Mancunian indie pop prospects Corella have just released a new single; ‘Barcelona Girl’ is a fast-paced romance for summer sun, combining compelled bass and hypnotic guitar to blow clouds out of the sky.
Verses take feet to the dancefloor at the shimmying rhythms of Ben Henderson’s bass and James Fawcett’s drums, before backseat basking in the sun, in wait for the Mediterranean guitar chops of the coloured chorus.
The song exhibits the sonic progression undergone by the band through their singles, a certain milestone to mark how far they’ve come since the release of their first single, ‘Waterfall’ in July 2016.
“‘Barcelona Girl’ is probably the perfect way of seeing all the tunes that have come before and coming out the end. It’s a tune that we’re really proud of, especially around summer time,” says Joel Smith (vocals/guitar).
“With our first single, ‘Waterfall’ we were a bit clueless and apprehensive about if what we’d got down was right. But through the singles our sound has gotten a lot stronger, and a little more based around us and what we want to do.”
Corella’s structurally explorative new single takes us on a journey far away, as vibrant guitar games between Smith and Jack Taylor (guitar) paint a picture of the tale told, as Smith recalls: ‘It’s the way you walk/ And the way you talk’.
While the single covers ground instrumentally, something feels held back, stopping the track from projecting the full emotion. Despite this, the track is the perfect flash of sparkly indie pop to plough them through a big summer of festivals.
“We’re just looking forward to playing festivals,” says Smith.
“Ever since being teenagers and going to festivals a lot, we’ve always wanted to be the ones playing them. We’re really excited for it, we can’t wait.”
With a follow-up national October tour on the cards, Smith and co. are set for a major headline date at Manchester’s Academy 3 on October 14th, in association with Scruff Of The Neck. Corella are quickly solidifying their importance to the local scene, becoming a vital part of the Mancunian musical community.
“It’s amazing. There are loads of bands that are doing what we’re doing. You go through the ranks of getting fans and going up different venues. You get to the point where you’re at a massive name, such as Academy 3. I’ve been to gigs there to watch acts myself, it’s quite surreal that we’re going to be there and performing to loads of people.”
Smith expresses the band’s admiration and respect for other bands becoming high profile names on the local scene, such as Larkins and Cassia: “We definitely look up to them [Larkins and Cassia]. We’re inspired to get to that level, and hopefully even further.”
But in spite of that, the four-piece are confident in what they bring themselves to the Manchester mix.
“We’ve got that edge of, if someone listens to us on Spotify or hears one of our tunes, they’d recognise that it was a Corella tune just by the way we sound. You can listen to some bands around at the minute and not know who it is, but personally if you listen to our tunes, I think you’ll notice straight away.”
‘Barcelona Girl’ is a short escape of holiday nostalgia, looking back over the shoulder at what could have been. The new single is a prime statement for serving up expectations for a big Corella summer.
‘Barcelona Girl’ was released July 7th, and is available on iTunes and Spotify.
Catch Corella on live this summer:
July 21st | Truck Festival, Oxfordshire
July 22nd | Blackthorn Music Festival, Stockport
July 23rd | Tramlines Festival, Sheffield
July 27th | Y Not Festival, Derbyshire
August 12th | Edinburgh Fringe
September 16th | Head For The Hills Festival, Ramsbottom
