Gentle Sinners have confirmed details of their debut album These Actions Cannot Be Undone, out on May 13th digitally and on C.D, with a vinyl release set for September via Rock Action. The new side project of Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffat and The Twilight Sad’s James Graham, the project finds both men working outside of the comfort zones of their usual projects.
The news of the album is supplemented by the release of lead single ‘Face to Fire (After Nyman)’; a beautifully constructed contradiction of upbeat, fuzzy synths with anxious oxvmorons at the core of the lyrics. Graham explained more about the track: “I wrote ‘Face to Fire’ the night Aidan sent over the music for it, I recorded it the next day. I had written down the words “fearlessly terrified” on my phone a couple of days before. My anxiety had started to take over again – throughout my life I’ve been so scared of simple interactions with people yet I’m able to project my innermost feelings to the world on a regular basis. It doesn’t make sense to me. I’d been feeling physically ill for a few years, tired all the time and I had tried everything to feel better with no success.” Check out the new single below.
The pair – who’ve been friends for years – can trace the roots of Gentle Sinners back to the dark days of February 2021 when the UK was in the midst of its third lockdown. At the time, Graham was about to move house from his long-term residence of Glasgow to North-East Scotland but met up with Moffat shortly before upping sticks: “A couple of days before I left, Aidan and I met up and walked around Queens Park. I mentioned to him I wanted to do something outside of the band but had no idea on how to go about it. I wasn’t expecting him to suggest working together, I was just looking for some advice as I’ve loved everything he’s done in his solo career. Hearing what he’d done inside and outside of Arab Strap, I could see that they both complimented each other and helped him exercise different ways of writing. I wanted that. I wanted to try new things, I wanted to see what else was inside me. He suggested we work together and that he had some music he could send me. I said yes straight away.”
Comprising of ten tracks, These Actions Cannot Be Undone navigates between serious themes of mental health, love, the abuse of power and hope, with Moffat’s compositions ensuring they’ve created a defiant and explorative collection of songs.
These Actions Cannot Be Undone traklisting:
1. Waiting For Nothing
2. Killing This Time
3. Let Them Rot (ft. AKG)
4. The Cries
5. Date & Sign
6. Rent Free
7. Shores of Anhedonia
8. Face To Fire (After Nyman)
9. Don’t Say Goodnight
10. Landfill
Photo: Gentle Sinners
