GENRE; 90s Rock/ Acoustic Rock/ Alt Rock Pop/ Alternative Rock/ Classic Rock/ BritPop

RELEASE DATE; 20 April, 2026

RATING; 4/5

With Standing In A Robe, Garrett Anthony Rice delivers one of his most ambitious statements to date, arriving on 20 April 2026 as a striking blend of personal confession and historical reflection. The single threads together the collapse of an intimate relationship with a broader meditation on society’s unsettling habit of romanticising tyrants such as Nero, Julius Caesar and Napoleon. Its heavy instrumentation and choral textures immediately signal seriousness of intent from the opening bars.

For producer-led precision, the track benefits from Chris Potter’s expansive approach, recorded across Kore Studios in London, his Bournemouth studio, and Darklands Studio in Dublin. The arrangement brings together bassist Chris Webb, drummer Geoff Dugmore, and a gospel choir directed remotely from Dublin, a first for Potter. At the centre, guitarist Adam Phillips adds tonal weight, with sessions that reportedly earned him the verdict “A Classic” from the control room during the recording sessions itself.

The single stands out for its dual narrative structure. Rice juxtaposes the emotional unravelling of a personal relationship with an examination of how societies mythologise authoritarian figures whose power often masks brutality. A particularly striking lyrical passage sharpens the emotional core of the track, as Rice observes, “I see you standing there now in a robe,” before slipping into uncertainty with “you tell me it’s ok but I don’t know,” and ultimately laying bare his inner conflict in the question, “what ya got that I just don’t do,” a line that distills both personal vulnerability and the song’s broader sense of uneasy comparison and doubt. The dense instrumentation mirrors this tension, building a soundscape that feels both grand and uneasy.

Standing In A Robe signals a major step in Garrett Anthony Rice’s evolving catalogue, reinforcing his ambition to operate on a cinematic scale. The single’s emotional weight is matched by its live potential, with a full-band performance scheduled at Lost Lane in Dublin on 24 April 2026. It feels both introspective and expansive, positioning Rice as an artist intent on challenging listeners while still delivering memorable melodic impact and lasting resonance throughout the record.

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