A Certain Ratio's New Album 'It All Comes Down To This' Is Out Today On Mute

A CERTAIN RATIO  IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS   MANCHESTER THREE-PIECE’S BRAND NEW DAN CAREY-PRODUCED ALBUM IS OUT NOW ON MUTE   WATCH THE EXPERIMENTAL SHORT FILM  ‘IT ALL COMES DOWN TO… ACR’

credit: Debbie Ellis

Today A CERTAIN RATIO , Jez Kerr, Martin Moscrop and Donald Johnson, have released their Dan Carey-produced thirteenth studio album, It All Comes Down to This  on Mute. Purchase or stream the album HERE. If you missed the Night Flight Plus premiere over the weekend, you can watch a hyperactive trip to Dan Carey’s studio to see some of the band’s recording process, a short film edited by Kieran Evans with footage by Marta Ruly. Watch it HERE. Released almost exactly a year after their acclaimed album 1982, It All Comes Down To This is further evidence of the mentality that defines A Certain Ratio: one that has always set them apart from their peers, a dogged, relentless demand to evolve, reassess and reinvent with every new release. After the confident, sprawling, pan-genre strut of 1982 and a tour that celebrated 45 years of ACR performing live, this new record comes completely out of leftfield. The record’s ten tracks present ten distinct moods, every bursting moment of it, defiantly and resiliently alive. It All Comes Down to This is the sound of the current incarnation of A Certain Ratio. It proves the purest distillation of their essential sound ever committed to tape, and the first time they have recorded as just the core trio of principle band members, multi-instrumentalists Jez Kerr, Martin Moscrop and Donald Johnson.  The other essential difference between It All Comes Down to This and its immediate predecessors is the recording process. After already working together on a remix for Loco Remezclada (2021), the band turned to the doyen of contemporary underground rock producers, Dan Carey (Black Midi, Kae Tempest, Black Country, New Road) to work on the album. Known for his rejection of sonic clutter and his uncompromising focus on the central tenets of the bands and artists he produces, Carey’s instincts are closely aligned with ACR’s desire to return to the basics. By honing in on the band’s essential building blocks, Carey has teased out a brittle, inner darkness that has always been latent in ACR, but not always at the surface. If there is a residual darkness in the album’s sonic aesthetic, then it pervades the subject matter, too.  “We wrote the album while the world was in turmoil,” explains Moscrop. “Which it still is. If you think about climate change, corporate war, the environment, Trump in power, Johnson, the Ukraine war, Israel and Palestine, it really does all come down to this. It’s probably the most political album we’ve written.”  The band have two special events this weekend: Manchester’s Piccadilly will host an album launch party at Soup on Saturday, April 20, where the band will perform the album in its entirety before answering questions, and on Sunday April, 21 they will be performing and signing albums at Rough Trade Nottingham. Later in the summer, on Friday, August 2, their performance at Kendal Calling on Tim Burgess’ Tim Peaks stage will be recorded, pressed to vinyl and available at a signing event on Sunday, August 4th.  ACR’s good friend and collaborator, Ellen Beth Abdi, a name familiar to anyone that has seen the band’s incendiary live performances in recent years, will be joining the tour as a very special guest. Ellen, who featured on the band’s last album & tour, is now concentrating on her solo career. This will be a brilliant chance to catch what ACR’s Martin Moscrop describes as “some of the most original and inspiring music coming out of Manchester at the moment.” Full dates are listed below.  It All Comes Down to This is out today on Mute: https://mute.ffm.to/acr-iacdtt   A CERTAIN RATIO 2024 TOUR DATES: 4/26/2024 - Huddersfield, UK - The Parish 4/26/2024 - Leeds, UK -  Brudenell 4/27/2024 - Blackpool, UK -  Bootleg Social 4/28/2024 - Edinburgh, UK -  Summerhall 4/29/2024 - Aberdeen, UK - The Tunnels 5/1/2024 - Norwich, UK - Arts Centre 5/2/2024 - London, UK - Fabric  5/3/2024 - Bedford, UK -  Esquires   5/4/2024 - Portsmouth, UK - Wedgewood Rooms 5/5/2024 - Brighton, UK - Concorde 2 5/9/2024 - Birmingham, UK - Castle & Falcon  5/10/2024 - Hull, UK - Social  5/11/2024 - Sheffield, UK - Foundry 5/12/2024 - Bristol, UK - Exchange 5/17/2024 - Manchester, UK - New Century Hall 8/2/2024 - 8/4/2024 - Kendal Calling Festival - Tim Peaks Diner