)