After returning at the beginning of June to release their catchy single These Days, which landed on Spotifys New Music Friday playlists in the UK, US, Japan, Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam, and has received countless UK radio support, Leeds-based indie-rock heroes Marsicans are back once again to share the sixth and final preview of their forthcoming debut album Ursa Major, the wonderfully solemn Someone Elses Touch.
Unlike much of their material over the last few months, Someone Elses Touch sees the band drop their usual bright and energetic direction for something far more humbling. Sitting firmly in the centre of their new full-lengths tracklist, this new offering delivers a raw and heartfelt dose of emotion into their midst, showcasing a more tender side to their sound and cementing a subtle beauty to their songwriting throughout. The video for Someone Elses Touch shot by long-term visual collaborators Sodium Films is fittingly stark.
Speaking about their new release, bassist/vocalist Rob Brander said, “‘Someone Else’s Touch’ started its life a long time ago, and is the oldest song to make it onto our debut album. It’s also probably the most adventurous song on the record in terms of production. Like many of the things we write, it started life on an acoustic guitar, but at a time when we were trying to push ourselves a little further than six strings. So we borrowed a couple of old keyboards and started building loops and textures that sounded exciting to us. We got so far down a rabbit hole that the first time we played the song to our manager, he laughed. We knew it wasn’t the finished article, but were confident there was something special in the noise, so we committed it to a demo and continued to write new music.
After a few years on a hard drive, some fresh perspective, and some crystallizing lyrical additions, we came back to that demo with renewed excitement. Much of the original version still exists within the song, but a magical evening at Rockfield Studios last summer saw the finishing touches to the musical landscaping. Our producer, Mickey Dale, and I came together after a few beers to become a kind of Bradford-Bon Iver for the evening, followed by the only tears of the album sessions as James delivered a beautiful vocal in a darkened corner of the legendary studio. It’s a moment, and an evening that we will always remember very fondly, and we are incredibly proud of ‘Someone Else’s Touch’ as a song, and a marker of our perseverance as a band.”
Someone Elses Touch is Marsicans sixth track to be released in 2020 and from one great bear (the Marsican) to The Great Bear, all six feature on their debut album Ursa Major which was recorded at the legendary Rockfield Studios (a landmark familiar to any fans of Queen, Oasis, and The Stone Roses) and is set for release on August 14th.
The band do have a famous connection to Rockfield through fellow recording alumni Coldplay who, it seems, had kept an eye on Marsicans from the early days, going as far as to tweet their love of their 2017 single Friends. My phone stopped working because Twitter went so fucking insane and we saw a mad spike in streams, remembers bassist Rob Brander. It still feels weird. I dont think its real. Then, when it came to album time, there was an out-of-the-blue suggestion from the Coldplay camp that Marsicans might like to have a look round their own London studios for the sessions. The conversation however soon settled on Rockfield, where Chris Martin and co had recorded their seminal debut album Parachutes.
Having previously only recorded in the tiny basement of a terraced house in Bradford where their producer lives, working in the iconic Rockfield for the then-unsigned band was quite the culture shock not to mention a leap of faith.
We watched that Oasis documentary Supersonic, remembers Brander, recalling a scene filmed at Rockfield. Thats when we realised the gravitas of the situation. It felt like wed made it. Wed been through all the highs and lows of celebrating and bollocking each other. We owed it to ourselves after that amount of time to try every idea. By the time we got to Rockfield we were like, Lets let these songs spread their wings in this big, beautiful studio.
As an independent band, booked to headline the British Music Embassys BBC line-up at this years SXSWs before COVID-19 stepped in, Marsicans had already headlined the BBC Introducing stage at Reading and Leeds festival 2019, played Glastonbury, opened for Kaiser Chiefs at Elland Road stadium, made fans of Foals when they supported them in Hamburg, toured the UK with We Are Scientists, had radio play on BBC Radio 1 and Radio X, lit up Spotify and Apple playlists, featured on Later… With Jools Holland, MTV, BT Sport, Match Of The Day, and the opening credits of Made In Chelsea, scored a surprise UK 7″ vinyl chart Number One for their 2019 single ‘Your Eyes’ all ahead of recording their debut album.
The preceding singles to These Days; Summery In Angus, ‘Sunday’, Juliet and Can I Stay Here Forever (pt. II) have all seen continued support for the band across UK and international radio, DSPs and TV. Media support for Marsicans has come by way of The Guardians 50 Best New Artists for 2020 tip, Sunday Times Hottest Tracks (Pop-Ups [Sunny at the Weekend]), BBC Entertainment News Interview, DORK, The Line Of Best Fit, CLASH, GIGWISE, All Things Go, EARMILK, Wonderland, Consequence of Sound, Official Charts and #1 on Hype Machine’s Top 10 Most Blogged Artists of the week.
Due to the cancellation of this years SXSW festival Marsicans recorded a live session for BBC Radio 1 as part of their SXSW contingency coverage The BME Sessions. You can listen back to Juliet and Sunday here – https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gncj
The band will be hitting the road in October with a run of UK album tour headline shows to support the release of ‘Ursa Major’, including dates in London, Glasgow, Manchester and hometown Leeds. Tickets on sale from http://www.marsicans.co.uk/tour
Marsicans UK Album Tour:Oct 14 – Aberdeen TunnelsOct 15 – Glasgow King Tut’sOct 17 – Manchester GorillaOct 21 – Bristol TheklaOct 22 – London ScalaOct 24 – Leeds Beckett University
Ursa Major track listing:1. Juliet 2. Sleep Start 3 Dr Jekyll 4. Summery In Angus 5. Evie 6. Someone Else’s Touch 7. These Days 8. Can I Stay Here Forever (pt. II) 9. Blood In My Eye 10. Sunday 11. Leave Me Outside 12. Should’ve Been There