Following the release of new song Heat Waves, Glass Animals vocalist Dave Bayley took to social media to announce the postponement of the band’s newest album Dreamland.
Originally due to drop in July via Polydore, the band will now release the album on August 7th. Their third studio album follows the Mercury Prize nominated How To Be A Human Being, which features popular tracks Pork Soda and Agnes. Dreamland has been suggested to be highly anticipated in the indie fanbase, with the band progressing into more varied genres, heard in the Denzel Curry collaboration Tokyo Drifting.
The choice to postpone the album was in favour of the Black Lives Matter movement, in order to support the discussions of racial inequality around the world. On the release of Heat Waves, Bayley stated:
“We are often expected to ‘be strong’ and to swallow our sadness… being vulnerable should be a positive thing.“
Glass Animals’ open-source website has functioned as a promotional tool for the upcoming release, with hidden codes and information written into the website’s scripts. As a result, fans had discovered the original release date of the album, alongside single releases and track listings. On Instagram, the band explained how they don’t want to take people’s attention away from important social issues, for the sake of their new album:
“The deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Amhaud Arbery horrified us to our core… and the despicable responses of police brutality and the hideous behaviour of extremists that followed were completely heartbreaking. It couldn’t have felt more like the wrong time to release music. All eyes and minds need to be focused on civil rights, and understanding how to defeat prejudice.“
Their statement confirmed the new release date would be August 7th, suggesting Dreamland to be ‘an album which stands for destroying engrained thinking patterns of all forms’ and how they believe that ‘Life should be colourful.’ The band’s full statement can be read on their Instagram page.
