ROCK band Foals have released details of their long-awaited new album and national tour.
The Oxford band are to release a two-part album called Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, with the first part out on March 8 and the second in the autumn.
They will tour throughout June, though with no Oxford date. The nearest shows will be Birmingham and Alexandra Palace in London. The timing will fuel speculation over a possible Glastonbury set.
Foals – Yannis Philippakis, Jack Bevan, Jimmy Smith and Edwin Congreave – played some of their earliest shows at The Cellar off Cornmarket and have gone on to be one of the biggest rock bands in the world. They have headlined Reading and Bestival, played close to the to of the bill at Glastonbury and sold-out shows across the planet. They have scooped NME and Q Awards, and been nominated for Mercury Prize, Ivor Novello and BRIT Awards. Their four gold-certified albums have sold more than 1.7 million, and they have picked up over half a billion streams on Spotify.
Frontman Yannis said Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost would be a pair of releases, separate but related, sharing a title, themes and artwork.
“They’re two halves of the same locket,” he said. “They can be listened to and appreciated individually, but fundamentally, they are companion pieces.”
The release follows the departure of bassist Walter Gervers after playing the Festival Paredes de Coura in Portugal last summer.
The band have confirmed that Walter won't be replaced – saying the decision "ushered in a period of recalibration, reorganisation and, ultimately, rejuvenation".
A spokesman for the band said: "Profoundly tethered but possessing their own personalities, the two bodies capture the most compelling, ambitious and cohesive creations that Foals have ever produced.
"Eager to break the traditional pop song structure, the 20 tracks defy expectation.
"There are exploratory, progressive-tinged tracks which occasionally break the 10-minute mark alongside atmospheric segues which make the music an experience rather than a mere collection of songs.
"Yet the band’s renowned ability to wield relentless grooves with striking power also reaches new heights.
"The albums’ lead single Exits is a case in point, featuring Philippakis conjuring the image of a disorienting world via a contagious vocal melody. It’s a fresh anthem for Foals’ formidable arsenal, but also an ominous forecast.
Yannis adds: “There’s a definite idea about the world being no longer habitable in the way that it was. A kind of perilousness lack of predictability and a feeling of being overwhelmed by the magnitudes of the problems we face. What’s the response? And what’s the purpose of any response that one individual can have?”
An accompanying video, directed by Albert Moya and produced by CANADA, has been released.
The spokesman said it combined "a retro-futuristic aesthetic with a non-linear narrative".
It stars French actress Christa Théret alongside Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark from Game of Thrones).
Foals at Truck festival. Picture Ed Nix
He adds: "Exits signposts what to expect thematically from Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost.
"The title is a warning that anything – from the tiniest fleeting moment of inspiration through to the planet’s own biological diversity – can be under threat of being irrevocably erased.
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"It’s a theme that permeates throughout the albums’ material, as Foals mirror the public neuroses that have been provoked by our current cultural climate.
"Paranoia of state surveillance? Fear of environmental collapse? An overwhelming feeling of anxiety? It’s all there in these apocalyptic songs.
"It’s particularly evident in the euphoric In Degrees which imagines a future where your ability to talk to each other has been reduced to nothing. This approach is perhaps most vividly captured on ‘Syrups’, and the devastating closing pair of songs on ‘Part 1’ – Sunday and I’m Done With The World (& It’s Done With Me).
Yannis adds: “Lyrically, there are resonances with what’s going on in the world at the moment.
“I just feel like, what’s the utility of being a musician these days, if you can’t engage with at least some of this stuff?
"These songs are white flags, or they’re SOSs, or they’re cries for help… each in a different way.”
READ MORE: Cellar, where Foals played early shows, saved by supporters
Fans who pre-order Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1 from foals.co.uk will gain access to a pre-sale for the band’s UK and European tour. All pre-orders will also receive Exits as an instant download.
Foals play Glastonbury in 2010. Picture by Tim Hughes
June tour dates
11th – Manchester, O2 Victoria Warehouse
14th – Tunbridge Wells, Bedgebury Pinetum
15th – Birmingham, Digbeth Arena
18th – Glasgow, SWG3 Yard
20th – Thetford, Thetford Forest
21st – London, Alexandra Palace
26th – Bournemouth, International Centre
Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1 tracklisting:
1. Moonlight
2. Exits
3. White Onions
4. In Degrees
5. Syrups
6. On The Luna
7. Cafe D’Athens
8. Surf Pt.1
9. Sunday
10. I’m Done With The World (& It’s Done With Me)
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