Bristol post-punk titans IDLES have released the latest taste of their forthcoming album in the shape of new single Gift Horse.
Tangk, their fifth studio album, is set for release on Partisan Records on 16 February, to be followed by a major UK tour.
Today, the band unveiled Tangk‘s third single Gift Horse, which has just received its first play courtesy of longtime champion Steve Lamacq at 6 Music.
The track continues to showcase the band’s ever-growing ambition with the new record, which has already been previewed by the euphoric Dancer and the soulful slow burner Grace.
Gift Horse ups the intensity from the previous singles, its lean, taut intensity balanced by an undercurrent of gristly grooves and stuttering, charismatic delivery from the always-thought-provoking Joe Talbot.
Talbot has said Tangk celebrates love, communion and all of those powerful emotions that make existence worthwhile.
He says of Gift Horse: “Look at us go! Music and movement for you and yours. Be bold and ride us like the disco donkeys we are. Or at least watch our video.”
Gift Horse is accompanied by a video which finds unity between the almost fantastical characters that lurk on the outskirts of society with the mundanity of day-to-day life.
It’s set in a supermarket, where a dead-eyed checkout man absent-mindedly scans items while the rest of the store brims with surrealistic images: social media creators, people in the midst of a manic episode, a straightlaced preacher, and guitarist Mark Bowen taking a mechanical bull by the horns.
Tangk is set to propel IDLES a leap beyond what they achieved with their previous album, 2021’s Crawler, which landed two Grammy Award nominations.
All 2,000 copies of a limited edition Blood Records 10in of Tangk recently sold out in half an hour, but plenty of other formats are still up for pre-order, including translucent pink vinyl available exclusively from select indie stores and clear smoke vinyl with a matching PVC sleeve from the band’s official webstore.
IDLES have already seen several live shows sell-out almost a year in advance. They will celebrate the release of Tangk with three intimate out-store shows, culminating with a homecoming gig at The Marble Factory in Bristol (on sale this Friday at 10am).
IDLES’ summer begins with a huge show at Cardiff Castle on July 12, while several dates of their November/December UK tour are already sold out. Remaining tickets are on sale HERE.
