Track Of The Day: Glass Animals – “Life Itself”

Track Of The Day: Glass Animals - "Life Itself"

Glass Animals return with their spectacular new single ‘Life Itself’. It is the first track to be taken from their highly anticipated second album, ‘How To Be A Human Being’, to which the band are currently putting the finishing touches in the studio and which will be released this summer.

Having entranced the world with debut album ‘Zaba’ in 2014, new single ‘Life Itself (made BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record In The World in the past 24hrs) looks set to elevate their sonorous buzz to a new level. The track is an immersive, exotic and characteristically off-kilter earworm, reintroducing the band in the wake of their sensational ascent as a real force to be reckoned with.

Glass Animals lead singer & producer Dave Bayley says:

“Things have changed a lot for us over the past two years. Instead of sitting in the studio we’ve been in a different city every night; making friends, hearing crazy stories, getting in crazy trouble. So much has happened! All of it made me want to think about people and write something rawer and more human. ‘Life Itself’ is one of those… It’s about a guy who was born a bit strange and struggles to become part of society. Because of that he spends more time alone in his own head, getting stranger, and it becomes an awful cycle of doom. Sound and production-wise we’ve been buzzing off the amazing energy of the crowds we’ve been playing to. As the crowds grew, they got more feral… And so did we. We found ourselves going wilder on-stage and playing heavier, grittier, high-energy versions of our songs, changing them every night. Now we’ve tried to put some of that energy, spontaneity and sound on tape.”

Known for their atmospheric otherworldliness, Glass Animals’ tracks have always been the ultimate in colourful escapism. Spinning poetic tales with cryptic lyrics, Dave’s falsetto dances atop layers of sound with an underlying hip-hop influence that came to the foreground on the band’s recent collaboration with mutual fan Joey Bada$$ on ‘Lose Control’.

Glass Animals’ debut ‘Zaba’, released on Paul Epworth’s label Wolf Tone, has so far sold nearly half a million copies worldwide and amassed a staggering 200 million Spotify streams, obliterating all expectations simply by word of mouth. Their anomalous rise has gained the Oxford four-piece a legion of fans all over the world, including festival appearances at the likes of Falls in Australia, Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and Glastonbury and has resulted in the band playing two sold-out headline shows at LA’s 2000-capacity Wiltern and NYC’s 3000-capacity Terminal 5.

The band shared a brief teaser for their forthcoming album on social media last week as well as announcing that they will play two special intimate shows next month, at London’s ICA (on 15 June) and Kantine Am Bergain in Berlin (on 20 June).

Xsnoize Author
Mark Millar is the founder of XS Noize and looks after the daily running of the website as well as hosting interviews for the weekly XS Noize Podcast. Mark's favourite album is Achtung Baby by U2.

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