Clay came into being, with the collective mindset that the band weren’t obliged to be what they were expected to be – both in a musical sense and a broader one. “We all have a desire to be stratospheric and see more of the world than we’re originally presented with”, says the band – a sentiment which is mirrored in the ambition on display with this new single. Being in a band, and having music as a creative outlet is something that Clay naturally gravitated towards – as a means of escaping the mundane routine of living in suburban Leeds, with little prospect of doing anything else notable.

The band are made up of songwriting pair and brothers: Joe and Jack Harvey, with the line up completed by Rob Gration, and Danny Armitage. After the brothers had been writing together for a few years, with no solid intentions of releasing anything properly, Rob and Danny joined, and Clay was officially born. After slowly navigating their way through an array of weird and wonderful songs they’d written together, the 4 piece began to develop their own style.

Speaking on their new single and the sound they’ve stuck to, the band said: “When writing this track we wanted a very deep sound sonically. Musically we touched upon people we admire like Michael Jackson for influence. There’s obvious nods with the groove of the track.”

The band went on to say a little more on the new single’s lyrical content: “The song is written from an obsessive viewpoint you know, that idealistic thought of being in love. One of the lines ‘Im not gonna change the world overnight’ is almost justification for the lyric it precedes, that sort of unsure/ indecisive mindset. But whatever, Stay Calm!”

Clay play at This year’s Live at Leeds Festival.