Blood Red Shoes have set a July 24th release date for their new album, In Time To Voices, which was preceded by the single "Cold" which came out on May 15th. The new album was recorded at The Motor Museum in Liverpool with producer Mike Crossey (Arctic Monkeys/Foals/Tribes) who has partnered with them on the production side since their debut album Box of Secrets in 2008.
Since the release of their debut 4 years ago, the duo of Laura-Mary Carter and Steven Ansell has embarked on a grueling, unrelenting tour schedule, seeing them travel the four corners of the globe and earning them an international fanbase. However, life on the road can have its side-effects as Steven speaks of some of their more troublesome moments: "From getting arrested after spending a night drinking in a biker den, Laura fighting bouncers....twice, to the two of us breaking up onstage or having a giant fight in Prague and me getting found in the street robbed by two prostitutes. Oh and there was that time where we were invited to a hotel demolition party in Paris where we broke into Keith Richards' room and totaled it. These stories are all on the record. I guess being only two people spending more than 300 days a year together makes you kind of...volatile. Modern bands seem way too clean-cut and sensible to us anyway."
This rigorous schedule and emotional turmoil resulted in growth for the duo. In Time To Voices, sees Blood Red Shoes come of age musically, building on their punk rock roots and moving into an ambitious, three-dimensional new sound that encapsulates heavy rock as much as it does as sweeping, melancholy soundscapes and classic songwriting drawn from the likes of Black Sabbath, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones.
Laura-Mary sheds some light on the new ambitious approach taken this time around:
"With this album we totally threw out the rulebook of how we write and record. We decided we wanted to make a really ambitious record, not something which reflects our live show but something which is only limited by our imaginations and not by how many instruments we use onstage. We figured the best way to push ourselves forward was to write the best possible songs and melodies we could - once you have that as your foundation, you have the freedom to go anywhere with the sounds you use. We feel like a totally different band now. We feel like we're shooting for the stars."
The first single "Cold" sees Blood Red Shoes unleash their most bold and defiant track to date, with Laura-Mary's confident vocal delivery set alongside a hyperactive drum groove and a truly anthemic chorus.
On the track, Laura-Mary says:
"Steven started playing this weird drum beat in a soundcheck and I wanted to make it into a song, so I found this mean riff to play over it. It has this hip-hop groove which is something we'd never tried before."
TRACKLISTING
1. In Time To Voices
2. Lost Kids
3. Cold
4. Two Dead Minutes
5. The Silence And The Drones
6. Night Light
7. Je Me Perds
8. Stop Kicking
9. Slip Into Blue
10. Down Here In The Dark
11. 7 Years
Touring heavily throughout 2011, this year sees the band back on the road with no signs of slowing down with the US dates scheduled for this fall.