Andy Bell - The View From Half Way Down

Ride guitarist/singer Andy Bell releases his debut solo album The View From Halfway Down on October 9. Not only does the announcement today (August 11) signal a brand new chapter for him thirty odd years into his career, it also coincides with his fiftieth birthday. The product of a gradual, four-year process and finished during lockdown, the album was entirely written and recorded by Andy, engineered by Gem Archer and mastered by Heba Kadry.

Back in 2016, Andy was inspired by David Bowie’s death to be more proactive about finishing his songs, more confident about sharing them and to channel all of this into finally making a solo album. He laid down some tracks in former Beady Eye and Oasis bandmate Gem’s studio, but got diverted when Ride’s live reunion blossomed into a full return. A run of two albums, an EP and two world tours later, it would take a pandemic to give Andy the space to complete The View From Halfway Down.

“I’ve always wanted to make a solo album, I’ve always said I would do it, although I never imagined it happening like, or sounding like, this one does,” explains Andy. “I’d been sitting on this pile of almost finished tracks, along with all the other hundreds of ideas that had fallen by the wayside since I’ve been making music. Lockdown gave me the opportunity to find a way to present it to the world.

“The album is not about songwriting. There aren’t many verses or choruses, because this album is about sounds, a listening experience.”

1. Love Comes In Waves
2. Indica
3. Ghost Tones
4. Skywalker
5. Aubrey Drylands Gladwell
6. Cherry Cola
7. I Was Alone
8. Heat Haze On Weyland Road