The Goa Express have firmly made their mark as key players in 2023 with the release of their latest single ‘Portrait,’ a bona fide banger, that saw them raise the roof at their first gig of the year at 2023’s Rockaway Beach Festival. Clocking in at a little over two minutes, ‘Portrait’ is the sound of a band thundering into the new year, with style and flourish announcing their arrival. This is the Burnley quintet’s first release with Communion Records, whose enviable roster boasts the likes of Bears Den, Catfish and the Bottlemen and Wunderhorse
“It’s a track inspired by how hard it can be to regulate the feelings that keep mercurial personal relationships together…..Portrait has been a band favourite for a while. It always seems to go down well live, and it felt ready for the radio at the time we signed our record deal.” says frontman James Douglas Clarke. “I guess it’s about the ups and downs of sharing the same space with somebody significant and how things seem to jump around, twisting and turning in every direction.”
The track was premiered on BBC 6 Music, where the band have already had considerable airplay including a playlist spot for their last single ‘Second Time’.
The Goa Express, led by James Douglas Clarke alongside his brother Joe and best friends Joey, Naham and Sam, met as young teenagers in Burnley where music was an escape and a vessel for friendship. Their shared teenage experiences (late gigs at The Golden Lion in Todmorden, camping underneath the cliffs at Hebden Bridge) shaped their collective attitudes and behaviours and, ultimately, the sound and spirit of their band.
Having started to capture this emerging sound on record, the band self-released a run of singles which got major and independent labels alike knocking down their door, with Communion ultimately coming on board to partner with the five-piece.
After the pandemic the band toured extensively, playing over 100 gigs across the UK and Europe in 2022. This included slots at Latitude, The Great Escape, and Glastonbury; and it was in the immediate wake of their Glastonbury debut that ‘Portrait’ was recorded in the Welsh village of Raglan, with Ocean Colour Scene’s Damon Minchella pairing with Tom Manning on production duties.
There is a sense of melody and a looseness in the music that brings to mind Supergrass or The La’s (for the online generation) but it is all delivered with a forward-facing urgency that places the band firmly in the year 2023. Any new young guitar band – especially from the North of England – is naturally cast into a sea of references and comparisons before barely getting a chord out. But in truth, The Goa Express are confidently breaking free of these and taking their own strides towards adding a fresh chapter to the story of modern British guitar pop.
The Goa Express can be seen performing to thousands at Burnley’s Turf Moor stadium on the Netflix film Bank of Dave (released this week), which is set in the area and you can catch them live in April and May.
THE GOA EXPRESS live:
April
28th Sound City Festival – Liverpool
May
26th Yes Pink Room – Manchester
28th In It Together Festival – Port Talbot
29th Primavera Sound ‘In The City’ – Barcelona
31st The Lower Third – London
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Photo Credit: Cal Moores
