Hailing from a small town in the North-East of England, Dylan Cartlidge has long since embraced the phrase “Hope Above Adversity” as his motto. His life path took a turn out of being submerged in adversity and gave him hope for his future when he was spotted and signed to Glassnote Music in 2018.

Now, after having used the last year or so meeting and writing with like-minded musical mavericks, Dylan is super excited to release his new music this spring. The first offering is this – the brilliant and effervescent “Yellow Brick Road” – produced by James Dring (Jamie T, Gorillaz) and sets the tone for what’s to come in 2020 with further singles to follow.

LISTEN TO “YELLOW BRICK ROAD” HERE

“This song to me is about the juxtaposition of dreams & expectations. It’s about how fear and self-sabotage can dump the weight of the world on your shoulders in your most hard-earned moments. But it’s also about how overcoming all of this can be as simple as putting one foot in front of the other and stepping into the unknown,” said Cartlidge.

“This was the first song I’d ever written in a big fancy studio. I made it with a good friend of mine producer James Dring who at the time was just this mythical beast with this amazing sound & experience. I had no idea whether this was the end of my journey so far or the beginning, the first time I would be in a studio like this or the last. I just went into the room with the mentality that the culmination of the journey so far would be whatever song came out of the session & I would leave it all it in room regardless of what happened next, whether I was headed back to wetherspoons or off to Los Angeles!”

In the lead up to the release of his debut EP “Monsters Under The Bed” in April 2019, Dylan had already collaborated with Jamie T, garnered praise from radio tastemakers including Annie Mac, Huw Stephens, Jack Saunders, Phil Taggart and Matt Wilkinson and received a run of press support, with NME simply describing his sound as “f**king brilliant”. On the live side, Dylan has played a UK wide 13 date headline tour as well as performances at SXSW, Glastonbury and Radio One’s Big Weekend in Middlesbrough.

Musically, Dylan Cartlidge boasts a unique talent for deconstructing and subverting genres that he honed in his teenage years. It’s a stylistic mix that’s reflected in his unique image: timelessly cool afro; Americana-inspired Hawaiian shirts; Elvis-style Cuban collars. While no two of his songs are quite the same, the constants are a boundary-squashing, scattergun approach to the genre, and an ability to connect with the deeper fabric of British society in these complex times.

His ethos remains one of, “hope above adversity, though I don’t want to sound preachy or like I’m trying to fix all the world’s problems. If people want to listen to my music and just groove, they can, but if people relate to it that’s great”.

“Yellow Brick Road” is available to stream on all platforms now.