Following 2020's Sad Happy, Circa Waves have been relatively quiet on the new releases front, par a cover of The La's, a collaboration with indie darling Alfie Templeman, and a Christmas single, so imagine everyone's surprise when we woke up one Thursday a few weeks ago to a whole new - fantastic - EP from them.
Now we're being treated to the first single from their forthcoming album, Never Going Under, which, thank fuck for that. I don't know what I would do if this band ever did go under. "Do You Wanna Talk" takes me back to the days when I'd first gotten into Circa Waves' music - Different Creatures had just come out, and I lived and breathed the infectious bass lines and drum fills that inhabit that album. This taste of their new sound feels so fully-fledged, like an amalgamation of every single one of their previous albums: the summery tempo of Young Chasers, the deep-seated ache of intensity in Different Creatures, the emotional trajectory of What's It Like Over There? and Sad Happy. Circa Waves are a band who always seem to hit their peak with every album and then, somehow, still find room to reach even further as they grow and learn.
On the album, frontman Kieran Shudall says, "Never Going Under speaks to that uniquely modern phenomenon of genuinely not knowing what type of world our kids are going to find themselves in in 30 years. Physically, environmentally, politically we are completely in the unknown. That scares us all but ultimately we know we can never give up on the future because how can you? The songs on the album are written differently from the previous work we've put out. They are written from the perspective of my son and also from my own current experience of the climate today.
Circa waves have always had a certain world view, but now it's through that lense of being a Father and still not knowing what the hell is going on.
Never Going Under is a snapshot of the fear we all feel today and the resilience we will need to get through it."
Never Going Under is out the 13th of January via Lower Third, and I sincerely cannot wait to hear more of what they have coming for us.