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Gla on CD

GLA absolutely defines this British band. "This is where we come from," explains Sam McTrusty. "It's laced in our blood not to mention our art and vision. It's bold. It's in our voice. It's time to embrace it and not work around it. This album is our reflection of what it's like to come from a city at the forefront of multiculturalism, both forward thinking and with a real sense of community, but also with a dark and rough history. We have changed our approach to writing and recording; we turned the idea of a rock band upside down, conforming only to this one idea - to take back rock and roll. To give people something real again. You can't get more real than Glasgow. Infamous for rivalry and danger. Passion and fear. Diversity and depth. Love and warmth. Small spaces and one climate. We have finally made the album we wanted to make." The songs of GLA - from riff, to lyric, to guitarist Barry McKenna's searing lead lines - are possessed of powerful complexity and nuance. The perfect polished pop songs have been ditched, replaced by tracks that are just as compelling, but also possessing new depth and sophistication, while never shedding that primal Twin Atlantic kick fueled by bass player Ross McNae and drummer Craig Kneale. And they are personal and from-the-heart in a way the group have never before delivered. GLA was written in Glasgow, and the band repaired to Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles to record the album, working with Jacknife Lee (U2, Snow Patrol, Two Door Cinema Club) who had previously produced some tracks for previous Top 10 album Great Divide (2014). Under his direction, they eschewed old school recording techniques, taping their parts separately. This change in their recording process marked the grander ambitions of the new songs, while their dream mixer Alan Moulder (best known for his unforgettable work with Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Foo Fighters and My Bloody Valentine) came aboard to give the album the essential finishing touch.