Andy Bell's (from Ride) debut solo album The View From Halfway Down is an incredible record. Not only does a solo album signal a brand new chapter for the Ride guitarist/singer and songwriter 30-odd years into his career, the announcement also coincides with Andy’s 50th birthday (August 11).

The product of a gradual, four-year process and finished during lockdown, The View From Halfway Down was made by Andy, engineered by Gem Archer and mastered by Heba Kadry. The end result sits somewhere between Ride’s widescreen shoegaze and GLOK’s darkly textured electronics.

Back in 2016, Andy was inspired by David Bowie’s death to be more proactive about finishing his songs, more confident about sharing them and decided to channel all of this into finally making a solo album. He laid down some tracks in his former Beady Eye and Oasis bandmate Gem’s studio, but got distracted when Ride’s live reunion blossomed into a full return. A run of two albums, an EP and two world tours later, it would take a pandemic to give Andy the space to complete The View From Halfway Down.

After making his first solo outing with the ‘Plastic Bag’ / ‘The Commune’ 7”, which was released as part of the Sonic Cathedral Singles Club late last year, we sat upstairs at The Social after our 15th birthday party and got talking about doing another solo release, which was originally going to be an EP and grew into an album after lockdown altered everyone’s perspective.