Porridge Radio: Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me (CD)

When Porridge Radio formed in 2014 - a decade ago - being in a band was the very last thing that London-born Dana Margolin expected to do. Studying anthropology at the University of Sussex, Dana began performing her songs on her own at local open mic nights, before assembling a full band - taking in Georgie Stott on keyboards and backing vocals, Sam Yardley on drums and keyboards, and former bassist Maddie Ryall (who departed in 2023, replaced by Dan Hutchins). Their debut album - Rice, Pasta and Other Fillers (2016) was followed by Every Bad (2020), which was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize and acclaimed by The Guardian as “uncompromisingly brilliant.” Later, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky (2022) became their first UK Top 40 Album Chart success.

After 2022 - by some distance the band’s busiest year of live shows to date - had finally calmed, the suddenly quiet beginning of 2023 was a decisive moment for Dana. “I got home having been so sad and so tired for so long, and running from that sadness using work and exhaustion to the point of distraction, and then suddenly I wasn’t on tour all the time,” she remembers, “I was just sitting in my room.” This became a period of reflection for the songwriter who had not stopped for the best part of a decade, and had knotty questions about identity, creativity and family to unpack. “I come from a family of workaholics,” smiles Dana, “it’s that, and it’s art, it’s not just work. It’s my whole life.” Dana wanted to work out a way forward - how do you retain creativity, without harming yourself in the process?

When Joni Mitchell was once asked about writer’s block, she argued in favour of a creative “crop rotation” to keep going. That means, when you fall out of love with one thing, work on another and your creativity will find a way to heal itself. Dana Margolin began creating in new and different ways to bring herself back from the emotional experience of what was obviously a bad case of burnout.

Today, Dana reflects on Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me with the enthusiasm of a real creative breakthrough. “It feels like the first time we’ve made something,” she explains, “it captured something about our friendship as a band and the way that we have learnt to play together. I love the songs, I love playing them, they haven’t gotten old to me and it feels like it’s a very singular thing.” A pause. “It’s taught me so much. Following your gut to the nth point, trusting your friends and their loyalty, trusting yourself to be able to fight with people properly and still come back together. How I want to live is how I want to make records, because making records is my life because my work is my play is my job is my life. It all ties together in this thing, and there are ways to do this that might not kill me.”

1. Anybody
   
2. Hole In The Ground
   
3. Lavender, Raspberries
   
4. God Of Everything Else
   
5. Sleeptalker
   
6. You Will Come Home
   
7. Wednesday
   
8. In A Dream I’m A Painting
   
9. I Got Lost
   
10. Pieces Of Heaven
    
11. Sick Of The Blues