For the past few years, artists such as Radiohead have toyed with the idea of doing away with the album format and replacing it instead with a stream of intermittent EPs or singles; the idea is that singles can be churned out and distributed quicker than albums, and besides, no one’s buying albums anyway. And now it looks as though the upcoming release from Ash–the Irish power-pop band that has done its damndest to break into the U.S. market–will be the band’s last proper album:
“The way people listen to music has changed,” says frontman Tim Wheeler in a statement. “With the advent of the download, the emphasis has reverted to single tracks. When you’re tied to the album format, you find yourself waiting six months between finishing a record and releasing it. By leaving this behind we can enter a new phase of spontaneity and creativity. We have our own studio in New York, we can record a track and release it the next day if we feel like it, give it to people while it’s fresh. We’re the first band to do this, but I very much doubt we’ll be the last.”
“Polaris” is third song so far to emerge from Ash’s Twilight Of The Innocents, due in July. Judging by the dearth of comments on our previous Ash posts, we’re guessing only a handful of you will be interested in this one–but what if we told you that it was written in Bono’s house? More »
We were a little underwhelmed by “I Started A Fire,” the first song to leak from Ash’s forthcoming Twilight Of The Innocents (Really? You guys sure you wanna stick with that title?). More »
The Idolator flophouse is divided over the merits of Irish power-poppers Ash: Are they an amazingly prolific hit machine that’s never gotten a proper stateside push, or simply kinda whatever? More »
