Indie-rockers The Blinders have heralded their return by releasing a new single, and announcing a new album and UK tour.
The three-piece from Doncaster, who are now based in Manchester, released one of the best albums of 2018 with their debut Columbia.
The brooding collection of indie-rock, delivered with the energy of punk, was loosely based around the concept of “an alternate world informed by reality”.
Performed live, it translated into one of the most visceral, intense and thrilling gigs I’d seen in years.
Now The Blinders – Thomas Haywood on guitar and vocals, Charlie McGough on bass and Matthew Neale on drums – have a new album on the horizon, and have shared the first single, Circle Song.
A dark blues-waltz underpinned by propulsive bass and evocatively prosaic lyricism, the track straddles the lines between ode and lament while addressing life’s confusing crossroads.
The track is accompanied by an arresting video, which cuts between the band performing and wandering the atmospherically bleak landscape of the Peak District.
The track is the first to be taken from upcoming album, Fantasies Of A Stay At Home Psychopath, which was recorded at Manchester’s Eve Studios with producer Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey, Anna Calvi), and mixed by Adrian Bushby (Foo Fighters, Muse).
The album, which will be released on May 8, explores existential despair, mental health and society’s ills in a time of planetary crisis, and is both a riposte to, and commentary on, the rise of populist ideology.
Following its release, the band will head out on a run of intimate dates, with shows in Edinburgh, Hull, London and Southampton, between slots at festivals including Live At Leeds, Sound City, Hit The North in Newcastle, and Sonic Wave, with much more to be announced.
THE BLINDERS MAY TOUR DATES
Fri 1 – Live At Leeds Festival, Leeds
Sat 2 – Sound City, Liverpool
Sun 3 – Hit The North Festival, Newcastle
Tue 19 – Caves, Edinburgh
Wed 20 – Welly Club, Hull
Thu 21 – 100 Club, London
Fri 22 – Joiners, Southampton
Sat 23 – O2 Academy 2, Leicester
Sun 24 – Sonic Wave Festival, Birmingham
Tickets go on sale at 10am on Monday, February 17, and will be available from theblindersofficial.com
