Refugees (EP)

Refugees is the seventh extended play by English alternative rock band Embrace. Released on 14 February 2014 by independent record label Cooking Vinyl, the EP was the first commercial release by the band in over seven years, the last being the "I Can't Come Down", released in December 2006.

Background

Said lead singer Danny McNamara on 13 January 2014, the day of Refugees' first radio airplay, "Richard brought this in as a near finished recording. It was one of the first songs we finished and it really set the bar for the rest of the album...To say we have argued over this song would be an understatement. I guess you know you've got a good one when that happens because everyone gets really precious about it. But it was really important to us that all the other tracks are strong too. We wanted to go back to how we were at the beginning when we released EPs and every track was as good as the lead track. It feels just like those days, we're all fired up and hungry for it because we've got it all to prove again."

Refugee

A refugee, according to the Geneva Convention on Refugees is a person who is outside their country of citizenship because they have well-founded grounds for fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, and is unable to obtain sanctuary from their home country or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of that country; or in the case of not having a nationality and being outside their country of former habitual residence as a result of such event, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to their country of former habitual residence. Such a person may be called an "asylum seeker" until considered with the status of "refugee" by the Contracting State where they formally make a claim for sanctuary or right of asylum.

In UN parlance, the definition of the word has been expanded to include descendants of refugees, in the case of two specific groups: Palestinian refugees and Sahrawi refugees. Currently, the UN does not consider refugee status to be hereditary for any other groups.

Refugees (The Tears song)

"Refugees" is the debut single by The Tears, released on 25 April 2005 on Independiente Records. It charted at number 9 on the UK singles chart. This was relatively good considering the lack of success achieved by the previous Suede album. The title track's lyrical content is said by Brett Anderson to have political meaning, regarding his disgust towards the treatment of refugees.

The second single from the debut album, "Lovers," was originally slated to be a b-side to the Refugees single. This was changed after the record label decided it was worthy of being on the album. Anderson claimed that b-side "Southern Rain" deserved to be on the album. The song was well received by critics. Nick Cowen of Drowned in Sound rated it 8 out of 10, saying: "'Refugees' showcases all the dilettante-like swagger the pair's former band exhibited on its more upbeat numbers." John Murphy of musicOMH wrote that, "Anderson sounds more inspired than he has done in years and the song itself boasts a gloriously epic feel, worthy of the first Suede album."

Refugees (Embrace song)

"Refugees" is a song written by Danny McNamara and Richard McNamara of the English alternative rock band Embrace. The song was originally recorded by the band as a track for their eponymous sixth studio album, Embrace, where it appears as the third track on the album. "Refugees" was first released as the Embrace track, but debuting on the namesake seventh extended play, Refugees, which was released in promotion of Embrace two months prior. It appears as the opening track on the EP. A "Refugees" promotional single, boasting a radio edit of the song, was sent to UK Modern rock radio in January 2014, in promotion of both Refugees and Embrace.

Music video

A music video for "Refugees" was premiered on 13 January 2014 on video hosting service Vevo. The 5-minute video, directed by Richard McNamara and starring the McNamara brothers, was released parallel to the official announcement of Refugees and Embrace.

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from Refugees liner notes.

Release history