Dragon Welding - Hiding Things For Fun
UK electro noise-pop duo Dragon Welding has revealed a new video for their ruminative 'Hiding Things For Fun', a more downtempo offering from their fourth album 'The Naughty Step' (out now via Dimple Discs) and also happens to be the first record to feature new vocalist Nik Cockshott (formerly of leftfield indie rockers The Spores and The Keatons).
Dragon Welding is an anagram of Andrew Golding, perhaps best known as multi-instrumentalist and co-founder of Essex-based indie noise-pop legends The Wolfhounds. Initially joining Golding for a one-off show in 2023, Cockshott and Golding soon began working together on new material, resulting in the 2024 single 'These Are Dangerous Times', a radical electronic reworking of Dragon Welding's debut release five years prior, essentially marking Dragon Welding's rebirth as a group.
Dragon Welding also recently shared a captivating 'stop-start' animation video for the title track, created by award- winning graphic artist Andy Royston, who also designed the album's cover. They earlier released the high tempo single 'We Dance Among You', following the video for ‘Up And Away’, released as a 3-track single - a clarion call to a dozing generation.
"This song is on one level about losing ideals as we get older. I try not to 'make do' if I can see a way of sticking to the right path. On another level, losing things deliberately is something I am often accused of. The trick in life is to find a partner who is as good at finding things as you are at mislaying them.” He adds that it is also “a Gen X anthem that dreams of being played live to an auditorium full of ghosts, each holding aloft a misplaced cigarette lighter," says Andrew Golding.
"The lyrical theme of the album overall is me trying to deal with problems that I’ve never quite resolved in my mind, while all the time, new problems appear. It’s never ending and I will continue to write songs about it until I stop caring.
After debuting in 2019 with a well-received eclectic eponymous album, Dragon Welding released the all-instrumental 'Lights Behind The Eyes’ (2021) and then ‘Fictionary’ (2023), which featured guest appearances by Anthony Chapman of Collapsed Lung and Alice Golding of The Othyrs.
With a consistent voice, a solid focus on idiosyncratic and, at times, dark electronic backing, augmented by an increasing plethora of obtuse instrumentation, unpretentious ecologically and socially-relevant lyrics, this incarnation of Dragon Welding is ready to present their new material. The new album continues DW's tradition of blending clever guitar with mischievous sonic and rhythmic manipulations.
'The Naughty Step' album is out everywhere digitally, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp. Vinyl and CDs are also available from Rough Trade, Amazon and Resident Records.
