Royal Blood today unveil their eagerly anticipated new album Back To The Water Below, launched alongside a video for the new single ‘Shiner In The Dark’.
Back To The Water Below follows three previous consecutive UK #1 records from the Brighton duo. The album’s first two singles, ‘Mountains At Midnight’ and ‘Pull Me Through’ were premiered by Clara Amfo and Jack Saunders at Radio 1, while the band’s summer touring highlights have included a landmark homecoming show on Brighton Beach, headline sets at Truck, Y NOT? and Kendal Calling, plus further major festivals such as Glastonbury and TRNSMT.
When Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher started work on Back To The Water Below, they cast aside any preconceptions of what their band could be. They allowed themselves the freedom to embrace other ideas: at times being guided by melodies rather than riffs and rhythms, and at others deploying whatever instrumentation they felt best complemented the songs. If in doubt, they returned to a core belief: that the sound of Royal Blood isn’t defined by genre or the instruments that they play, but by the unique chemistry forged by the two friends.
Listen to ‘Shiner In The Dark’ by Royal Blood on the Brighton & Hove Albion Fan Playlist on Spotify.
Key to achieving their creative liberation was the decision to produce the record entirely independently for the first time – not to mention having the freedom to stroll down to their studio space near their homes in Brighton whenever a moment of inspiration struck. While everything had changed for Royal Blood over the course of the previous decade, the reason for forming the band was completely unchanged: the simple joy of Mike plugging in, Ben picking up his sticks, and the pair making a racket for the sheer fun of it.
Mike says, “I think this record was about letting the ideas take us where they needed to go and off the back of ‘Typhoons’, we felt permission to go to those places with more confidence and knowledge of how to execute them. If there was a song that was calling us to do something that wasn’t typically what we’re known for we felt more like that’s where we were going to go. The songs are in charge and if that means having a record that is quite varied that’s what we were going to go for. As a result we’ve made a rollercoaster of a record.”
That rollercoaster ride has been demonstrated by the album’s previous singles. First, ‘Mountains At Midnight’ offered a supercharged take on the old school Royal Blood prototype, and then ‘Pull Me Through’ provided a softer sting as it united plaintive piano with a full-blooded denouement. The new single ‘Shiner In The Dark’ continues that unpredictable streak as it sets a rock ‘n’ roll swagger to the tight, danceable rhythms that pulsated throughout the Typhoons album.
Meanwhile, its other new songs are just as essential. Devoid of distortion, ‘The Firing Line’ represents a bigger departure, its ‘90s alt-rock tone and an underbelly of psychedelia later elevated by a chiming piano melody, while ‘Tell Me When It’s Too Late’ erupts into a maximalist wall-of-sound. It ends on a high with the ethereal ‘Waves’, which opens with melancholy dream pop atmospherics before taking flight with an expansive shoegaze-tinged finale.
Royal Blood celebrate the release of ‘Back To The Water Below’ by playing intimate matinee and evening album launch shows in Kingston, Bristol, Leeds and Brighton – limited tickets remain for the evening Leeds show, but all others are sold-out. They will play a wider UK and Ireland tour next month which is already almost sold-out, and will embark upon two North American tours before the year is out.
