Following recent UK live dates supporting Coach Party and Personal Trainer, Belonging – aka Bedford-based, London-born singer-songwriter Chris Patrick – is back with his first new music of 2022, available on streaming platforms now.
Keeping with the DIY ethos and genre-blending eclecticism that saw last year’s string of singles championed by Radio X’s John Kennedy (who made both “How Could You Know?” and “Think I’m Gonna Fall” X-Posure Hot Ones on his show), “Down On The Ground” marries an insistent synth line to grungy guitars and an ultra-infectious chorus, recorded entirely in the singer’s bedroom.
Listen to Down On The Ground here.
While previous singles have veered from emotional orchestral epics to club-ready beats to delicate acoustic tracks, “Down On The Ground” was written with a return to live gigs in mind: “I wanted something I could jump around to,” Chris explains, “and I actually thought of the chorus while I was queuing to get into my first post-lockdown gig back last year [The Vaccines, appropriately enough]!”
Lyrically, there’s some big themes this time round, as overwhelming as the main chorus line [“I’m down on the ground ‘cus I’ve found I can’t think on my feet’] suggests: “There’s a lot in it,” says the singer, “trying to balance staying optimistic with how precarious everything is, forgiving but not necessarily forgetting, reminding yourself that you don’t have to do the whole ‘stiff upper lip/I’m fine’ thing when you aren’t, because it’s so easy to just default to it still…and that weird combination of vanity and insecurity as always of course!
In a live show full of big hooks, nervous energy and home-made slogan t-shirts, a summer of gigs should see “Down On The Ground” become a huge highlight: “I can’t wait for people to hear it,” says Chris, “I’m hoping it becomes the most joyous anxiety song ever!”
Find Belonging at twitter.com/belongingband, instagram.com/belongingband and facebook.com/belongingband now.
