Behind The Tracks: Civil Villains - Canvas Stretcher (Single) (2026)

This is the closing track on the album, and we feel it really has all the elements that have shone across the previous ten tracks: some catchy melody, some heavier sections, and a pretty big guitar hook thrown in the mix too. What's it about? Making peace with art-school PTSD at the Turner Contemporary in Margate... mostly.

The way this track came together was that James (guitar and vocals) recorded a demo in his "garden office" (shed). He sent it over, and our drummer Toby picked up on the vibe straight away.

"I only listened to the track a couple of times before sitting down and recording a very basic demo of the drums along with James's recording. He'd written a track with such a clear arrangement and obvious dynamics that the drums basically wrote themselves! During recording, I really enjoyed playing around with that beat in the second verse, keeping it really light and airy."

The track gained its beating heart when the bass was slotted in at a band practice. The punch in those stabs, the wandering in the second verse; if the bass were an item of furniture, it would be The Big Lebowski's rug. Our bassist Mark, however, regrets writing such a meandering bassline, as it means he has to dedicate some solid time to relearning it if we have a few weeks between shows!

It was immediately clear to us that this was going to be the closer for the album, so the huge ending just made sense. That said, we were conscious that "a big rock-out" was how we finished our previous album (shout out to "Never Leave"!), so we wanted to do something with a shade more finesse this time. The humming that the track now closes with was actually Toby's idea. Taking the haunting, fragile melody from the vocals that start the outro and using it as a soft echo to end the whole album really reminds the listener that, despite all the noise and bluster on the album, there's real heart underneath it all.

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