Watch the video for ‘As I Try Not To Fall Apart’ HERE
White Lies have today announced details of their forthcoming sixth album, As I Try Not To Fall Apart, which is released on [PIAS] on Friday February 18th2022.The band have also shared the title track from the album, talking about which they said:
We wrote this song quickly, late one night, and often the songs which come quickest are written from the gut and the heart, not with the head. We wanted the melody to feel like a hymn, to give the confessional lyrics weight despite being wrapped up as a pop song. It’s about accepting vulnerability as a man, and knowing it’s ok to be broken. There’s never been a more pressing time to spread the message that it’s ok to not be ok.
The track made me think of people trying to lift themselves out of emotional spirals – navigating feelings of fragility and fighting everyday pressures just so they can keep it together – and it made me think about how we can be buried and overwhelmed by our feelings and emotions, and how we could explore that, visually
Harry from White Lies added:
Being buried in sand was too mad to pass up. The sensation was really chilling and I was picking sand out of my ears for days, but I’m thrilled with the video, it really carries the message of the song and it looks beautiful.”
Recorded at Sleeper and Assault & Battery studios in West London, the album sees long-term collaborator Ed Buller, who has worked on many of their albums including their debut To Lose My Life…, return to produce several tracks along with Claudius Mittendorfer (Weezer, Panic! At The Disco) also producing and mixing the entire album.
Track-list of As I Try Not To Fall Apart is as follows:
1. Am I Really Going To Die 2. As I Try Not To Fall Apart 3. Breathe 4. I Don’t Want To Go To Mars 5. Step Outside 6. Roll December 7. Ragworm 8. Blue Drift 9. The End 10. There Is No Cure For It
Arguably one of the biggest guitar bands in the UK, White Lies last album, Five, garnered much acclaim in 2019 with a SOLD OUT UK tour including multiple Brixton Academy shows.
Having also released Ritual in 2011, BIG TV in 2013 and Friends in 2016, the past decade has also seen the band establish themselves globally with sold out tours in Europe and beyond, and today they announced details of an extensive run of shows in the spring of next year. The full list is as follows:
10.03.22 – NOTTINGHAM – Rock City 11.03.22 – MANCHESTER – Academy 12.03.22 – NEWCASTLE – Boiler Shop 13.03.22 – BIRMINGHAM – Institute 15.03.22 – GLASGOW – SWG3 TV Studio 16.03.22 – LEEDS – Stylus 18.03.22 – BRIGHTON – Chalk 19.03.22 – BRISTOL – Academy 21.03.22 – DUBLIN – Vicar Street 22.03.22 – LIVERPOOL – Grand Central Hall 24.03.22 – NORWICH – UEA 25.03.22 – OXFORD – Academy 26.03.22 – LONDON – Hammersmith Apollo
02.05.22 – BERLIN – Metropol 03.05.22 – LEIPZIG – Täubchenthal 04.05.22 – WARSAW – Progresja 05.05.22 – PRAGUE – Lucerna 07.05.22 – VIENNA – Ottakringer Brauerei 08.05.22 – MUNICH – Neue Theaterfabrik 10.05.22 – MILAN – Magazzini Generali 11.05.22 – ROME – Orion 13.05.22 – BARCELONA – Sala Apolo 15.05.22 – SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA – Sala Capitol 16.05.22 – LISBON – LAV 17.05.22 – PORTO – Hard Club 18.05.22 – MADRID – Sala Mon Live 20.05.22 – BORDEAUX – Krakatoa 21.05.22 – RENNES – Antipode 22.05.22 – TOURCOING – Le Grand Mix 24.05.22 – ENSCHEDE – Metropool 25.05.22 – EINDHOVEN – Effenaar
Tickets for all shows go on sale at 10am Thursday 30th September.
Pre-sale tickets are exclusively available from 10am Tuesday 28th September via www.whitelies.com/live
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Recorded over two studio sessions, As I Try Not To Fall Apart is their most expansive record to date, taking in explosive rock, electro-pop bangers, prog-inspired invention, funk-tinged grooves and some of their most indelible hooks yet.
Working with Mittendorfer, formative versions of swaggering album opener Am I Really Going To Die and the airy rock of the title track were captured, whilst another round of songwriting at Buller’s house ahead of a second recording session really got them firing. “It got us on the same page,” says McVeigh. Soon a coherent album was emerging out of the mist, a record that streamlined everything great about White Lies from across their career: razor-sharp hooks, dark lyrical wit, defiant singalongs, airy soundscapes and dynamic instrumentation.
Throughout they meld their love of pop and prog – opener Am I Really Going To Die features a ruminative lyric on mortality inspired by the 2000 film Ivans Xtc and is one of the funkiest things they’ve ever done, Chic guitars and a lithe bassline building under McVeigh’s quickfire vocals. “Me and Charles are big prog fans,” says McVeigh. The title track, meanwhile, is a euphoric pop gem. “That’s a really important song for us,” says Lawrence-Brown. “I think it will define what the next chapter is. It’s the poppiest thing we’ve ever done.” The rattling stomp of I Don’t Want To Go To Mars was inspired by Elon Musk and the billionaire space race and Blue Drift combines acid-house grooves with widescreen 80s production. There’s a sonic gear change with The End, which sounds like an atmospheric Cure song being sent into space, and There Is No Cure For It – lyrically, a sequel to the opener – ends the record on a soaring, scintillating high.
It’s well over a decade since the band’s breakthrough single Death introduced a group for whom the fragility of human existence has been a constant touchstone. Now in his 30s, chief lyricist Cave’s outlook on the great unknown has evolved. “I think the side of death or mortality that I always find interesting is the fact we all know it’s going to happen,” he says, “and how different people navigate that.”
“We’ll probably never make an album in the way we made this one again,” says Cave. “I think this could be one of our best” says McVeigh. White Lies tested their resolve to get there, but they didn’t fall apart. They have emerged with their most vital collection of songs in years.
White Lies are: Harry McVeigh (vocals / guitar), Charles Cave (bass) & Jack Lawrence-Brown (drums).
