Check Out Our Exclusive Stream Of Cold Years' New EP Northern Blue

Aberdeen-based rock band Cold Years are letting us stream Northern Blue, their new EP, ahead of its release. 

Northern Blue is out tomorrow via German independent label Homebound Records and available to preorder right here.

Have a listen, you'll dig it:

Here's a handy track-by-track rundown of the EP from frontman Ross Gordon:

Seasons

This was the first track we wrote for this record and to us it felt like a breath of fresh air. I wrote all the songs for this record in December of 2016, and it was the first one we pulled in to the demo room. It’s kinda punky but it draws on a lot of that mid 80’s thing. Bryan Adams’ Reckless record was a major influence for this song. I wanted that big arena sounding rock and roll but with our own play on it. The song covers a couple of themes but one of them relates to an old relationship I had many years ago that was really turbulent. The “give me your hand and I’ll take you away” line relates to me taking myself by the hand and getting out of the situation. I knew it wasn’t healthy.

Miss You To Death

This song drew on a lot of stuff from the 80s too (you’ll find I mention this a lot on this EP as a whole). I’m a massive Springsteen fan. “Tougher than the rest” from Tunnel Of Love is one of my favourite songs ever written. I was sitting listening to Communique by Dire Straits one night and was just like, my god this song just reminds me of hanging out with my dad as a kid. How am I gonna listen to it when he’s gone. Miss You To Death is kind of me thinking 30 years down the line. I’ve never written anything in future tense before. Maybe one day I’ll write about how aliens come to our planet and enslave us all.

What I Lost

This song relates to another previous relationship, but also pushes on the future. A lot happened to me over the past couple of years and I wasn’t scared to write about it. I love chorus on guitars and I wanted that light kinda floating thing running throughout. We really tried to push ourselves as musicians on this record and I think this song was probably the hardest one to get over the line. We re-thought it a lot. But I was really happy with the final version. Finlay goes crazy with some massive solo at the end and it just felt like yeah this what we grew up listening to.                       

Final Call

This was one of the last songs we wrote for this record (there were over 20) and I wasn’t sure about it at first. Originally it was an acoustic song. We brought it together as a band and I ended up being really proud of it. Again it’s really reflective on things which I’ve gone through, but also about what the future holds, and it kinda finishes on “yeah the future is gonna be great, but I’m still gonna miss my parents one day”.