The single showcases the unlimited potential that Restive Nation has become known for in their live performances and is a strong addition to their already versatile and unique back catalogue.
Check out the new single below;
The forthcoming new E.P, ‘Luicdum’ is set for release on June 12th and is packed with multigenre alternative influences from Depeche Mode, Tool and Massive Attack to Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle, and Steven Wilson.
We spoke to bassist Ciaran Timmy Lynch about the new single, the EP and their plans going forward;
OD – ‘Coma‘ is the first new single to be taken from the forthcoming new E.P ‘Lucidum‘, can you tell us why you choose this as the lead single?
CIARAN – Coma is just pure balls to the wall, straight-up rock. Since it was written it has served us well as a very strong set closer, it always sparks a positive reaction from the crowd. It’s got a killer chorus hook and clocking in at just over 3 minutes we thought it’d be perfect for radio. The subject matter of the lyrics is also quite poignant at this time as it encourages people to confront their inner demons and to reach out to others.
OD – Can you give us a little background on the track itself?
CIARAN – The music of the track was written back in 2017 by Chris [Cahill, Guitar/Sound Design]. The riff was one of those things that come from nowhere and 10 minutes later you have a complete tune, those ones are the best, the tunes that seemingly write themselves.
Because of the intensity of the track, we knew there was only one man for the vocal task, and that was Tony [Carberry, vocals] who always had an ear for a great hook. We had been working with an array of guest vocalists up to that point and we were just waiting for the perfect tune to send to Tony, and this was it. We recorded a demo in Chris’ home studio and sent the instrumental (working title ‘Unfold’) to Tony, he laid down a vocal back home in Longford and within a week or two we had the demo back complete with vocals and we fell in love with it. Coma was a huge leap forward in our evolution.
OD – Restive Nation is known for not sticking to one particular genre, with the new body of work on the EP would you say that it’s a natural progression from 2018’s ‘We Atrophy‘ or have you gone “off-road” with the new material?
Restive Nation ‘We Atrophy’
CIARAN – So, the intention of We Atrophy was never to be a standalone EP, it was one half of an album, partly inspired by Nine Inch Nails’ 2016 & 2017 EPs: Not the Actual Events/Add Violence that when listened together act as a sort of album.
So We Atrophy/Lucidum is a complete album, a Side A/Side B thing and a lot of parallels can be drawn between the two; each EP begins with a short intro, each track 2 is the single, the track 3s are the brooding ones, track 4s are in your face and the closing tracks are both sung by Chris and have a similar feel and style.
Also, when viewed as 1 album the whole thing starts with Ascent and ends with Descent, everything in between is a journey. As far as musical progression goes, most of these tunes were written and recorded around the same era so there is a cohesion that runs through the 2 EPs.
OD – Let’s talk about the extended line-up that was announced a few weeks ago. There are now 3 official vocalists! Let’s break each of them down if possible and what they bring to the overall sound of the band?
CIARAN – Yeah, we’re so happy that the three lads have agreed to be on board together. One thing about Restive Nation has always been the diversity in style.
We started to long for a line-up that was more secure, and we wanted this security without compromising the diversity, so what we have now are three ultra-talented vocalists who each bring their own something special to the sound. All of them are featured on Lucidum.
John Atmahead [Vocals] was the first of the three to collaborate as a guest vocalist back in 2017 with Cliff’s Edge. We first heard his music with his jarring Orwellian track ‘Employment History’. It’s a spoken-word piece that’s delivered with such authority that it’s impossible not to be drawn in, we just had to have this spoken-word style on a Restive Nation track, so we wrote the instrumental Cliff’s Edge (working title ‘Paralysis’) for him.
We were surprised when he came in to let us hear what he had come up with, because not only does he have amazing spoken word capabilities, he’s also a pretty incredible singer too, who knew?! After this we heard his ‘Missing, Presumed Spaced out’ EP which is just an amazing piece of creativity and we wanted him involved more and more. He takes the lead on Tapetum and Hectic Head (If ya die on me…) from Lucidum.
Tony has been involved in various projects with Chris since 2011 and he has double barrel vocal capabilities; he has a soaring clean singing voice as well as a guttural roar that would shake the earth, and as I said earlier, he has an incredible ear for a hook. He’s the perfect man for the heavier side of things. Tony takes the vocal on Coma and if you listen carefully, you’ll hear him scream his head off somewhere on Tapetum too.
Photo – Down The Barrel Photography © 2020
‘Pawney’ [Neal Bond, Vocals] has been one of my best friends since we were teenagers, we learned to play the guitar together and we had our first band together.
Recently he has been producing some seriously dark electronic music, so he has a great ear for production. His vocal signature is the ability to harmonise and effortlessly multi-layer vocals. Tony calls him ‘The Harmoniser’. He can be heard on the We Atrophy track Like Light to Flies, he’s the one responsible for the choir style background vocals and the haunting outro to the We Atrophy EP. He takes the lead on The Prouder Ones.
At the moment they’re mostly performing separate tracks but right now our mouths are salivating with the thought of having all three collaborate on the same tracks – endless possibilities!
OD – The EP ‘Lucidum’ will be released on June 12th, will there be another single to follow and if so, what’s the title of the track?
CIARAN – Yeah, we’ll have a follow-up single from the EP out around late June/early July, It’s called Descent and it’s the EP closer.
We’re having a lyric video made for this as we speak. Chris takes the lead vocal on this one and it has always been one of our favourites, a live staple. In true Restive Nation style, it’s very different to Coma, more of an atmospheric builder driven by a beautiful piano line.
OD – I’m sure this year’s plans for the band have been put on hold like so many others due to the pandemic quarantine, has there been any discussions on what we can expect from Restive Nation leading into Autumn and 2021?
CIARAN – Yeah, like everyone the pandemic has slowed down our progress an awful lot. We started out the year with a bang by playing some of our best gigs to date and taking the crowd vote at our Metal 2 the Masses Ireland performance.
We wanted to do a big launch for Lucidum and spend the summer gigging in as many places as possible, but we must adapt. If we can hit the stage again before the end of the year, we’ll take the opportunity for sure, if not maybe we can do some online performances once we get back to our HQ in Chapelizod [Dublin].
But for the moment we’re working on something a bit different for Halloween, we did an Exorcist parody video in 2018 for Halloween and it was so much fun that we want to make a Halloween video every year, so that will be our next release. There’s no end to the possibilities in this band, it’s all very exciting and very open!
Photo – Down The Barrel Photography © 2020
Formed back in 2014, Restive Nation set out as a three-piece taking on a new slant on alternative electronic-based music by fusing elements of Heavy Rock, Ambient soundscape and Progressive technical metal, creating a hybrid of pulsing, left of centre anthems that showcase the bands enormous potential.
Having quickly established themselves as one of the most exciting live acts in the Irish circuit, Restive Nation set about expanding the bands sound with a line-up reaching seven members, three of which include very different and versatile vocalists.
The Restive Nation blueprint is futuristic, progressive, non-bias of genre or style and respectful to the forgotten roots of previous sonic pioneers and explorers of sound.
New single ‘Coma‘ is out today. The new E.P ‘Lucidum‘ will be released on June 12th. Please visit this link for more information.
Oran O’Beirne
www.overdrive.ie © 2020
