03 February 2020
Newsdesk
The annual festival will celebrate its 50th anniversary this summer, and the ‘At The River’ hitmakers - comprised of Andy Cato and Tom Findlay - have said they “need to be there”, after having previously headlined the festival’s Other Stage in 2008 and The John Peel Stage in 2010.
Tom told NME: “We”d love to do it, it’s the 50th year and there’s history for us because we’ve closed the second stage. We headlined the John Peel Stage too, and it was one of my favourite gigs of all time. We’ve got that history and Groove Armada need to be there – so I’m sending that out to the bookers. We’d love to play it, in some shape or form.”
Groove Armada are gearing up to release a new album in 2020, which will mark their first record of original material since 2010’s ‘Black White’ and ‘White Light’.
And Tom says fans of the duo can expect the new music to be in the same “lane” as the 2010 material.
He said: “Musically, if people liked the last record then it’s in that lane. It’s electronic music in the broadest terms, I wouldn’t say it’s dance music.
“I feel like club records work best when they’re in clubs, but we’re trying to do stuff that’s perhaps more song-based. It’s in that lane of dance music, but dance-informed music with vocals.”
Andy and Tom have been listening to artists such as Tame Impala, Jai Paul, and Thundercat lately, but Tom insists their musical tastes don’t necessarily reflect the direction their upcoming album is going in.
He added: “I wouldn’t say it’s a signpost for the sound of our record, but I think Tame Impala have really been impressive in what they do. I’m obsessed with Jai Paul too: it’s a bit balearic, but there’s the good side of Phil Collins there too.
“Thundercat is also fantastic too, all the stuff released on Brainfeeder. They’re the people I’m excited by. But dance music is in rude health, and it’s really exciting.”
