Ringdown has announced details concerning the release of their debut album, Lady on the Bike, which is due out May 9 on Nonesuch. Constructed around the tangled creativities of Caroline Shaw and Danni Lee Parpan, the band explores complex pop soundscapes, experimental melodies, and electroacoustic vibrations while couching it all within the framework of community and personal empowerment.
“I’ve thought for years about making a solo record that is in a more electro-pop vein, but didn’t have the courage,” explains Shaw. “Danni Lee finally brought that out of me, and I wouldn’t have taken this step if it weren’t for her. Ringdown is where I experiment with so many things I’ve wanted to try. I’ve also learned that being in a band and making your own record is much harder than playing a Mozart sonata and I will absolutely die on that hill.“
Parpan adds: “I hope this album helps people feel whatever they need to feel. That when they listen to ‘Reckoning,’ they will consider bravely sending it to someone they love. That when they listen to ‘Two-Step,’ they will feel like dancing. That when they listen to ‘Run,’ they will feel inspired to fight for their rights, especially over the next four years.”
Shaw continues: “There are a few songs that feel like they were written to motivate an imagined heroine of a story to change her course and vanquish her enemies—and maybe fall in love along the way. I hope someone listens and wonders what their world could look like with a little more love, gentleness, and embrace of our collective human messiness, imperfection, grit, radiance, and potential.“
The songs on Lady on the Bike were written in non-traditional settings, including airports, Airbnbs, the Muziekgebouw concert hall, and under a bridge in Amsterdam. The album features collaborations with Sō Percussion and New Body Electric. For our latest peek into the record’s inner workings, Shaw and Parpan have shared “Run”, a fluid blast of tumbling percussion, thrumming synth mutations, and vocal manipulations. It’s beautiful and disorienting, a peek behind the mechanics of a sunrise.
Listen below and check out some of their upcoming tour dates.
Tour Dates:
Ringdown:
03/16/25 Milan, Italy, FOG Performing Arts Festival
03/18/25 Utrecht, Netherlands, Birds of Paradise Festival
04/04/25 Portland, OR, The Get Down
04/24/25 Brooklyn, NY, Soundshop at Club Curious – Album Listening Party
05/01/25 Portland, OR, JOINT – First Thursday with Third Angle New Music
05/03/25 Brooklyn, NY, Long Play Festival
06/01/25 Kitchener, ON, Open Ears
Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion featuring Ringdown:
05/07/25-05/10/25 Brooklyn, NY, Brooklyn Academy of Music
07/10/25 Katonah, NY, Caramoor
Lady on the Bike:
1. The Mess
2. I Won’t Go
3. My Turn
4. Run
5. Old Noir
6. Teach Me
7. Ghost (feat. Sō Percussion)
8. Reckoning
9. Crazy
10. Emotional Absentee (feat. New Body Electric)
11. Two-Step
12. Thirst
13. Trigger Warning
14. Could’ve Been
Lady on the Bike is due out May 8 on Nonesuch. You can pre-order the album here. Follow the band on TikTok and Instagram.
