CHARLIE BARNES SHARES NEW SINGLE & VIDEO FOR ‘WILL & TESTAMENT’ & ANNOUNCES BASTILLE SUPPORT TOUR
NEW SINGLE FEATURES BASTILLE’S DAN SMITH ON BACKING VOCALS
New Album ‘Oceanography’ out on Superball Music – 9th March 2018
Singer-songwriter and Bastille live member Charlie Barnes has shared a new single from his upcoming sophomore album ‘Oceanography’ with ‘Will & Testament’ featuring backing vocals from Bastille’s Dan Smith.
The follow up to 2015’s post-pop monster ‘More Stately Mansions’, ‘Oceanography’ finds Barnes in a different place in his life. The past two years have seen huge change for the musician, he has spent the majority of his time on the road as a touring member of Bastille, performing on some of the biggest stages in the world and travelling all over the globe as well as getting married and relocating from Leeds to the Midlands.
New single Will & Testament sees Barnes exploring his poppiest urges with excellent results explaining “Will & Testament’ has been through a lot of different iterations in its lifetime. The main guitar hook that starts the song is from the very first demo recording I did before the last album was even finished, and I originally built the demo up to be this big, wall of sound moody post rock thing with really nasty sounding guitars in the middle eight. Funnily enough, it was the former Oceansize member who suggested we take a slightly different approach, so we have Steve to thank for how this song eventually turned out. It’s sorted of ended up sounding like Discoceansize. Yep. I went there.”
The new single also features vocals from Bastille’s Dan Smith with Barnes adding “He made it all sound much better, so thanks Dan.”
In contrast to his previous LP – largely recorded in one place with producer and Oceansize guitarist Steve Durose – Oceanography is a story of snatched moments after tour rehearsals, late nights spent in far flung studios from Wales to Virginia, ideas sent back and forth over email and put down in fits and starts while on the road. At points it seemed like it would never come together, so it’s some achievement that it not only matches the attention-grabbing maximalist prog pop of More Stately Mansions, but builds and expands on that record’s foundations.
Barnes has also shared a video to go alongside the single, featuring explaining “We had an accidental lucky break making this video. In discussing it with my frequent collaborator and all round life-guru Ryan Pearce, we’d decided that it would make sense to have a Bohemian Rhapsody style shot of me singing the song with my new live band member Ed (ex Fish Tank) and Society Pages bandmate Ben providing backing vocals (in sunglasses…obviously), purely for the sake of breaking up the visual feel of the video to keep things interesting. It was only after we’d finished filming for the day and went to the pub that I realised that referencing Bohemian Rhapsody in a music video that’s all about the idea of real life vs fantasy was, actually, a fairly logical thing to do. Be prepared for some excellent dancing.”
Charlie has also announced he will be pulling double shifts and opening for the sold out run of Bastille Re-Orchestrated tour including at the Royal Albert Hall and Manchester Apollo.
‘Oceanography’ will be released on Superball Music on the 9th of March 2018 and can be pre-ordered now from here.
Tour dates are listed below:
· April 10th – Manchester Apollo
· April 11th – Edinburgh Usher Hall
· April 13th – Bristol Colston Hall
· April 14th – Sheffield City Hall
· April 16th – London Royal Albert Hall
· April 18th – Utrecht, Netherlands, Tivolivredenburg
· April 19th – Berlin, Germany, Tempodrom
Barnes utilises dynamic shifts and sinewy layers to sculpt a rock-solid, emotional track that zaps you in the chest – The Line Of Best Fit
Graceful, soothing songwriting.. – Clash
No Comments