Paisley indie-rock outfit Radiola treat unpredictability as a creative system on their debut album, Version of Life.
Moving through no-wave abrasion, post-punk, Americana, pop and extended experimentation, the record refuses to stay in one sonic lane while keeping melody at its centre.
Produced by Dave Muir, mixed and mastered by Ross McGowan at Chime Studio, and expanded with keyboards from Ciaran McEnneny, the album was partly developed at the band’s own Ice-Nine studio.
That independent setup gave Radiola room to test dynamic shifts, contrasting textures and unconventional structures—including a title track stretching beyond 13 minutes.
Fresh from a sold-out BBC Introducing showcase at Glasgow’s King Tut’s, the band discuss building an album around contrast, translating its experimental detail to the stage and using production technology without polishing away its volatility.
We recorded a large part of the album in our own studio, Ice-Nine. This gave us licence to spend time crafting a sonic landscape that fit the songs.
Q1. Version of Life moves from no-wave abrasion and post-punk into Americana, pop and a 13-minute title track. Was that range always part of the album’s identity, or did it emerge as you recorded?
[Dave Muir] I have always been interested in big shifts in dynamics in songs (much to the band’s exhaustion). I’ve always been more drawn to albums that don’t settle into one style or sonic place.
Albums like the Beatles’ White Album or Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot have always intrigued me with their unpredictability across the album and sometimes even during one song.
So the range and identity was very much baked into the songs from the start. Balancing that unpredictability with some warmer, more traditional songs was the main challenge during recording and selecting the final tracklist for the finished record.
Q2. The record keeps returning to the tension between simplicity and complexity. What makes a song feel complete to Radiola when you are deliberately resisting one fixed formula?
It’s just a feeling, I suppose. For some of the songs on the album, the complex parts are stitched right into the songwriting—like for This is What We Get (For Falling in Love)—as it evolves and feels quite natural.
For others, like Version of Life, it’s the overarching concept that adds complexity. The hard part is making it sound good as a song, and hopefully we achieved that.
Q3. The title track stretches beyond 13 minutes and allows noise, drone and atmosphere to develop slowly before that final instrumental release. What gave you the confidence to let the song take up that much space?
I think it was obvious from the start of writing that song that to fully realize the idea, it was going to need space to expand. I don’t think it was confidence really—we certainly didn’t feel confident that it would definitely land with audiences.
It’s more just a sense of exploration and the fun of trying to make it work on our own terms. We believe the song expresses the emotional depth that we intended, and so far the feedback from listeners has been great.
Q4. You recently played a sold-out BBC Introducing showcase at King Tut’s. What are you learning about these songs now that they have to communicate immediately in a live room?
In the studio, you can get a little obsessed and precious about micro-details, but a live crowd requires direct, visceral communication.
What we’re finding is that, live, the emotional punch and driving rhythms are what hit people instantly. We’ve noticed a really strong audience reaction when the songs shift textures or move quickly from quiet, confessional tones to loud, noisy experimentation, so it’s been fun trying to explore and amplify those aspects on stage.
It’s been amazing seeing tracks that are a bit more experimental on the record command a live space and connect with people on an immediate level.
Q5. FM PRO TECH Q: With Dave Muir producing, Ross McGowan mixing and mastering, and Ciaran McEnneny adding keyboards, how did you make sure the wider production palette expanded Version of Life without smoothing out the unpredictability that defines the band?
We recorded a large part of the album in our own studio, Ice-Nine. This gave us license to spend time crafting a sonic landscape that fit the songs—a big challenge because none of us are sound engineers.
So when we went into Chime Studios with Ross, we already had the feeling and base elements down, making it much easier to add parts and mix from an advanced starting point. Ross is a real pro and a good friend, crucially, we share musical tastes, which makes it much easier to describe what we want right from the off.
The dynamic switches were the hardest parts to get right—the big shifts in tone in This Song is False and the title track, for example. We spent ages refining those parts.
With Ciaran, he is also a professional, so that was easy; he understood quickly the vibe we were going for, and I directed him from there.
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