Enthralling experimentalists Wild Beasts have announced their forthcoming 5th LP, Boy King, due out August 5 via Domino with the release of lead single and video, "Get My Bang" and a host of European tour dates.
Wild Beasts have never been afraid to evolve across albums, and this first taste of Boy King - leather jackets, immensely '80s cover art, and all - is no exception. More straightforward than previous works, a linear drum base and unabashedly direct lyrics shed much of the painstakingly clever wordplay and dynamic brooding that set apart their past discography as "Get My Bang" reignites much of their signature libidinous themes but with an altogether different sort of polished package. "No getting it right / No getting it wrong / Just getting it on," indeed.
Co-frontman Hayden Thorpe explains,
“After five records there had to be an element of ‘what the fuck?’ It became apparent that that guitar almost became the character within the songs, that phallic character, the all-conquering male. I’m letting my inner Byron fully out, I thought I’d tucked him away, but he came screaming back like the Incredible Hulk. I think ‘Boy King’ is an apocalyptic record. It’s about swimming in the abyss. When you think about sex, you’ve got to think about death, they’re one and the same.”
Boy King was recorded in Dallas, enlisting producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, The War on Drugs), while the accompanying visual was shot in Belgrade and directed by Olivier Groulx (Arcade Fire, alt-J). Check out the video, tracklist, and tour dates below.
Boy King
- Big Cat
- Tough Guy
- Alpha Female
- Get My Bang
- Celestial Creatures
- 2BU
- He The Colossus
- Ponytail
- Eat Your Heart Out Adonis
- Dreamliner
Tour:
6/18 – Madrid, ES @ MadCool Festival
7/26-27 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
7/28-29 – Brighton, UK @ Hove Old Market
8/18 – Brecon Beacons, UK @ Green Man Festival
8/26 – Dumfries, UK @ Electric Fields
8/27 – Helsinki, FI @ Modern Sky Festival
9/02 – Vlieland, NL @ Into the Great Wide Open
9/04 – Laois, IE @ Electric Picnic
9/24 – Hamburg, DE @ Reeperbahn Festival
9/28 – Bristol, UK @ Motion
9/29 – Oxford, UK @ O2 Academy
9/30 – Margate, UK @ By the Sea Festival
10/01 – Sheffield, UK @ The Foundry
10/03 – Cambridge, UK @ The Junction
10/04 – London, UK @ The Roundhouse
10/07 – Newcastle, UK @ Northumbria Uni
10/08 – Glasgow, UK @ QMU
10/09 – Manchester, UK @ Academy
10/12 – Belgium, BE @ Botanique Orangeries
10/13 – Paris, FR @ La Gaite Lyrique
10/14 – Tourcoing, FR @ Le Grand Mix
10/15 – Strasbourg, FR @ La Laiterie
10/16 – Cologne, DE @ Luxor
10/18 – Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset
10/20 – Berlin, DE @ Kesselhaus
10/21 – Prague, CZ @ Lucerna Music Bar
10/23 – Zurich, CH @ Rote Fabrik
10/25 – Milan, IT @ Magnolia
10/26 – Lyon, FR @ Epicure Moderne
10/29 – Bilbao, ES @ BIME