Belly Announce First Album in 23 Years, Release New Single

Tanya Donelly was already a fixture of the 90s college rock scene when she formed Belly in 1991. Having already been a part of Throwing Muses with her stepsister Kristin Hersh and one of the original Breeders, coming out of the gates Belly already had quite the pedigree. The band released two wonderful albums, Star in 1993 and King in '95 to critical acclaim and then quietly disappeared. Now, 23 years later, Belly is set to release a brand new record, Dove, on May 4^th and with that announcement we are treated to that album’s first single “Shiny One”. Recorded by band member Tom Gorman, Donelly says the track was the most collaborative thing they’ve ever worked on. She says, “Gail (Greenwood, bass) wrote the riff and the chorus, Tom and I wrote the verse and bridge, Chris’s (Gorman, drums) parts shaped the direction and vibe. When I hear it, I hear all four of us equally." It sounds like the band hasn’t skipped a beat in the last two decades. One of the more intriguing things about them has always been Donelly’s unique melodic phrasing and here it’s featured front and center along with the band’s trademark dreaminess. There’s been a glutton of 90s revival acts over the last few years but in this case it feels different. Belly has been gone long enough that the hopes of cashing in on their past glory seems pretty out of reach but after spending some time with this new single, what they really seem interested is creating some beautiful new songs together and sharing them, hopefully, for a whole new generation of fans.