Listen: Tenfivesixty - "Dashboard Light" [Premiere]

12 February 2015, 09:45 | Written by Jon Putnam

(Tracks)

(Tenfivesixty)

You may be thinking of Meatloaf’s raucous, glammed-up sexual bewilderment upon seeing that song title there, but abandon that curiosity or fear, whichever the case may be, as Manchester duo Tenfivesixty are far removed from that inanity on their latest single, “Dashboard Light”.

The song finds Jen Bailey and Rick Hornby capturing the monochromatic melancholy of the 80s post-punk movement, replacing its intensity and, say, in the case of The Cure, despair with a bittersweet wistfulness. As Bailey breathily entreats us to “lay your soles down, and walk away”, one finds the track perfectly suited for long, solitary drives in the black of night, which is exactly what Bailey and Hornby had in mind:

“Dashboard Light began life as a guitar line that we experimented with and added to. The track explores the theme of escapism, more specifically the idea of changing your life by simply leaving and never coming back. The track is the musical equivalent of an abandoned car, or a pile of clothes left by the water’s edge".

“Dashboard Light” is out 23 February and can be streamed exclusively below.