In October 1980 three musicians took to the stage in their hometown of Bradford to play a gig under the name New Model Army. Led by frontman and songwriter Justin Sullivan, this was the start of a remarkable journey, which almost 40 years on, has seen New Model Army develop a fervent worldwide fanbase and reach multiple milestones of both creative and commercial success.

Members have changed over the years and musical styles have evolved but at the heart of the band Justin has remained, along with a distinct and sincere belief in the power of music to inspire and effect change on a personal and political scale, both locally and globally. With the band’s hugely acclaimed albums Between Dog And Wolf (2013) and Winter (2016) bringing renewed critical appreciation, chart success and an ever-growing audience of new fans to join the legion of faithful devotees, New Model Army return in 2019 with one of the finest records of their career.

From Here was recorded earlier this year on the tiny Norwegian island of Giske at the beautiful Ocean Sound Recordings studio and reflects the spectacular isolation of that environment yet has profound messages for the world we all live in and the times we are experiencing.

“We all have different lives and different tastes in almost everything, including music”, say the band. “One thing we have in common is the love of bleak, open, cold, rugged landscapes – water, snow, rock. So this was the perfect place for us to work on something collectively – at all times while we were working, we could look up and see the sky, the sea and melting snow on the mountains, all in a constant state of change. So this album has a feel that is different to our other albums, but it still contains all the elements that characterise our peculiarly unidentifiable music – perhaps even more than ever. And From Here was an obvious title. The record belongs to a very special place and a particular time – what is happening in the world, where we are as a band and where we are as people.”

TRACKLIST

Passing Through

Never Arriving

The Weather

End Of Days

Conversation

great disguise

Where I Am

Hard way

Watch And Learn

Maps

Setting Sun

From Here

Dinah Brand release their third album, Thank You Driver, on May 31. The band launch the album at Whelan’s (upstairs) in Dublin on Friday, June 7. Like Frankenstein’s sad monster, Dinah Brand is made up of parts of old bands exhumed and re-animated: Dylan Phillips of Pet Lamb, Stephen Ryan of The Stars Of Heaven and The Revenants, Gavin Ward of Jackbeast and David Lacey of Legion Of Two and Three Ring Psychosis.

Long term resident in the Dublin Heritage City Experience, Dinah Brand songs go like this: personal intimacies and universal anxieties hidden in obscure, confusing word bunches; combined with warm and erratic electric guitar tones; and all—usually, but not exclusively—shifting at mid-pace drum time.

Way back in 2003, they released Pale Monkey Blues, a classic piece of Dublin noir. In 2010 or so, it was second album I Can Walk Through—another sad and lovely suite. Their latest is Thank You Driver. This one, perversely, is as positive and angry as a natural melancholic can be—as sweet as it is dyspeptic. Never belonging but always available, three albums deep, Dinah Brand songs are your friend if you want it—you need never feel lonesome again.