THERAPY?: "Tides" review

Therapy? release their new “Tides” single next month!

“Tides” is the third single (after “Still Hurts” and “Deathstimate”) taken from the highly acclaimed “Disquiet” released on Amazing Records Co almost one year ago. The EP features two previously unreleased tracks (“Smile or Die” and “Slippies”) plus a remix of “Insecurity” - its original version also featured in “Disquiet”.

As you can instantly see from the new single’s artwork, the influence Husker-Du had in Therapy?’s musical development is at the same time a tribute to the more than influential punk rockers of the 80s. Therapy?’s frontman Andy Cairns himself admitted “Originally Tides was written kinda like Die Laughing or Nowhere off Troublegum, with a catchy Husker Du-influenced chorus, but we took a bit of influence from bands like My Bloody Valentine with the brief section of warped guitar.”

On March 8th 2016 “Tides” video was also released, also greatly influenced from Andy’s memories: “When I lived in Dun Laoghaire in Ireland I used to live near the harbor, and some nights I’d stay up all night to try to get inspiration for songs and I often ended up going down to the pier and just looking out at the waves. Later on I found out that Samuel Beckett used to get a great deal of influence from that as well… I took that low point in my life and how I managed to dig myself out of it as an inspiration.”

The second track of the single “Smile or Die” sounds very Iggy-ish in its own way with a haunting underground riff and the roaring vocals of Andy Cairns take you back to their early days.

The “Slippies” b-side would become the average Therapy?’s fan favorite out of this EP. Great road-trip tune sounds like from an early post-punkish era. Would definitely be on repeat several time on my CD player for sure!

“Insecurity” is Therapy?’s answer to Joy Division’s “Isolation” which they masterfully covered in their UK Top-5 UK album “Troublegum” back in 1994 and was also released as a single. The Pitchphase remix featured here is surely not for the average Therapy? fan, but definitely for the hardcore one, who has followed all of Therapy?s experimental sounds throughout the years. They have done it with no fear in the past, they will do it again in the future. And that is why Therapy? always sound so special!

“Tides” EP is now available only on Therapy?’s current UK tour, but will be officialy released on April the 15th and can be ordered directly from their label @ http://www.amazingrecordco.com

Yiannis Priovolos