ACR:EPA – OUT 7 MAY 2021
“ACR unquestionably rule” – MOJO
Following the track’s premiere on the BBC 6Music breakfast show earlier today, A Certain Ratio have shared the video for the new track ‘Keep It Together’.
Manchester video makers Luke Logan (director) and Joe Vickers (producer) created the psychedelic video, which opens at Stockport Plaza. ACR explain, “We wanted it to be set in the ‘70s so we invited ACR fans to dress up and become part of the video, among the extras that turned up were Calder Valley’s finest The Lounge Society and Lee from Manchester’s Heavy Salad. They arrived as funkateers, punks, soul boys and girls, hippies, post punks and prog rockers – and everyone looked amazing. The video is about overdoing it on a night out and trying to keep it together.”
Watch the video here:
‘Keep It Together’ is the latest track to be taken from the forthcoming ACR:EPA, out on Mute on 7 May 2021. The four-track EP centres around a jam session recorded last year with Denise Johnson, sessions that unexpectedly became their last together after the much-loved and much-missed artist passed away several months later.
Back in March 2020, ACR gathered at Oxygene in Salford for an informal weekend of studio time. With no fixed agenda and no preconceived ideas, the band – Denise Johnson, Tony Quigley, Matthew Steele, Jez Kerr, Donald Johnson and Martin Moscrop – all got together in part to celebrate completing the mix of their first new album in over a decade, ACR Loco.
The sessions that followed are unmistakably ACR: the energy and chemistry of the band evokes the unbridled joy of their live performances, and the effortless fusing of genre that has become their trademark.
“We’re so happy with the results and the outcomeand hopefully this release gives an insight into how much fun and energy Denise would always bring to a session when we recorded together.” – ACR
ACR are due to appear at the Big Foot festival in June and at the Wide Awake and Futurama festivals in September and later this year will continue their run of unmissable dates with a winter tour – starting in Huddersfield on 3 November, with a show at London’s EartH on 13 November, finishing at Glasgow King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut on 17 November.
ACR LIVE – 2021
18 June – Big Foot festival, Warwickshire
3 Sep – Wide Awake festival, Brockwell Park, London
11 Sep – Futurama Festival, Liverpool
3 Nov – Huddersfield, The Parish
4 Nov – Newcastle, St. Dom’s Social Club
5 Nov – Manchester, Gorilla
6 Nov – Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, The Sugarmill
7 Nov – York, The Crescent
9 Nov – Birmingham, Hare & Hounds
10 Nov – Southampton, Engine Rooms
11 Nov – Brighton, CHALK (formerly
The Haunt)
12 Nov – Bristol, The Exchange
13 Nov – London, EartH
15 Nov – Preston, The Ferrett
16 Nov – Leeds, The Warehouse
17 Nov – Glasgow, King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut
ACR:EPA Tracklisting
Wonderland (Jam 6)
Keep it Together (Jam 5)
Down and Dirty (Jam 2)
Feel no Fear (Jam 1)
Pre-order ACR:EPA: https://mute.ffm.to/acrepa
Watch the video for ‘Wonderland’: https://youtu.be/rfodbngYHpc
ACR Loco – described by Uncut as “their best LP in decades” – was released in 2020.
RECENT PRAISE FOR ACR LOCO
“ACR Loco is riotous, life affirming and bristling with energy” – ELECTRONIC SOUND
“A Certain Ratio found a powerful formula: paying heed to where they came from while keeping the door open for more all night parties in their future.” – PITCHFORK
“A gloriously heady mix evoking the ecstatic spirit of a chemical haze” – METRO
“…a distillation of the group’s entire career, a blend of funk, electro, indie guitar post-punk, acid house, rave-on Madchester and more…a serious party album.” – BROOKLYN VEGAN
“…pioneering groove alchemists” – THE QUIETUS “Cult punk funkateers” – UNCUT
“… mould-breakers” – MOJO “… pioneering, criminally overlooked” – ELECTRONIC SOUND
A Certain Ratio + Mute = Good Together
https://acrmcr.com www.mute.com