SNEAKER PIMPS' IAN PICKERING / THE NOISE WHO RUNS present short film, complementing 'Come and Join The Beautiful' Army' EP

February 10, 2024

UK-France duo The Noise Who Runs presents a short film, showcasing their new five-song EP ‘Come and Join the Beautiful Army’, which also includes the bonus instrumental track ‘Goalmouth Interlude’. Just shy of 20 minutes, the film was spawned from uncertainty over what the second and third singles would be after the opening track 'One Scratch Each'. Ultimately, the idea to create a film for the EP as a whole, rather than just individual songs, seemed a more interesting challenge.

The Noise Who Runs revolves around songwriter Ian Pickering (of Sneaker Pimps and Front Line Assembly). Native to Hartlepool in the north-east of England, Pickering co-authored such Sneaker Pimps hits as 'Spin Spin Sugar', '6 Underground' and 'Tesko Suicide'. In 2019, he launched this project with Brazilian-French guitarist Felipe Goes, three years after relocating to Lille, France.

This dark, brooding and sometimes disquieting collection straddles the line between hope and despair, defeat and optimism. These contradictions are embodied in the more full-on electronic approach with a stripped, more keyboard-oriented sound largely absent of any overt electric guitars, and the almost casual, nursery rhyme abstract cynicism of the lyrics.

“There are themes and ideas running through all the songs and the film reinforces and highlights those. There are various images that are repeated or linked across the whole thing, sometimes as quite literal broad strokes to fit the lyrics and sometimes more abstract juxtapositions as well as more off the wall, poetic references,” says Ian Pickering.

This audio-visual element complements TNWR's music with certain repeating visuals - swirling vortexes, tunnels, marching boots, protests, water, fire and ice - giving strong cohesion to the EP's themes and raising the finished product comfortably beyond visualiser into art film territory.

Mixed and mastered by Colin C at The Cell Studio, this album follows their debut album ‘Preteretrospective’, released in April 2023 to rave reviews and airplay in more than 40 countries. Earlier, The Noise Who Runs released the singles 'One Scratch Each', 'Mars Attached' and ‘Tune Out, Turn Off, Drop In’.

Lyrics, arguably, are Pickering’s greatest strength and certainly the songs on ‘Come and Join the Beautiful Army’ only add to his reputation. Here we have genuine poetry; insightful, disarming, original and unique.

THE NOISE WHO RUNS defies populism on new 'Come and Join The Beautiful' Army' EP featuring IAN PICKERING (SNEAKER PIMPS)

January 12, 2024

UK-France duo The Noise Who Runs comes out fighting in 2024 with their new five-song EP ‘Come and Join the Beautiful Army’ EP. This dark, brooding and sometimes disquieting collection straddles the line between hope and despair, defeat and optimism. These contradictions are embodied in the more full-on electronic approach with a stripped, more keyboard-oriented sound largely absent of any overt electric guitars, and the almost casual, nursery rhyme abstract cynicism of the lyrics.

The Noise Who Runs revolves around songwriter Ian Pickering (of Sneaker Pimps and Front Line Assembly). Native to Hartlepool in the north-east of England, Pickering co-authored such Sneaker Pimps hits as 'Spin Spin Sugar', '6 Underground' and 'Tesko Suicide'. In 2019, he launched this project with Brazilian-French guitarist Felipe Goes, three years after relocating to Lille, France.

Mixed and mastered by Colin C at The Cell Studio, this album follows their debut album ‘Preteretrospective’, released in April 2023 to rave reviews and airplay in more than 40 countries. Earlier, The Noise Who Runs released the singles 'One Scratch Each', 'Mars Attached' and ‘Tune Out, Turn Off, Drop In’.

Guitarist Felipe Goes says: “I don’t know where the guitars went. I think the amount of guitar that ends up in a song depends on how angry, sad, or whatever I feel. I believe this is the kind of thing that gives me the energy to keep playing and finding new ways to make the songs work. I guess I must have made peace with the world since there’s almost no guitar in any of these songs! Rather ironic isn’t it? Lyrically, this EP is the opposite of peaceful!”.

Lyrics, arguably, are Pickering’s greatest strength and certainly the songs on ‘Come and Join the Beautiful Army’ only add to his reputation. Here we have genuine poetry; insightful, disarming, original and unique.

“This EP is a call for solidarity in a world constantly being sown with division and discord. So far, the start of the 21st Century seems remarkably like repeating the mistakes of the early 20th Century. In the First World War, all that flag-waving, jingoistic sense of and pride in nationality across Europe, the othering of governments and nations all engaged in the same exploitation of other continents, resulted in the most obscene and needless carnage and it feels today as if nothing has changed, save that rather than conscript us all and send us to France and Belgium for the slaughter, the big push would appear to be starving us to death in our own homes while we work all the hours of the day for a monthly wage that barely covers the cost of living," says Ian Pickering.

“The beautiful army would be the people who reject the pathetic culture wars of populists, who proceed with compassion and empathy rather than instantly resort to knee-jerk outrage and sincerely believe that the some kind of optimistic future can still be salvaged from the slow motion chaos of the inevitable car crash in which we are currently forced to be passengers.”

He adds, “I would question the obsession of brands, marketing and advertising, primarily, on pushing such a vain, shallow concept of the individual - it’s a face-value, nothing beneath the surface kind of ideal. We are all born individuals, that should never need to be overtly demonstrated and insisted upon, it’s quite obviously what we all are. It can’t be proved with trinkets and adornments. The more salient point would be how we all come together as individuals and make a difference, a change for the better for the majority. Maybe the beautiful army lies in the forests away from the trenches; deserters, conscientious objectors and those that have been driven shellshock mad by the constant, oppressive noise of manufactured, idiotic right-wing culture wars.”

'Come and Join The Beautiful Army' is out on January 12 from fine music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.

CREDITS
All songs written by Ian Pickering
Recorded and produced by The Noise Who Runs
Felipe Goes - guitars, pianos, keyboards
Ian Pickering - vocals, keyboards, pianos, beats
Mixing, mastering and additional production by Colin C. at The Cell Studio
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR
Artist photos by Élodie Duhoo
Original front cover illustration ‘The Marching Boots’ by Alex Armitage

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New single 'Tune Out, Turn Off, Drop In' from THE NOISE WHO RUNS' (IAN PICKERING of SNEAKER PIMPS)

November 9, 2023

"Ian Pickering is among the most relevant songwriters of this generation, with topical subject matter, sharp lyricism, a relatable attitude and music that is addictive as F*&@. The same spunk as the progenitors of punk and orderly chaos of early post-punk" ~ The Spill Magazine

"Beguiling... anthemic yet accessible, gothic, grand and graceful, delicately dance-driven and dark, coiled and ornate, slow and seductive" ~ Big Takeover Magazine

"Poetic brutality... the anthemic grace and stature of something by The Sisters of Mercy: it has an Arctic chill through which a lyrical, passionate heat radiates" ~ Backseat Mafia

"Ethereal electronic intimation. Light and dark entangle... true splendour and prowess" ~ Ringmaster Review

UK-France duo The Noise Who Runs presents ‘Tune Out, Turn Off, Drop In’, their second single from the forthcoming ‘Come and Join the Beautiful Army’ EP. Sound almost familiar? This is a majestic, thumping piece of raw synth-pop, all fat chunky beats and circling keyboards with a thudding, insistent bass, inspired by the 1960s mantra that defined the Hippie counterculture espoused by Timothy Leary - “tune in, turn on, drop out”.

The Noise Who Runs is the brainchild of songwriter Ian Pickering (of Sneaker Pimps and Front Line Assembly), who also co-authored such hits as 'Spin Spin Sugar', '6 Underground' and 'Tesko Suicide'. Upon relocating from northern England to France, Pickering launched this project with Brazilian-French guitarist Felipe Goes.

As with the first single 'One Scratch Each', ‘Tune Out, Turn Off, Drop In’ - the mirror opposite of Leary’s statement - continues the more stripped-down sound both musically and lyrically. Felipe Goes’ guitars create a disenchanting counterpoint to the overall electronic charge, while Ian Pickering’s lyrics are loaded with a sense of contradiction, confusion, and straddling the line between sharp cynicism and optimistic critique.

Felipe Goes says, “With all these songs, it seemed better not to try and force it, and with ‘Tune Out’ it was quite complete but lacked something unnerving and off-centre, so the guitars needed to be almost imperceptible as guitars, but somehow add another layer of meaning or interpretation to the feel - something slightly jarring and disorientating. They’re coming from the exact opposite of a rock approach, more just able to change and confuse certain parts of the overall mood of the keyboards, rather than dictating and overpowering the sound."

The guitars are used sparingly but specifically to highlight certain points in the lyrics and to lift the music when it’s needed. ‘Tune Out, Turn Off, Drop In’ is just over four minutes but has the vibe of a much shorter pop song you'd want on constant repeat. Lyrically, the song is an update of the original 60s slogan nearly 60 years on, possibly refuting it completely, indicating the appropriation of the counterculture to result in the polar opposite of what was originally envisaged.

“Of course it failed on the most utopian level but it’s undeniable that without the upheaval and countercultures of the 60s, there wouldn’t be that liberation of behaviour and mentality that seemed stuck in the hypocrisy of the Victorian age. It strikes me as a total rejection of a tired establishment and that sense of respectability on the surface, keeping up appearances, toeing the line, doing as you’re told, obedience to the values of your elders and so-called betters," says Ian Pickering.

“But equally the overarching idea of the original phrase seems to be that introspection and dropping out of mainstream consumer culture would offer the solutions. And maybe they would have. But, as with any counterculture, once it’s been identified by the establishment, they take back the hard yards you’ve struggled to gain and they take back more than they ever relinquished and beef up the fortress around it so it can’t happen again. And then they get the marketing and advertising people on the case and sell it back to you with a cheap cover-all, shortcut to thinking logo and slogan.”

The lyrics for ‘Tune Out, Turn Off, Drop In’ are relatively sparse and simple with repeated phrases, a result of wanting to keep them in line with the ‘pop’ ethic of the song as a whole.

“All this social commentary stuff is Ian's field of expertise. I don't like thinking about the world. In fact, I don't think I like thinking. Thinking is for smart people which I'm not: I'm a salesman by day and a musician in the evening. Thinking about the world we live in only serves to make us sad or angry,” says Felipe Goes.

Pickering adds, “I’m not sure it’s my field of expertise. Maybe my field of Hippie dreams. If we build it, they will come.”

The full ‘Come and Join The Beautiful Army' EP was mixed and mastered by Colin C at The Cell Studio, whose clients include CBS, FOX, NBC / Universal, Showtime, HBO and Lionsgate Films and such artists as Front Line Assembly and Danny Saber (Black Grape, Alice Cooper, David Bowie, Madonna).

As of November 8, 'Tune Out, Turn Off, Drop In' will be available across fine music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp, where this and the ‘Preteretrospective’ album can be obtained directly from the artist.

CREDITS
All songs written by Ian Pickering
Recorded and produced by The Noise Who Runs
Felipe Goes - guitars, pianos, keyboards
Ian Pickering - vocals, keyboards, pianos, beats
Mixing, mastering and additional production by Colin C. at The Cell Studio
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR
Video by Dreamstime.com
Artist photos by Élodie Duhoo