Philip Selway – best known as the drummer and co-founder of Radiohead – has released the title track to his forthcoming third solo album, ‘Strange Dance’.
‘Strange Dance’, released today (February 9), follows on from lead single ‘Check For Signs Of Life’ in October 2022, and follow-up ‘Picking Up Pieces’ last month. Per a press statement from Selway, the song “had a very long gestation” period, dating back to when Radiohead were recording and touring albums such as ‘Kid A’ and ‘Amnesiac’.
“In its original form, it was the first piece from the album to be written, over 20 years ago,” he says. “It was also the last song to be completed on the album, with the lyric taking shape in the final recording session.”
Selway went on to explain the metaphorical “strange dance” that both the song and album title allude to. “[It] refers to the contortions we all perform as we try to balance seemingly irreconcilable elements of our lives, and the relationships that help us navigate this uncertainty,” he said.
Listen to ‘Strange Dance’ below:
When announcing the album last October, Selway noted that it was created on a “very deliberate” scale. “I wanted the soundscape to be broad and tall, but somehow get it to wrap around this intimate vocal at the heart of it,” he said.
Elsewhere, the English musician served as an ambassador for this year’s Independent Venue Week, which ran through to last Sunday (February 5). More than 300 UK venues hosted hundreds of gigs and events over the week to celebrate and support the country’s independent live music spaces – as well as the people that own, run and work in them.
“You don’t get into running a venue for the money – they are passion projects,” Selway said to NME. “At the heart of that are incredible cultural events every night of the year, all across the country. I looked back to our time in Radiohead, and reflecting on it made me realise how important they’d been to us in our development.”