Originally reigning from North Yorkshire, Belvoir Hill have spent years performing mainly as a cover band. Playing hometown pubs, parties and even a private island in Essex, they’ve had a long stretch without any official releases under their belts.
However, yesterday (28th April) marked the end of an era and welcomed a new, as the band released their debut single, ‘Foreign Places’.
On the surface, the track is beautifully summery – perhaps the perfect sound for a summer barbecue, a laze round the pool in a tropical location or a car ride under the sun.
Musically, it radiates non-stop feel-good vibes. Vocalist Sam Shaw’s tone is gentle and dreamy, perfectly mixing with ahh’s of backing vocals to create a sound that seems effortless yet cleverly sculpted.
However, despite it being wondrously kind on the ears, ‘Foreign Places’ has a lyrical contrast to it’s upbeat & laid-back sound. The track was born from struggling with the anxiety and pressures created by moving to a huge city like Manchester, from the small towns of North Yorkshire.
“There came a point when the pressures of university and the hectic, non-stop lifestyle of the city created a longing to be somewhere else, not only physically, but also to be in a different mental state” say the band.
“The lyric ‘sometimes foreign places can feel like home to me’ doesn’t necessarily refer to a different country feeling like home, but ‘foreign’ is used in the sense of anywhere that isn’t home, which could be a friend’s house, a festival, the company of a particular person or group of people. The song focusses around the lack of such situations and the longing for them to be a reality once again.”
“On the surface of it all, Foreign Places could be interpreted as a desire to jet off to a nicer place, but it’s in fact much more than that. It’s a memory, a journey and an ideal.”
The track is available now on Spotify, and you can find the Belvoir Hill boys on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.
Crossfire 
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