Release: Little Barrie & Malcolm Catto - Electric War

Artiest/Band: Little Barrie & Malcom Catto Album: Electric War Release: 18 April 2025 Label: Easy Eye Sound Genre: '60s British Blues, Deep Funk, Hip Hop, Rock n' Roll Little Barrie & Malcom Catto have announced details of the release of their second album together, Electric War, which is out via Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys Easy Eye Sound on Friday 18th April 2025. They have also shared ‘Zero Sun’, the first track to be taken from the album. The track is accompanied by a beautifully shot performance video directed by Robert Schober who has worked with The Killers, Green Day and My Chemical Romance amongst others......

Little Barrie & Malcom Catto have announced details of the release of their second album together, Electric War, which is out via Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys Easy Eye Sound on Friday 18^th April 2025.

They have also shared ‘Zero Sun’, the first track to be taken from the album. The track is accompanied by a beautifully shot performance video directed by Robert Schober who has worked with The Killers, Green Day and My Chemical Romance amongst others.

Talking about ‘Zero Sun’, Barrie said:

I had the idea of doing something with this groove for years. I’m not sure if you count in 3 or 6, I just like it. We jammed around it for a good hour in the studio until we got the feel. Me and Lewis keeping it minimal so Malcolm can play around it. The song came later. It’s about a mixture of things, old con artists, bleak English skies and waking up with the feeling you have a lot of obstacles to overcome, but then realising how much you have already achieved and to keep going. Ultimately the glass isn’t half empty, it’s more than half full.

The pair's previous album, Quatermass Seven, was released in 2020, with an alternative takes edition, Quatermass Expansion, following in 2022. Little Barrie, aka Barrie Cadogan and Lewis Wharton, released their first album, We Are Little Barrie, in 2005.

Having released Quatermass Seven, their first album together in 2020, Electric War, is Little Barrie & Malcolm Catto’s first for Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound. The new album sees them push the boundaries even further, expanding their rich sonic palette and proving that the chemistry embedded in the grooves of their debut was no fluke.  “I’ve been a fan of Malcolm’s drumming since I first heard him, likewise with Lewis’ bass playing.” Says Barrie, “We go back a long way together, and you can’t fast-track that stuff. I wanted to see what we could do when we stretched out musically.”

Progression from their first album was also key for Malcolm in his approach to production - “I didn’t want to repeat ourselves in regard to a sound, so tried to strip things back more and get the most we could from just the original studio performances.”

The highlights are many on the new record, from the lysergic, laid back funk of ‘Creaky’ which comes complete with cello courtesy of The Heliocentrics Danny Keane and Barrie’s fluid and tasteful wah-guitar lines, and ‘Spektator’ which sets Barrie’s beautifully understated vocal delivery against a shifting arrangement, which the trio execute with a stylish touch that shows just how much they’re in tune with each other. “We now feel confident that we don’t have to be bound by traditional song structures for this project to work live,” says Lewis. “I think the shows that followed the first record have influenced us to feel free to go with whatever sounds exciting to us without overthinking it.”

Over a 20-plus year career, Little Barrie, led by guitar ace Barrie Cadogan and bassist Lewis Wharton have proven themselves to be one of the UK’s most respected and resilient bands, cooking up a genre blending sound that touches on the ’60s British blues explosion, deep funk, hip hop and the best rock n’ roll of the last six decades.

One of the worlds most admired musicians, having worked on music for film and television (as well as his day job of being a guitarist), composing and performing the main title theme for the award winning Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul and composing the soundtrack to the documentary Year Of The Dog, Barrie has also contributed to music for Hollywood releases including Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, featuring on ‘Cotton Candy Land’ with Stevie Nicks & Chris Issak, and critically acclaimed BBC drama Peaky Blinders.

Along the way, he’s been the go-to guitar man for some of the music world’s most successful artists, serving as an integral member of Primal Scream from 2006-2015 and more recently as a member of The The, co-writing two songs with leader Matt Johnson on the band’s critically acclaimed 2024 comeback album Ensoulment, not to mention his stint as guitarist for Liam Gallagher at his historic sold out Knebworth shows and as bass player for Liam and John Squire’s 2024 world tour. All this along with an impressive CV of session work for the likes of Paul Weller, Morrissey, Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys) and Edwyn Collins amongst others.

Meeting in the early 2000s and at various times working with the likes of Russell Simins (John Spencer’s Blues Explosion), underground hip hop supremo Dan The Automator, UK reggae hero Mike ‘Prince Fatty’ Pelanconi, Barrie & Lewis previously released five albums – We Are Little Barrie (2005), Stand Your Ground (2007), King Of The Waves (2011), Shadow (2013) and Death Express (2017) - before hooking up with musician / producer Malcolm Catto (The Heliocentrics, The Soul Destroyers), a legendary leading figure of the UK’s underground funk, jazz and psych scenes for over three decades. 

Webiste: https://littlebarrie.bandcamp.com/

For more information contact Stefan.Hayes@v2benelux.com