Chicago – U.K. band Until The Ribbon Breaks is about to unveil their highly anticipated debut full-length, A Lesson Unlearnt (Kobalt), in the U.S. Music critics fell in love with UTRB when the trio released their The Other Ones EP a little over a year ago. The threesome – comprised of singer and multi-instrumentalist Pete Lawrie Winfield, drummer Elliot Wall, and bassist and keyboardist James Gordon – blends various genres, creating avant-garde electro-pop, similar in style to Massive Attack and James Blake, while still managing to be fresh and innovative.

In creating their debut album, UTRB buried themselves in the recording studio with a projector, drum machine, piano, and microphone and used silent clips from movies to inspire them and fuel their creativity. The end result is remarkable, and like any good mixtape would have you listening until the ribbon broke during the days of analog.  A Lesson Unlearnt will leave you wanting to play it repeatedly, even if there’s no tape to break.

The album eloquently begins with “The Other Ones.” Winfield beautifully plays the piano while gently confessing his sins of love before a sliver of silence breaks into ten more tracks, each filled with intriguing beats and a myriad of influences from hip-hop and R&B to Middle-Eastern sounds, making for a fabulous feat.

The avant-R&B tune “Taste of Silver,” from the previous UTRB extended-play, returns to bring some sexiness, a little guitar, and funky beats. Although you may feel the desire to hit repeat for another taste, you ought to let the tracks continue to flow. Each song weaves into the next, revealing new sounds and visuals along the way, like a well-planned mixtape. Close your eyes. Images will flash before you, dancing in the darkness of your imagination, as if you’re in the studio with Winfield, Wall, and Gordon, watching film clips project every which way. You can hit repeat after the final track!

The single “Pressure” may seem like a failed love song, especially considering its lyric video used clips from David Lynch’s Lost Highway, but upon further inspection, lyrics like, “Quick storm coming / God save the Queen / Wake up from your dream / There’s a riot in the town” expose the social commentary. During a recent interview, Winfield told Best New Bands this song was inspired by the media’s response to the 2011 youth riots in London and “falling out of love with the culture of the society you live in.”

Winfield, being a diehard hip-hop fan, was able to collaborate with his favorite rappers, making for two of the strongest tracks on the album: “Perspective,” featuring Homeboy Sandman and “Revolution Indifference,” featuring Run the Jewels. “Perspective” takes you back to the early days of trip-hop, giving Tricky a run for his money, while “Revolution Indifference” really slows things down at times with its R&B feel. It also brings that darker, post-apocalyptic aura that UTRB has become known for.

In our interview, Winfield said he hoped his next album would stray a bit away from that darker side and be a little cheerier. However, songs like “Spark” and “Until The Ribbon Breaks” do just that. “Spark” will ignite a dance party wherever you happen to be, and while “Until The Ribbon Breaks” won’t have you shaking what your mamma gave you, it’s tranquility will fill you with hope and widen your smile.

In “The Other Ones,” Winfield softly sings, “One day I’ll tell my secrets to you. I just cannot tell them yet,” as if to say, “You like this? This is just the tip of the iceberg… there’s more to come.” A Lesson Unlearnt is an incredible debut, and if it is just a taste of all that Until The Ribbon Breaks has to offer, I can’t wait to hear more and watch their music careers unfold into something magical!

A Lesson Unlearnt is available for purchase on iTunes and Amazon. Until The Ribbon Breaks are on tour now and will soon be touring with London Grammar. Click HERE for tour dates.

• About
• Latest Posts

Sarah Hess

At the age of six, Sarah Hess discovered True Blue by Madonna. This resulted in her spending hours in front of the bathroom mirror with a hairbrush microphone, belting out "La Isla Bonita" off key. Her love for music only intensified over the years thanks to her parents; her mother exposed Sarah to The Jackson Five and had her hustling to the Bee Gees, while her father would play her albums like 'Pet Sounds' and 'Some Girls' from start to finish, during which he'd lecture on and on about the history of rock & roll. Sarah would eventually stumble upon rap and hip-hop, then punk and alternative, and fall madly in love with Jeff Buckley and film photography.

After attending The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Sarah went on to study education at Dominican University, earning a degree in history. When not teaching, writing, or taking in a show, she is most likely to be found with a camera to her eye or hanging out in a darkroom.


You can follow Sarah Hess on twitter at @Sarahhasanh and view her music photography on her website: smhimaging.com.

Latest posts by Sarah Hess (see all)

• The Wild Feathers Check One Off The Bucket List - July 31, 2017
• RY X Captivates Chicago - October 24, 2016
• Four New Bands at Day Three of Riot Fest - September 20, 2016

Related posts:

Breaking It Down With Until The Ribbon Breaks ’ Pete Lawrie Winfield 9 New Bands We Want To See On Tour This Winter 4 New Bands Worth Seeing At Fun Fun Fun Fest