UK electro noise-pop duo Dragon Welding presents their fourth album ‘The Naughty Step’, released via Dimple Discs.
This is accompanied by a captivating dynamic ‘stop-start’ animation video for the title track, created by award- winning graphic artist Andy Royston, who also designed the album’s cover.
Dragon Welding is an anagram of Andrew Golding, perhaps best known as multi-instrumentalist and co-founder of Essex-based indie noise-pop legends The Wolfhounds. Golding is joined by vocalist Nik Cockshott (formerly of leftfield indie rockers The Spores and The Keatons).
“The lyrical theme of the album overall is me trying to deal with problems that I’ve never quite resolved in my mind, while all the time, new problems appear. It’s never ending and I will continue to write songs about it until I stop caring,” says Andy Golding.
“The song is about that vague feeling you get when your judgement is questioned. You’re pretty sure you’ve done nothing wrong, but you still have the nagging cloak of guilt draped around your sloping shoulders,” Golding explains. “I was at school at a time when corporal punishment was still allowed: beating children with canes and slippers. The line about the ‘punishment boys’ is about queuing up outside the sport teachers office, waiting for the cane, but neither you nor the teacher remembering the exact reason you were there. It sounds Dickensian, but it was the 1980s!”
Earlier, Dragon Welding shared the high tempo single ‘We Dance Among You’, following the single ‘Up And Away’, a clarion call to a dozing generation, released as a 3-track offering. Initially joining Golding for a one-off show in 2023, Cockshott and Golding soon began working together on new material, resulting in the 2024 single ‘These Are Dangerous Times’, a radical electronic reworking of Dragon Welding’s debut release five years prior, essentially marking Dragon Welding’s rebirth as a group.
After debuting in 2019 with a well-received eclectic eponymous album, Dragon Welding released the all-instrumental ‘Lights Behind The Eyes’ (2021) and then ‘Fictionary’ (2023), which featured guest appearances by Anthony Chapman of Collapsed Lung and Alice Golding of The Othyrs.
With a consistent voice, a solid focus on idiosyncratic and, at times, dark electronic backing, augmented by an increasing plethora of obtuse instrumentation, unpretentious ecologically and socially-relevant lyrics, this incarnation of Dragon Welding is ready to present their new material. The new album continues DW’s tradition of blending clever guitar with mischievous sonic and rhythmic manipulations.
“Dragon Welding is very much about following the noise and seeing where it goes. We never deliberately set out to create a particular sound but, for these songs, I was trying to ensure that my contributions on guitar were overlaid onto the sparsity of the sound. I deliberately left gaps in the canvas to fill out later once the music had dried,” says Andrew Golding.
“It is an expansion of the Dragon Welding sound of the previous albums. Having Nik sing on all the tracks gave me an impetus to focus on the lyrics and music, letting him interpret them in his own way. It’s very much ‘80s electronica meets glam rock via paranoia.”
As of February 28, ‘The Naughty Step’ album is out everywhere digitally, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp. Vinyl and CDs are also available from Rough Trade, Amazon and Resident Records.
On March 1, Dragon Welding’s album launch show will take place at Betsey Trotwood in London, along with krautrock-folkrock outfit (and label-mates) The Othyrs, which also involves Golding and his vocalist daughter Alice.
ALBUM TRACKLIST
1 Up And Away
2 The Naughty Step
3 We Dance Among You
4 Hiding Things For Fun
5 It’s Not Tomorrow Forever
6 Start Believing Start Living The Lie
7 Chase The Space
8 Come On Flat Earthling
9 We Are Following Straight Lines
10 Pensive Eco Ponderer
CREDITS
Music and lyrics – Andrew Golding
Vocals – Nik Cockshott
Guitars and programming – Andrew Golding
Mixed by Ant Chapman and Andrew Golding
Mastered by Ant Chapman
Recorded in London and Manchester 2023-2024
Cover design and videos by Andy Royston
Images by Andy Royston and Helen Golding
Album released via Dimple Discs
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR