New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The Horrors make their long-awaited return today with a brand new single 'Lout', the title track of a 3 track EP due for release on March 12th via Wolf Tone/Virgin
Music Label & Artist Services. The EP tracks 'Lout' and 'Orb' will also be released on blood red 7" vinyl, strictly limited to 1500 copies worldwide.
According to lead singer Faris Badwan, "Lout is about the relationship between choice and chance, compulsive risk-taking and pushing your luck. As a band, particularly live, we've always had an aggressive side and as we began writing new songs it became clear that we were heading in that direction."
The industrial-edged new single is the first new music from the band since 2017's critically acclaimed fifth album 'V', and is a notable sonic departure from the band's recent work;
"There's something about it which feels like a return to a heavier sound but really it's a million miles away from anything we've done." says keyboardist Tom Furse; "Keeping the sound aggressive and the beats heavy was a central tenet, everything seemed to fall around that."
In the words of bassist Rhys Webb "It's the nastiest music we've made since Strange House. An intense barrage of industrial noise. A return to the spirit and attitude of our debut LP but blasted into the future."
This bold new sound is partnered with a striking visual aesthetic carried across the artwork, visuals and an upcoming merch collection born from exciting collaborations between the band and a new creative team led by Bunny Kinney, including a short film directed by Jordan Hemingway starring beauty executive Isamaya Ffrench and scored by guitarist Joshua Third and keyboardist Tom Furse, as well as press shots by
Loverboy designer Charles Jeffrey.
Having enlisted the talents of indie and pop superproducer Paul Epworth on 'V', the Lout EP sees The Horrors return to their past methods of self-production, albeit under unusual circumstances due to the pandemic, as Tom explains; "Joe and I having both moved out of London to our respective coastlines meant that the process inherently became more about remote working, which was kinda always my tip anyway. The start of Org was me fucking around with some samples at my home studio, the sounds were so aggressive, I knew the guys would like them. So a lot of that development of the music is us whirring away independently and then coming together when we think we've maxed out what we can do alone."
"In the past whenever we've written stuff with a harder edge it's come from the energy we get from all playing together in a room but creating this kind of atmosphere remotely was a different challenge." says Faris; "It's the same level of intensity as the 100-miles-an-hour stuff we've done in the past but the anger is somehow more channelled. I can't wait to play these songs live as there's so much freedom in that kind of chaos."
As Rhys explains, the global upheaval of 2020 was a strangely liberating experience; "We came to the conclusion that we didn't need to be making this record for anybody except ourselves. With so many platforms now lost, the pressure to deliver a single for radio or to get on TV just doesn't exist any more and is probably all the better for it. The only thing we need to worry about is making the most exciting new music we can. We're lucky enough to have been together for fifteen years and to be working on our sixth studio LP. It seemed like the perfect time to go in guns blazing, no holds barred full on Horrors, the way it should always be."
The Horrors are one of the most enigmatic and progressive bands to have emerged from the early 00s indie scene. After bursting into a crescendo of hype around their garage-rock revivalist singles 'Sheena Is A Parasite/Jack The Ripper' and their 2007 debut Strange House, the band subverted all expectations with their lauded followup Primary Colours, a psychedelic, krautrock-infused masterpiece celebrated with a 10 year anniversary show at the Royal Albert Hall in May 2019. The maximalist, arena-ready Skying (2011) and Luminous (2014) further proved that The Horrors were worth far more than their early shock value.
'Lout' EP Tracklisting:
1.Lout
2. Org
3. Whiplash
'Lout' Vinyl Release Tracklisting:
Side A - Lout
Side B - Org
