Scottish Art-Rock Act The Ninth Wave Drop Daydreaming Single “Maybe You Didn’t Know”

Glasgow based band The Ninth Wave, composed of Haydn Park-Patterson (guitar, vocals), Millie Kidd (bass, vocals), Kyalo Searle-Mbullu (keys) and Calum Stewart (drums), released their new single “Maybe You Didn’t Know”, a fresh take from their upcoming full-length. Serving as one of the most compelling and refined releases in their discography, the electronica-art-rock track showcases the band’s ability to shift into new territory with power and poise.

Produced by the band themselves, influences of White Lies, Massive Attack, and Portishead combine on “Maybe You Didn’t Know” for a triumphant and percussive single, as they sing about “finding comfort in the uncomfortable and being able to hide yourself behind an overbearing and engulfing undefined fear”.

Frontman Park-Patterson shares the inspiration behind the lyrics: “The first verse of the song comes from daydreaming. I was out walking on a day that the rain that had been unrelenting until it briefly subsided and made it possible to get out and go for a wander. I was staring at a burn that was flowing much more forcefully than it usually would. The frantic and panicked movement of the water reminded me of a time that I was in the middle of a fox-hunting-sabotage. The fox was darting across the field just beyond where I was standing and the blood thirsty hounds were bolting fast right behind it. The water reminded me of this fox and the panic with which it ran. Standing in the middle of the road with my eyes and thoughts lost in the babble of the water, I couldn’t help but feel an affinity with the fox as I imagined the burn bursting its banks and the water gushing out and striking me up off of the ground. The feeling of fear and contentment about this situation were in equilibrium.”

The video, directed by Rianne White sees the four-piece dropped into what the band describe “a surreal, yet cohesive Tokyo Drift dream“; bringing the Scottish subculture of underground drifting to the forefront. “It’s a cathartic thing for both us and the listeners; we want to help with normalising being emotional and finding comfort within your sadness”, the band went on to say. And nothing says sadness like standing in a tire-screeching circle with a stone cold expression.

Watch the music video below and hear more favourites on my Starting Line-Up playlist on Spotify.