Foals have recorded their most “pop” album to date and it is their “love letter to the world before COVID”.
The British rock band have announced that their seventh studio LP ‘Life Is Yours’ – the follow-up to 2019’s ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 2’ – will be released on June 17.
The group – comprised of frontman Yannis Philippakis, drummer Jack Bevan and guitarist Jimmy Smith – have previewed the record with recent single ‘2am’ and last year’s ‘Wake Me Up’, and now they have teased that fans can expect an LP packed with dance influenced tracks and a record which has a definite pop feel compared to their previous efforts, something that is needed after the coronavirus lockdowns stopped live music.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz at the BandLab NME Awards 2022 at the O2 Academy Brixton in London on Wednesday night (02.03.22), Jack said: “We’re really excited for it to come out. We were doing it during the pandemic last year and it was kind of our love letter to the world before COVID.
“We were basically writing the record we wanted to hear before things re-opened and now we’re so excited for it to come out. I think it’s our most fun record, it’s really dance-y and really pop and really fun.”
Guitarist Jimmy insists there was no pre-agreed plan by the trio to make a pop sounding record, it was just the headspace that he and Yannis were in when they were writing.
He explained: “I feel like the stuff we were writing before we got together, especially what I was writing and what Yannis was writing, seemed quite pop and it seemed to fit the mood we were in. We didn’t want to make a heavy, hard record, we wanted something uplifting and joyous and it was so much fun to write it.
“Also, we weren’t like, ‘Oh it’s pop let’s not do that, that’s obviously what’s coming out naturally so let’s go with that.’
“There’s a simplicity to it, it’s not shallow by any means but that part, it’s not forced upon you. You can take it or leave it.”
Foals were among the winners on the night, leaving the raucous ceremony with the the award for Best Music Video for ‘Wake Me Up’.