Emerging in a crowded field with fellow indie nouveau goth bands like Interpol and Editors, White Lies have been, in my view very underrated over the years.
Their 2019 album ‘Five’ has been just re-released with the addition of two new songs, ‘Falling Out Without Me’ and ‘Hurt My Heart’, recorded with US producer Andrew Wells (5 Seconds Of Summer, Fall Out Boy) in Los Angeles.
‘Falling Out Without Me is an absolute visceral indie pop classic that has a driving heartbeat and epic choruses. It is classically studied and poised with an icy veneer:
The band’s lyricist and bass player Charles Cave explains the track’s origins:
Falling Out Without Me follows on the heels of Tokyo and having witnessed how immersion into pure pop connected with our fanbase, come the summer and a gap in the touring schedule we decided to write and record two new songs. It’s a fairly abstract song about the feeling you’re losing yourself and becoming unhinged. Much like Tokyo, we wanted to write something with a lot of groove and a real ear-worm hook. It’s infectious, this one.”
This is the opening song of their re-released album, ‘Five’, which is an absolute delight – a vibrant collection of unashamedly commercial pop tunes cloaked in White Lies’ arctic, celestial style that has embraced mind-clinging melodies and delicate textures.
The aforementioned ‘Tokyo’ is an example – there is a muscular rhythm underpinning an utterly pulse quickening chorus, with an electronic beat that illustrates White Lies effortless ability to develop an accessible complexity that is eminently danceable:
And this style is a reliable thread throughout the album – eleven songs that could each be a single with their elegance, poise and style.
White Lies are to me the epitome of underrated – and I am just as guilty in such an overcrowded world of musical releases. This album passed under the radar but the new single represents a welcome alert to the delights that are within this entire album.
You can get the album through the usual links here.
White Lies are also on tour:
16 Nov PPC, GRAZ AT
17 Nov Posthof, LINZ AT
18 Nov Kulturfabrik Kofmehl, SOLOTHURN CH
20 Nov Stodola, WARSAW PL
21 Nov Reithaille, DRESDEN DE
22 Nov Gibson, FRANKFURT DE
24 Nov Muziekgieterij, MAASTRICHT NL
26 Nov Cirque Royal, BRUSSELS BE
27 Nov TivoliVredenberg, UTRECHT NL
28 Nov TivoliVredenburg, UTRECHT NL
30 Nov DR Koncertsalen, COPENHAGEN DK
01 Dec Vega, COPENHAGEN DK
03 Dec Tempodrom, BERLIN DE
05 Dec Academy, MANCHESTER UK
06 Dec O2 Academy Brixton, LONDON UK
07 Dec O2 Academy Brixton, LONDON UK
09 Dec Eldborg Harpa, REYKJAVIK IS
