After announcing their final ever headline show in London next month, London-based band Stats share their new single, "Wet Black Trees," a glitchy electronic number padded with synths and sluggish vocals from keyboardist Nicole Robson.
Reflecting the Welsh landscape where frontman Ed Seed grew up, "Wet Black Trees" is a moody single that draws parallels with the dark, gloomy environment that surrounded him. Robson's vocals offer a solemn but featherweight layer to the track, offering lightness in the muddied path to darkness. According to Ed Seed, "Wet Black Trees" was the starting point for the band's second and final album Powys 1999. "It wasn’t meant to be a Stats tune, but I loved the mood Nicole created," he says. "It’s a dark and nightmarish world where sinister Nature is plotting against you —it made me think of the barren mountainsides where I grew up, and flocks of strange birds waiting. When the band got together in Wales for the ‘Powys 1999’ sessions, this was the song I played everyone to set the tone, to say this is the landscape."
Starting the band in 2014, Stats' main aim was "to make joyful and ecstatic music about everytday subjects usually written off as boring, like office jobs and ring roads". The final album acts as the end celebration of what the band has achieved. "Having reached that point I never want it to dissipate, only to celebrate it one more with everyone together. Thank you to everyone who's listened to our records, come to our shows and the countless people who've helped us outfor no reason other than loving the music. It's been a joy."
The invitation into the world of Stats promises escapism at its finest. The creativity and abundance of fun you get the chance to delve into is second to none. As a band, Stats have been able to produce music that makes you truly feel alive, giving you the chance to experience the wonders of what a collective of seven people can create. From 2019's Other People's Lives to last year's Powys 1999, Stats have brought joy to our lives, offering comfort in times of need, bodies of work to get lost into, and have even provoked outrageous dance moves with "Rhythm of the Heart" and "Come With Me."
Stats' final album, Powys 1999 (Deluxe Edition), is released November 19th via Memphis Industries.
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