aaamusic | On 23, May 2011

Named after a chapter from Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America and singing songs based around ocean explorers and space travel, The Winchell Riots follow up last year’s sold-out debut release with the 4 track ‘Figure 8s EP’.

Produced by long time collaborator Dan Austin (Doves / Cherry Ghost / Morning Parade) and featuring artwork by legendary DC Comics guru Rian Hughes, the EP is a massive step on from last year’s Sam Williams-produced ‘Red Square EP’. Opening with the title track ‘Figure 8’s’, the band’s sound is defined by the relentless drums of James Pamphlion, with singer Phil McMinn performing open heart surgery over the band’s massive sound.

From here we’re into open waters, with ‘The Man Who Mapped The Oceans’, a song following a broken heart out to sea. It’s the first song the band wrote together, and has never left their live set. “Lyrically, it’s the one I’m most proud of – I love the idea of the rigidity of the ocean, and I love the way it’s totally controlling, totally dominant, but we still think we can sail it”, says McMinn. Amidst falling pianos and overloading drums, the story of a man driven to sea by loss doesn’t end well, but it’s uplifting.

‘Undertows’ – the penultimate track – is a simple love song, swamped in dying tape machines and ghostly backing vocals. The pace is steady, and McMinn’s vocal stands out amidst cascading guitars and Oceansize-like sonics. Its lyrics – oceans, currents, undertows – define this EP: if their debut was aiming for the stars, this is the sound of the band crashing to earth and going underwater. Closing the EP is the understated ‘Fifteenth’, all looped vocals, guitars-as-synths and sampled choirs drifting across the speakers. It’s the calm after an epic ride, with the narrator watching “the world unfolding” as Nathan Allsworth’s Spanish guitar takes centre stage.

2010 saw The Winchell Riots crash round the UK on a headline tour culminating in a sold out hometown show to 400 people in Oxford followed a week later by an appearance at Oxford’s biggest all day festival, OX4, which saw a massive crowd turn out to see the band support Everything Everything. This year is no different – UK shows booked, a new EP and a growing number of fans. They’ve been up with the satellites on their first release, now they’ve taken to water. Watch them swim.

// June 2011 UK Dates //

June 4th/ Bristol Croft June 6th/ London Old Blue Last June 9th/Cambridge Haymakers June 11th/ Oxford O2 Academy