In response to the changing listening habits of the 21st century consumer, The Rising have embarked on a plan of releasing a single per month for the next year. It's not a new idea as such, Irish band Ash were releasing a single per fortnight in 2009, Hettie Briggs released an EP per month for a year and Sarah Darling is doing something similar with her Campfire series at the moment but announcing that you'll be releasing 12 singles is something of a bold statement of intent. By nature the demands of a single are somewhat different to those of an EP or album track, it needs to be attention grabbing to stand out from everything else so it will be interesting to see if the release schedule eventually becomes creatively stifling as time goes on.
To kick the project off, there is a reworking of Girls Aloud's "Love Machine". Regardless of your views of manufactured pop, at the heart of it "Love Machine" comes with an undeniably solid guitar riff. It's already survived an onslaught by the Arctic Monkeys and once you strip away the trappings of pop production it is that riff that helps it stand up. and it is this that forms the background of this new version. To "Countrify" it, The Rising have added lashings of banjo, a speedy drum beat and a guitar solo, and it will no doubt go down a storm in a live environment. It's an undeniably quirky toe tapper that will bring a smile to the face during these cold winter months and will surely garner a lot of publicity for the 12 single project.