After the rapturous response they received for the album’s lead single and title-track ‘Click Click Domino’ earlier this year, which was supported by WONDERLAND, Rolling Stone, CLASH ‘Track of the Day’, NME Radio, American Songwriter and many more, British duo Ida Mae now return to deliver the second single from their forthcoming full-length with their swaggering new offering ‘Road To Avalon’.
Known for their intense blend of dirty blues guitar and yearning keys with inseparable harmonies mixed in an indie-rock cauldron, ‘Road To Avalon’ sees them truly capture the raw and unbridled spirit of their influences. Accompanied by a stunning new video, directed by Stephanie Jean, the visuals look to portray the calming and rustic sensibilities that their newest release illuminates.
Speaking about the new cut, they said, “This was originally the title track of the record. We wanted this song and production to be a cinematic, slow pan across a vignette of the towns and cities we’ve travelled through that felt lost and forgotten. Travelling constantly as we have on our own across the US it’s easy to romanticise ourselves as modern day wayfaring strangers. It’s an unusual feeling, by chance witnessing moments of people’s everyday lives that seem to take on a deeper meaning and resonance for you by being there to see them. You feel very present and very privileged.
“Clashing a 1900’s American gut string ukulele banjo with modern synthesizers, casio keyboards, thumb piano and Beatles-esque Mellotron organ was intentional to try and create a kind of sparse transatlantic dream-state. We chose Avalon because it’s rich in “Celtic mythology, an earthly paradise in the western skies, a pretty grandiose metaphor for searching or escaping to a place or situation that’s better than where you are.””
While director Stephanie Jean added about the video, “The song ‘Road To Avalon’ seemed to encapsulate the restless and openhearted journey we’d taken whilst writing this record on the road travelling 100’000s of miles.
“The video is compiled of footage taken from a writing trip we took out West whilst living in Nashville. Chris avidly takes film cameras out on the road and we’ve begun to incorporate a digital camera.
“You can’t help but be inspired by the landscape of the USA and we wanted to pay homage to it. The footage taken by the two of us on our own on the road seemed perfect for the video as the song was written to be a vignette of the places and moments we’d passed through”.
Ida Mae has just announced two forthcoming live shows, a headline London show and Red Rooster Festival in Suffolk. Those dates are: St. Matthias Church, London Thursday 19th AugustRed Rooster Festival, Suffolk – Saturday 28th August
The record ‘Click Click Domino’ was inspired by their transatlantic travels during the release of their critically-acclaimed debut album ‘Chasing Lights’. Forced by the pandemic to cut their tour short, they ended up writing and recording this album at their Nashville home while in quarantine last spring. Ever the dream team, Ida Mae’s Chris Turpin took on the production, having honed his skills over the years observing Ethan Johns, T Bone Burnett, Ryan Hadlock, M Ward and more, while Stephanie Jean has crafted the art and other visuals. The album features electrifying guest appearances from Marcus King and Jake Kiszka of Greta Van Fleet on a few tracks, and drumming throughout by Ethan Johns.
‘Click Click Domino’ Tracklist:1. Road to Avalon2. Click Click Domino (feat. Marcus King)3. Line on the Page4. Raining for You5. Little Liars6. Deep River (feat. Marcus King)7. Heartworn Traders8. Calico Coming Down9. Learn To Love You Better10. Long Gone & Heartworn (feat. Jake Kiszka)11. Mountain Lion Blues12. Sing A Hallelujah13. Has My Midnight Begun
For nearly two straight years following the release of their critically acclaimed debut, ‘Chasing Lights’, Ida Mae lived on the road, crisscrossing the US from coast to coast as they performed hundreds of dates with everyone from Willie Nelson and Alison Krauss to Marcus King and Greta Van Fleet. And while those shows were certainly formative for the electrifying British duo, it was what happened in between, the countless hours spent driving through small towns and big cities, past sprawling suburbs and forgotten ghost towns, across deserts and mountains and forests and prairies, that truly laid the groundwork for the bands transportive new album, ‘Click Click Domino’.
Written primarily in the backseat of a moving car, ‘Click Click Domino’ embodies all the momentum and possibility of the great American unknown, but it’s more than a simple road record. In fact, Turpin and Jean rarely reference their own travels in any explicit terms here. Instead, the duo offers up a series of cinematic vignettes drawn from the world outside their window, a collection of intimate, empathetic snapshots full of hope and disappointment, promise and regret, connection and loneliness. The songs on ‘Click Click Domino’ are raw and direct, fuelled by an innovative mix of vintage instruments and modern electronics, and the performances are loose and exhilarating to match, drawing on Delta blues, classic country, British folk, and 50s soul to forge a sound thats equal parts Alan Lomax field recording and 21st Century garage band. Turpin and Jean produced the album themselves, recording primarily on their own in their adopted hometown of Nashville during the COVID-19 pandemic, and while the collection is certainly bolstered by appearances from high profile guests like Marcus King, Greta Van Fleets Jake Kiszka, and Ethan Johns, the heart and soul of the record remains Ida Maes intoxicating chemistry, which has never felt more vibrant, ambitious, or self-assured.
Ida Mae have always managed to follow their own compass. And as ‘Click Click Domino’ proves, the best stories are often found off the beaten path.