We’re glad to announce that London, United Kingdom-based psychedelic rockin’ soul band Near-Death Experience are releasing a new single this Friday, February 04th, entitled “Found”; and you can pre-save the single on Spotify here.
Near Death Experience (NDX) are a four-piece band from Ealing, London. Since forming in 2016 and playing Glastonbury 2017, they’ve earned a reputation for powerful, emotive live performances and a “shimmering psyche-tinged rock’n’soul” sound. NDX’s Last Summer EP was released in 2017, with the title track “Summer” played on BBC Introducing. NDX then set up Ealing Live in September 2018 to encourage new and original live music in West London, hosting regular nights in local pubs as an alternative to the usual cover bands. A host of new bands such as Tall Poppies, The Family Dog, and Lola Aviva have since played Ealing Live; and locals have loved being introduced to new and exciting music. This led to NDX hosting the Ealing Oxjam Festival in June 2019, which raised hundreds of pounds for Oxfam.
NDX spent 2018 working on their first album, Mouth to Mouth (released on July 12, 2019), pre-empting their opening slot at the Ealing Blues Festival. The band spent the rest of 2019 and early 2020 writing and recording their new album, The Release (which is due out in 2022), as well as hosting more Ealing Live gigs. Despite the pandemic, NDX completed and released three singles during 2020 (including a Christmas single, “Lord”), each receiving excellent reviews across the music blogger community. They then began 2021 with the launch of another single, the irresistible psychedelic soul-infused “Everything” (our review here), and set the summer alight with the brooding, steamy, and addictive groover “R3L1G10N” (our review here).
NDX’s singles released during the pandemic have received rave reviews from indie bloggers around the world; and when the lockdown restrictions ended in early summer 2021, NDX kicked off their New Summer Of Love Tour in pubs and venues in West and South London. Then as summer 2021 drew to a close, the New Summer Of Love Tour morphed into the Winter Of Love Tour, and January 2022 saw the release of their newest single, “Found”:
“Found” is a driving, rousing anthem of lost lives saved by the power of love, infused with a sumptuous brooding guitar riff and featuring an infectiously catchy chorus. Guitarist Bill ‘The Professor’ Marten has created a killer riff to add to his beguiling guitar line collection, while singer Ian ‘Lightning’ Whiteling distills melody and emotion as he emphasizes loss and love in his trademark fusion of rock and soul vocals. As for the NDX rhythm section, bass man Amar ‘Groovemeister’ Grover lifts the chorus with his melodious lines, while taking the verse to an altogether dubbier place, strongly supported by drum maestro Isidoro ‘Rock’n’Roll’ Roltan with his gripping rhythms and fills.
Describing the creative process and lyrical meaning behind “Found,” as well as NDX’s plans for the future, Ian ‘Lightning’ Whiteling (vocals) says:
“I (Ian Whiteling, Singer, NDX) can up with the chord run (which is actually the same throughout the song) to our new single Found during a band rehearsal, and started singing the strong opening melody over it as we jammed through the chords. Bill (Bill Marten, guitarist) came up with the guitar riff out of nowhere, adding that lovely delay he uses, and we were well on the way to completing the song. I then wrote the quieter, more plaintive drop section at home, and then we put everything together in rehearsal.
It has all the hallmarks of a classic NDX song: A series of strong catchy refrains rather than an obvious verse and chorus, plus having a groove even though it’s ultimately a rock track.
What do the lyrics mean? Well like with most of our songs, they begin when we’re jamming through the early idea in rehearsal and I start singing whatever’s in my mind at that time – like a stream of consciousness – and then refine them later, along with the meaning. In the case of Found, it’s about being pulled back from the brink by love; when you’re losing your life and yourself, just starting to go through the motions and spiralling down, and wham love hits you straight between the eyes and takes you to another, better place. But then of course there’s always the fear of losing that love…
Found is the first of a series of singles we’re releasing before the launch of our second album called The Release later in the year – over a year later than planned thanks to Covid. We’re now finally able to get the NDX studio up and running and starting up a song production line to record all our tunes – and there are lots of them so plenty to look forward to in 2022!
We were one of the first UK bands that were gig-ready once the restrictions lifted last July, so have had a great run of gigs over the past few months, and so we’re not stopping now and looking forward to playing bigger and better venues as the year progresses.”
“Found” opens with a soft, rising guitar growl, before the track’s propulsive electric guitar riff kicks in and the drums explode into a driving groove underscored by deep bass notes and punctuated by acoustic guitar strumming. The percussion then comes to a halt, before promptly beginning again for the track’s compelling chorus, which is accented by the sunny rhythms of a tambourine and nicely highlights Ian ‘Lightning’ Whiteling’s soulful vocals—immediately drawing the listener into this engaging track. Further along the journey, a beautifully dark, dubby verse accompanied by an acoustic guitar chord progression and bending electric guitar notes hints at the song’s backstory, building to a crescendo towards the next chorus—and we’re off again!
“Found” is quite an enjoyable listen throughout, once again demonstrating Near Death Experience’s penchant for surprising and delighting in equal measures–not to mention the band’s brilliant songwriting and superb musicianship. I would highly recommend this track to fans of psychedelic- and alternative rock alike.
Don’t forget to support this project and to follow NDX on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud, YouTube, and Spotify. You can also check out their official website right here.
It also helps to stream and share their music; you can obviously find it in the following Playlists: Less Than 1,000 Followers, Fresh Singles, and Alterindie State Of Mind.
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