IDLES have announced the 12th November of Crawler via Partisan Records, the UK group’s fourth album in as many years and the follow-up to their first No. 1, 2020’s Ultra Mono. The 14-track project was recorded at the famed Real World Studios in Bath during the COVID-19 pandemic and co-produced by Kenny Beats (Vince Staples, Slowthai, Freddie Gibbs) and IDLES guitarist Mark Bowen.
First single “The Beachland Ballroom,” named after the iconic Ohio venue, is an honest-to-goodness soul song featuring a gorgeous, gripping vocal performance from frontman Joe Talbot. It’s available to stream now and is accompanied by a LOOSE-directed official video – check it out below…
Says Talbot of the track, “It’s the most important song on the album, really. There’s so many bands that go through the small rooms and dream of making it into the big rooms. Being able to write a soul tune like this made me go, fuck — we’re at a place where we’re actually allowed to go to these big rooms and be creative and not just go through the motions and really appreciate what we’ve got. The song is sort of an allegory of feeling lost and getting through it. It’s one that I really love singing.”
Adds Bowen, “I didn’t know Joe could sing like that. He’s been trying to write ‘Be My Baby’ since the very beginning, but he didn’t want to be the punk guy wearing the Motown clothes. He wanted it to feel natural, and this song is.”
CRAWLER tracklisting:
1. MTT 420 RR
2. The Wheel
3. When the Lights Come On
4. Car Crash
5. The New Sensation
6. Stockholm Syndrome
7. The Beachland Ballroom
8. Crawl!
9. Meds
10. Kelechi
11. Progress
12. Wizz
13. King Snake
14. The End
