Loathe have discussed their new album, A Stranger to You.
The English band’s third album arrives this Friday, July 17th via SharpTone Records. It’s the highly anticipated follow-up to 2021’s The Things They Believe.
According to a press release, A Stranger to You “takes the formula that the band helped to build for modern alternative music and reshapes it; crafting a brand new world that integrates disparate global influences to confound listeners and sharpen the senses.”
It’s being hailed as their “most sonically adventurous work to date.”
In a new interview with Rolling Stone AU/NZ ahead of the album’s release, founding member Erik Bickerstaffe opened up about his deep connection with his bandmates.
“I’ve never felt it with any other people before. We’re in this weird synchronicity now,” Bickerstaffe said. “We can finish each other’s sentences musically and we can predict what one another is about to say or do.
“We’re not afraid to critique each other, even outside of music. Holding ourselves accountable as people. I think that boundary really isn’t crossed with a lot of bands, from my perspective. It really is beneficial to be able to be so open and receptive to criticism. It’s only benefitted us musically, creatively and socially. It then just lends itself to a better relationship everywhere.”
Bickerstaffe also explained why Loathe took their time between releases.
“A big part of why we took so long was just because we wanted to make sure we were happy and really proud to be able to stand behind it forever,” he told the publication.
“We see the way things operate nowadays and don’t necessarily agree with it. For us, the music, our output really needs to be felt correctly; internalised correctly, and put out correctly. It doesn’t necessarily happen when we snap our fingers.
“I’m grateful, I know the rest of the guys are grateful for the fact that we’ve been afforded the space. Not a lot of people, I believe, can withstand not releasing music for the amount of time that we’ve taken. It’s not lost on us at all. It was extremely important for us to be happy, to be proud of what we’re doing. Not only just through the music itself, but through the way that we work together.”
Read the full interview here.
Following their album announcement earlier this year, Loathe embarked on their first-ever headline tour of Australia.
Commencing on Saturday, May 9th in Perth, the band took their immersive live show to Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Newcastle, before closing out in Brisbane.
Loathe’s A Stranger to You is out Friday, July 17th via SharpTone Records (pre-save/pre-order here).
