Daily Dose: Porridge Radio, “Give/Take”

Daily Dose is your daily source for the song you absolutely, positively need to hear every day. Curated by the Paste Music Team.

Brighton via London four-piece Porridge Radio have shared a new single, “Give/Take”—their first new music since their 2016 debut LP Rice, Pasta and Other Fillers.

“Give/Take” is the kind of poignant, lo-fi guitar pop that makes bedroom pop doubters look silly. Alongside bittersweet ’80s synths and a subtle, silvery bass line, Dana Margolin’s heart-rending vocals yearn with believable affection as she sings of the warring mindsets that make life so confusing, yet visceral. With all the cynicism in today’s cultural and political discourse, sometimes earnest conviction is the best medicine, and “Give/Take” is the type of chaotic good that’s worth celebrating.

Margolin explains that the song is about the intrinsically mercurial nature of humans and our moods. “It’s a song about desire and confusion and being a robot with constantly changing emotions (have I been programmed?),” she says. “It’s about not knowing what your personality is if your thoughts and feelings and opinions change with your mood and your mood changes before you can catch up with it. It’s also about learning how to know what you need, how to ask for it, how to take it. and because of that it’s also about guilt and longing and how they are constantly in dialogue with each other and how they can contradict each other. It’s about knowing what you need but not knowing how to accept that or how to get it.”

After supporting the likes of Soccer Mommy, (Sandy) Alex G, Speedy Ortiz, Vagabon, SASAMI and more, Porridge Radio have an upcoming support slot with Cherry Glazerr, as well as some U.K. headlining shows and festival dates.