After the enormously successful 2024 return of Until The Ribbon Breaks with his critically lauded third studio album, V I S I T O R, the acclaimed multi-medium artist, musician, and producer returns today with “2025” – a powerful and prophetic song penned by frontman Pete Lawrie Winfield over a decade ago. “2025” is out now via VERO Music.
The unique composition unpacks seemingly science fictional images of a world that Winfield foresaw as “filled with alienation and isolation because of technology – leaving us feeling more alone than ever before.” Although never officially released, “2025” became an instant fan favorite in concert, with an early version on YouTube, racking up more than 353K views, and garnering praise from the likes of Pitchfork, who proclaimed “2025 is a beautiful dirge, a bleak track kept barely afloat by an aching, human sadness,” with Clash adding “The conditions explored here are as much brazen as they are refreshing and the release could not be more timely. Both musically and politically,” while The Line Of Best Fit praised the production work, for its “Classic and retro lyrical flourishes…placed amidst an undeniably contemporary setting.”
The track’s new incarnation frames the original lyrics in a contemporary arrangement that is enhanced by Winfield’s notably confident and commanding vocal performance. “Re-recording the song was quite nice and even a bit nostalgic,” he says. “The words don’t make me feel existential dread anymore.”
In fact, Winfield notes that “2025” is more bittersweet than bleak. “There’s a part of the song where I say, ‘I think I’ll marry a stranger that I met online,’ which is exactly what I’m about to do in real life. The song seems like a doomsday prophecy, but it has an upside. We can control the narrative of technology if we want.”
Arriving with the track, a brand new music video for “2025” directed by Lawrie Winfield.
Winfield enters the new year following a sterling 2024 for Until The Ribbon Breaks. V I S I T O R was the act’s first full-length collection of new songs since their eponymous 2018 opus. Working within a hauntingly compelling electronic-pop framework, Until The Ribbon Breaks’ mastermind Pete Lawrie Winfield made the album during what he has described as a period of “renewed emotional and creative clarity” resulting from his hard-won sobriety. “These songs were not originally intended to take the shape of an album. I simply started to write and record them out of a desire to recapture the joy of making music,” he says.
The project was introduced with the single “Everything Else but Rain,” featuring harmonies by alt-pop doyennes Lucius. It earned a global premiere on Zane Lowe’s highly influential Apple Music program, as well as winning nods from press including Rolling Stone. He released a series of singles leading up to the album, including the viral smash “Red Skies,” featuring rising Columbian pop artist La Pardo. The two soon reunited for a hypnotically percussive re-imagination of the song, retitled “Cielos Rojos.”
‘V I S I T O R’ also offered the anthemic “Nature Mother,” featuring powerhouse vocalist Emoni Wilkins.“Strange TImes” and “Carousel,” the latter featuring critically acclaimed rapper, Homeboy Sandman.
The record won acclaim and support from BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio Wales, and KCRW. Among the many high-profile kudos that Until The Ribbon Breaks and Winfield received was from Adam Walton of BBC Radio Wales, who proclaimed, “he’s one of the most remarkable artists that Wales has produced, sonically speaking, over the last decade and a half.” To date, the track clocks in at over 200k streams.
Rounding out the years were a pair of high-profile live gigs. First was a triumphant acoustic performance at the British Music Embassy showcase during the prestigious SXSW Music Festival in Austin, TX. “Playing SXSW was an incredibly special experience in a multitude of ways,” Winfield says. “Not only was it my first show in 5 years, but it was also my first show ever playing sober. For this reason, I wanted to keep it as simple as possible, strip the music down and not hide behind anything.”
Finally, Until The Ribbon Breaks took to the iconic Dreamland Margate stage in Kent, England for the Margate Summer Series last summer. The event featured a performance by drum’n’bass legends Rudimental. The Margate Summer Series is part of the iconic “Soundcrash” UK concert series, bringing epic music acts to local outdoor parks. “I cannot recall ever feeling so joyful after a show,” Winfield says. “It will go down as one of the great moments of my life.”
Look for Winfield to continue his creative renaissance well into 2025 with several new Until The Ribbon Breaks singles and a host of new collaborations with rising young artists.
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