Until The Ribbon Breaks shares new single ‘EVERYTHING ELSE BUT RAIN’

Critically acclaimed songwriter, producer and multi-media artist Until The Ribbon Breaks (a.k.a. Pete Lawrie Winfield) has made a welcomed return today with his latest offering, “Everything Else But Rain” with GRAMMY® nominated duo Lucius.

Following a self-enforced multi-year hiatus and 6 years of sobriety under his belt, the Welsh artist has also confirmed a new body of work is on the horizon, set for release later this year via VERO Music (distributed by Venice Music).

“During the decade that I was making music, I hadn’t realized the toll it took on me, emotionally and physically. I started questioning why I put myself through so much, and why I medicated myself so that I could deal with it. The addiction and Until the Ribbon breaks had become inextricably linked. So, I decided to retire me in that iteration, and see what happens from there.” Winfield shares on his recovery and decision to step back. “But there was a problem. I love making things of all kinds, especially music. At that time, performing was not an option. I was a raw nerve, and I could not consider performing without the perceived safety net of substances. I thought producing and writing for other artists was the answer.”

It was during lock down, faced with extended periods of isolation and in the studio, that he began making music for himself again. “The beauty was that it started as an authentic process. It was how I first made music when I was 12 years old. No one was asking me to make music. No one was expecting me to make music. It was literally the naivety of pressing a button on a keyboard or a drum machine, hearing a sound, and thinking “Wow. You can do that.” The first song he made was “Everything Else but Rain.”

On “Everything Else but Rain,” he reveals “I could have easily written a record about leaning into the hellscape of politics and COVID; all the things that were happening outside in the wider world. Historically, I’ve enjoyed writing from that angry place, and I’m proud of those songs. But they’re defensive. I’ve never written from a place of love. I always gave myself an out by creating these dystopian, “isn’t it all fucked?” observations. The thing that surprised me about when I started writing lyrics to “Everything Else but Rain” is that I had no interest in that. I wanted to write about forgiveness and hope and redemption. I wanted less distance in my writing, and more direct contact.”

The official music video for “Everything Else but Rain” was also revealed today. Directed by Until The Ribbon Breaks, the rousing montage impeccably accompanies his latest single, filled with warmth and heart, evoking emotion from even the most restrained music fan. A gift Until The Ribbon Breaks hasn’t truly embraced and exercised until now.

Until the Ribbon Breaks (also referred to as UTRB) refers to the custom of making mixtapes, played over and over “until the ribbon breaks.” Winfield’s first single, “Pressure,” was released in 2013, accompanied by a homemade video that incorporated scenes from David Lynch’s 1997 classic Lost Highway. A second track, “2525,“ was released several months later, after which Winfield earned global critical acclaim from the likes of NPR, KCRW, Pitchfork, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, FADER, COMPLEX and many more, and was asked to remix for artists such as TheWeeknd [Wicked Games],Sam Smith [Nirvana], as well as Lorde [Royals] and London Grammar [Sights] who both invited UTRB to open for their respective North American tours. More recently, he re-imagined tracks for FINNEAS[What They’ll Say About Us] and Toots and the Maytals[Got To Be Tough], and produced the debut album from Thunder Jackson. Until The Ribbon Breaks also collaborated with hip hop duo Run The Jewels and appeared on their 2013 release “Job Well Done.” The pair also featured on UTRB’s 2014 release “Revolution Indifference.”

Fast forward to 2023, and Until The Ribbon Breaks has reached a brilliant new watershed moment of creativity and emotional honesty. A new era and body of music will come and complete the musical trinity of his previous extraordinary collections A Lesson Unlearnt(2015) and Until the Ribbon Breaks (2018). Winfield proudly describes this new chapter as a “full-circle moment of sorts. It’s me making music with the same excitement that I felt as a kid. There were no expectations of a result. Just a desire to make something meaningful.”

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