Electronic five-piece Breton return with two new songs, ‘Titan’ and ‘Parthian Shot’, to accompany the reissue of their LP ‘War Room Stories’, set for release on 10th November 2014 on their own label Cut Tooth via Believe Recordings.

Devised while touring Europe with Local Natives and Foals in 2013, the brand new material will appear alongside the original ‘War Room Stories’ and exclusive bonus tracks. The two new tracks are a telling demonstration of both Breton’s range of influences and their command of their medium. ‘War Room Stories’ artfully employed the Macedonian Radio Symphonic Orchestra, whilst the new tracks were produced by processing live instruments into samplers using Native Instruments Maschine — the hip-hop beatmaker’s hardware of choice. Lead vocalist Roman Rappak describes his love of the technology: “One of the things we love about guitars is that they are pure chaos, and never sound the same way twice. So a sampled guitar is this exact moment of chaos, repeat perfectly. It feels like the exact middle ground between a guitar band and a producer project.”

Roman explained that ‘Titan’ is “about feeling connected to a building, or it being part of your life, and then having it taken away.” It’s a bittersweet slice of indie as stark synth chords and vocals are tied together with a delicate background of violin strings. Co-produced by Antoine Gaillet, whose credits include co-writing M83’s ‘Before the Dawn Heals Us’ and mixing on their masterwork ‘Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming’, his collaboration with them was a pleasure for the band: “He is incredibly interesting to work with, because he has this instinct for a balancing things that are captured in a studio as a live recording with an almost scientific level of production detail.”

Taking inspiration from an old Iranian military tactic of the same name – a manoeuvre of great skill where a rider would turn around on his horse while retreating and fire a deadly shot at their pursuing enemy – ‘Parthian Shot’ is described by the band as “the most cinematic thing we’ve made for ages.” An early chorus is teased but withheld before samples of crowd footsteps are mixed with sombre piano and guitar which fade into a drum machine beat backed by choir samples and heartfelt vocals from Rappak. “It’s the last track we’ll release for a while,” explains Roman, making the track a symbolic Parthian Shot of their own.

Breton’s initial performances were squat parties and in their South London all-purpose base – dubbed BretonLABS. Initially performing live because it was more practical to project their film work behind them at music venues, the band quickly developed a dedicated following, with their intense live shows travelling by word of mouth to music journalists, who purposely travelled to Elephant and Castle’s old Natwest bank building to meet the band.

After closing themselves off in Funkhaus, a broadcasting building located in the industrial Mitte district of Berlin, to produce their second album, the band’s mass communication medium has led to their gracing the stages of many of Europe’s festivals.

The physical Deluxe Edition of ‘War Room Stories’ comes in a limited edition double CD featuring previously unseen tour pictures and a much coveted PDF of all the band’s lyrics to date ¬– revealed in print for the first time in one collection. To promote the release of the Deluxe Edition of ‘War Room Stories’, Breton are embarking on a European tour ending with a much anticipated homecoming gig at London’s Heaven on 2nd December.

WAR ROOMS STORIES (deluxe edition)

OUT NOW

2 new tracks
9 Bonus tracks

WAR ROOM STORIES – WINTER EU TOUR

27 Nov – Marche´ Gare – Lyon, FR
28 Nov – Paloma – Nimes, FR
29 Nov – La Sire`ne – La Rochelle, FR
30 Nov – CCM John Lennon – Limoges, FR
02 Dec – Heaven – London, UK

*ENDS*