The Charlatans today unveil a special lyric video of their latest single ‘Appetite’. The video visually mirrors the emotional trajectory of the song, using a gradual shift in colour and light to reflect the unravelling of a relationship.
The video opens in heightened brightness echoing the lyric “I saw the light” and the sense of desire that drives early moments of the track. As the narrative progresses, the visual palette transitions into deeper blues and greens, subtly darkening and softening to match the growing emotional distance and realisation that “this has to end before we begin.” By the end, the intensity has settled into something cooler and more grounded – visually capturing the shift from passion to resignation.
Speaking on the video, Tim Burgess says: “With Appetite, I was thinking about that surge of feeling you get at the start of something, when everything feels amplified and illuminated, and how that intensity can slowly cool once you begin to see things clearly. The video really captures that shift. It starts in a kind of brightness, almost like revelation, and then gradually moves into deeper, cooler tones as the realisation sets in.”
The Charlatans’ extraordinary career spans 13 albums, 22 Top 40 singles, three Number One records, and era-defining anthems including ‘The Only One I Know’, ‘North Country Boy’ and ‘One to Another’. We Are Love launches a bold new era, one that finds them at peace with their past whilst looking forward to a bright future.
Recorded at two places that are totemic in The Charlatans’ history – Rockfield in Wales and their own Big Mushroom space in Middlewich, Cheshire – Burgess cites hauntology and psychogeography as two concepts that swirled in his head as the band dug into the album making. For one thing, their return to storied farm studio Rockfield for the first time in almost 30 years – since they made their fifth album Tellin’ Stories – was an important step. As a band they hadn’t been there since keyboard player Rob Collins was killed, in the middle of that album’s sessions, in a car crash at the bottom of the track leading to the farm. Throughout the record you can hear The Charlatans’ awareness of the stuff that’s made them – the highs and the lows; the desire to honour their own mighty legacy, whilst not being defined by it. A career-long drive to be progressive and innovative.
Made with a carefully selected a production A-team of duo Dev Hynes (aka Blood Orange and Lightspeed Champion) and Fred Macpherson (Spector, Rachel Chinouriri, Jessica Winter, Taahliah), plus legendary producer Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur, The Cranberries), alongside a list of engineers, mixers and collaborators that reads like a who’s who of alt rock greatness. The result has been well worth the wait.
The Charlatans UK Tour Dates:
24 April – Norwich, UEA
25 April – Brighton, The Dome
26 April – Bournemouth, O2 Academy
28 April – Cardiff, Tramshed
29 April – Nottingham, Rock City
1 May – Birmingham, O2 Academy
2 May – Sheffield, Octagon Centre
3 May – Newcastle, O2 City Hall
5 May – Aberdeen, Music Hall
6 May – Edinburgh, Corn Exchange
Martin Blunt – The Charlatans: Inside new album ‘We Are Love’ | XS Noize Podcast #257 – Listen.
Be the first to comment