Then a powerful storm came. Trees were falling down hills, roads were flooded, and rented homes were in a precarious state. “My existential crisis has reached the next level,” Bailey says with a laugh.
But in the stunned silence that followed, Bailey saw people emerge from the storm and embrace each other: families, couples, friends and neighbors. “It felt like I was sitting in the space of this house and looking down on the entire city.” A musical concept was born.
After several weeks of intense writing, the 10-track follow-up to 2020's third album, Dreamland, which sold over 12 million copies, was released. Ing Match” was born. . The new collection will be released on July 19th via Republic Records.
Some songs are about longing, others about past relationships. Some liken love to being tied up and thrown into the trunk of a Corolla. “Each one is trying to touch on a different aspect of love,” Bailey says. “I love trying to build whole worlds.”
The anthemic “Creatures in Heaven” is the first single and is a remembrance of a tender and intimate moment. “You held me like my mother made me for you/You held me so close that it cut me in half.”
The album's title, which can be read passionately or indignantly or any number of ways in between, comes from the crazy nature of love. “Everything is always chaotic. You just have to accept and love it as it is,” he says. “That's what got me out of that dark place.”
The first song, “Show Pony,” is the album's table of contents, and is about the complex and tumultuous relationships Bayley has witnessed since childhood (“When he was doing what he wanted”). /Boy, those scars)”You gotta run really deep”).
Several songs are based on space imagery, particularly “A Tear in Space (Airlock)” and the need to escape on “On the Run,” or the dangerous push and pull of worship on “Wonderful Nothing.” There are some great lines like, “I think we are formed / out of old Legos / in bedside drawers / where lost things go.”
With each Glass Animals album, Bailey became more of a confessional writer. On “How to Be a Human Being,” he wrote each song from someone else's perspective. The last song, “Agnes,” is about a friend of the band who died by suicide. It was Bailey's most personal song at the time.
He pushed the envelope with the single “Heat Waves” on his next album. The song is a hypnotic, hazy tribute to his late friend whose birthday in June brings sadness every year. The song hit No. 1 on Billboard's 2022 Year-end Hot 100 Songs chart, fueled by love on TikTok.
There was a reason Bailey put this song at the end of his album Dreamland. I was scared because it was so personal. “People's reactions were so supportive and positive. It gave me the courage to push harder and be more personal and more open.”
“Heat Waves” won new fans, earned him a Grammy nomination, and people now not only recognize Bailey on the street, but come up to him to ask about his songs and lyrics.
“Often the questions are very deep and very big. So I'm walking my dog in my pajamas and I'm like, 'What does this line in the song 'Agnes' mean? ” came the question.
“I'm like, 'Hey, it's already 8:30 in the morning.' I just had cereal and I haven't taken a shower yet.” But it's great. It definitely put me on alert. ”
Glass Animals, which also includes Drew McFarlane on guitar and keys, Edmund Irwin Singer on bass and keys, and drummer Joe Seaward, will be touring in support of the new album.
The fall tour begins August 7 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and will continue to New York City, Philadelphia, Toronto, Cincinnati, Nashville, Kansas City, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Dallas, Phoenix, Red Rocks Amphitheater outside Denver, Texas state of austin.
Glass Animals will spend October and November in Europe, playing in Paris, Brussels, Warsaw, Berlin, Milan, Zurich, Amsterdam, Dublin, Manchester and Glasgow, before finishing at London's massive O2 Arena on November 7th. .
The band mixes it up and changes the set list for each show depending on the mood. While some bands pre-program everything they do live, Glass Animals prefer to react to the audience, even swapping songs right before the show starts.
“I actually come from a DJ background. I started deejaying in clubs in London when I was really young,” Bailey says. “Really good DJs react to the atmosphere, and sometimes they'll slowly pick up the tempo. Sometimes they'll start fast, turn it down, and then pick it up again.”
In keeping with Glass Animals' desire to connect with listeners, Bailey says they'd love for fans to send in setlists. “I'm very happy to play for what people want. I feel like that's our job. We want to make people happy.”
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