Kendal alt-rock group Wild Beasts are releasing their fifth album Boy King on 5th August. The follow up to 2014’s Present Tense will see the band going “back to being pissed off,” according to singer Tom Fleming. Promising a unique pop sensibility brought about by a creative friction between Fleming and fellow vocalist Hayden Thorpe, Boy King has been produced by John Congleton, who has previously worked on records by St Vincent, Swans and The War on Drugs. Speaking of the record, Thorpe says: “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.”
To coincide with the announcement, the band have also shared the video to new single ‘Get My Bang.’ Shot by Olivier Groulx (who has previously filmed clips for Arcade Fire and Scott Walker), it depicts Thorpe channelling the spirit of Justin Timberlake, dancing suggestively with a woman in the dark streets of Belgrade. Watch below.
In addition, Wild Beasts are heading out on an extensive UK tour this summer and autumn, with two dates at Leeds’ Brudenell Social Club in July and numerous festival appearances. Details below:
26th & 27th July – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
28th & 29th July – Hove Old Market, Brighton
18th August – Green Man Festival, Brecon Beacons
26th August – Electric Fields, Drumlanrig Castle
28th September – Motion, Bristol
29th September – O2 Academy, Oxford
30th September – By the Sea Festival, Margate
1st October – The Foundry, Sheffield
3rd October – Junction, Cambridge
4th October – Roundhouse, London
7th October – Northumbria Uni, Newcastle
8th October – QMU, Glasgow
9th October – Academy, Manchester
Photo credit: Tom Andrew
