CHVRCHES by Jess Gleeson
Some of the biggest headlines we featured during the past week includes the return of CHVRCHES and Paul Weller‘s trip to Wembley Stadium.
CHVRCHES have returned with their new single Over, whose alt-pop credentials were rounded off by The Weeknd, Charli XCX and BTS cohort Oscar Holter.
“Over is a song that we wrote with Oscar, a producer we really respect and admire,” they’ve said.
“Normally we collect songs over the course of months (or years!) until we have an album’s worth of material, but this time we just wanted to release something we were excited about and give the fans something new to mark the end of the Screen Violence era, and the start of whatever the next chapter might be.”
“To me the line, ‘I keep what I can of you’, means something about everyone I’ve ever known or loved,” Aaron Dessner has said after The National released the latest single from their forthcoming new album First Two Pages of Frankenstein.
“There’s a simplicity to New Order T-Shirt that reminds me of our earlier records, but with the full maturity and experience we have now. It feels like a really important song for the future of our band.”
Due out on April 28th, the band’s ninth studio record was self-produced at Long Pond Studios in New York and will feature guest appearances from Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Sufjan Stevens.
Gruff Rhys has shared two more tracks from his The Almond & The Seahorse soundtrack album ahead of its release on February 24th.
“I Want My Old Life Back is featured in a tense domestic scene in the film as the character’s lives have been turned upside down by the trauma of injury,” Rhys said.
“I actually wrote the song after my van got nearly totalled in early 2020 during a flash flood on the A1 at 3am after a gig.”
Paul Weller live in Dundee (Paul Smith for Live4ever)
Paul Weller has been announced as the special guest of Blur for the band’s second night at Wembley Stadium this summer.
The Selecter and a DJ set from Steve Davis have also been added to the date which still has tickets on sale.
“I’m really looking forward to playing with my Blur brothers again and revisiting all those great songs,” Graham Coxon said. “Blur live shows are always amazing for me. A nice guitar and an amp turned right up and loads of smiling faces.”
Guns N Roses will start a world tour at Park Hayarkon in Tel Aviv, Israel on June 5th.
For UK fans, added to the BST appearance at London’s Hyde Park is a gig at Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park on June 27th, while the North American leg is due to start at the Medavie Blue Cross Stadium on August 5th.
Gigs in the US and Canada will steadily drip from there through to mid-October when the closing night is booked in Vancouver.
Yard Act, Dry Cleaning, James and Mimi Webb are among the new artists confirmed to be joining headliners Pulp, Paolo Nutini, George Ezra, Young Fathers and Siouxsie at this year’s Latitude Festival.
“It’s an honour to be headlining the second stage at Latitude, and the best news is we don’t clash with Pulp,” James Smith said.
“Come watch us, then watch them immediately after and directly compare us. Take notes, make observations loudly in your friends ear.”
