Foals drop new track ‘Looking High’ from forthcoming new album ‘Life Is Yours’

Home > News > Foals drop new track ‘Looking High’ from forthcoming new album ‘Life Is Yours’
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  • Life Is Yours is out on June 17th (pre-order here*)
  • New track Looking High available now
  • band to headline Latitude festival
  • Debut album Antidodes to be re-issued on vinyl (pre-order here*)

Having recently confirmed their new album Life is Yours for release on June 17th, Foals today return with new album cut Looking High. The new song features a vibrant mix of warm synth sounds, a full voice from frontman Yannis Philippakis, and guitar riffs that dart with dazzling disco vibes.

Originally a demo recorded by guitarist Jimmy Smith, the Prince influence is obvious. After lockdown, when Yannis, Jimmy and drummer Jack Bevan reunited for the first time in a long, their energy was amplified by their enthusiasm of performing together again. 

The track reminisces about a time before the pandemic while the Oxford based band still roamed their local night club scene. Yannis explains:

This is looking back to a more hedonistic time in my life, and a more innocent time in society in general, pre-pandemic and before the existential threat of climate change. It takes place in an alley in Oxford with two clubs – The Cellar and The Wheatsheaf – that all the city’s nightlife gravitated towards. It was before clubs started to close down and our cities started to change into more corporate, arid places. There’s an element of being haunted by nightlife that’s no longer there.

(As an Oxford alumna, I have vivid, if somewhat blurry, memories of these places).

Their new album Life Is Yours is, according to Philippakis, their “version of a dance or disco album” with lyrics that “that take you out of the oppression of the lockdown and the desolation of the last year.”

We wanted to refocus and do something that shared a DNA throughout the songs: a physicality, a danceability, and with energy and joyousness. It’s definitely the poppiest record we’ve ever made. I feel that with Everything Not Saved… we touched upon all of the facets of our sound up until that point. This time we wanted to find a new way to express ourselves

Yannis Philippakis

New Foals Album – What We Know So Far

  • It is titled Life is Yours
  • The album was written during the lockdown in the winter of 2020
  • Life is Yours contains new single 2am
  • The new album contains recent single Wake Me Up
  • It is a likely an upbeat dance & disco inspired album
  • Life is Yours will be released on June 17th
  • It is their seventh studio album

Foals startet writing tracks for the new album in winter 2020 in their rehearsal space in South London during the lockdown. Writing upbeat tracks like Wake Me Up and 2am provided not only some much needed escapism but a hopeful look into the future when touring would be possible again. As a result, these first tasters sound very uplifting, danceable and summerly.

Life is Yours follows on from 2019’s two-part album Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost landed the band their first UK #1 album as well as three prestigious awards: Best Group at the BRIT Awards, Best Album at the Q Awards and Best Live Act at the NME Awards. It also led to their third Mercury Prize nomination.

‘Life is Yours’ tracklist

  1. ‘Life Is Yours’
  2. ‘Wake Me Up’
  3. ‘2am’
  4. ‘2001’
  5. ‘(summer sky)’
  6. ‘Flutter’
  7. ‘Looking High’
  8. ‘Under The Radar’
  9. ‘Crest of the Wave’
  10. ‘The Sound’
  11. ‘Wild Green’

New single 2am out now

Produced by John Hill (Portugal The Man, Florence + The Machine, Cage The Elephant ) and Dan Carey (Tame Impala, Fontaines D.C.), 2am was recorded during sessions at Real World Studios, Bath and Carey’s studio in south London. It was then mixed ten-time Grammy Award winner Manny Marroquin (Post Malone, Kanye West, Rihanna).

Philippakis comments on the track:

Musically ‘2am’ is one of the poppiest songs we’ve ever written. It’s about repetitive cycles of destructive behaviour, which I think lots of people can relate to, and certainly it’s an expression of something that I struggle with. There’s something cathartic about expressing that feeling to this upbeat music that’s got a sense of release and the hope of resolution.

He adds on the meaning behind the lyrics of 2am:

The lyrics tap into the idea of trying to wake up after the fever dream and terrible nightmare of the last 18 months. We really wanted to revel in the power of rhythm and music and what that brings to your body, heart and soul. It’s an absolute banger of a track and feels joyous and full of light to us.

Debut album Antidodes to be re-issued on vinyl

Commemorating the 14th anniversary of its original release, the band’s debut album Antidodes will be repressed on recycled vinyl alongside Life Is Yours. Both LPs can be pre-ordered here*.

Foals EU and UK tour dates and tickets

This spring, the trio will finally embark on their since rescheduled UK and European arena tour, including four consecutive sold-out nights at Olympia London.

  • Wed 20 Apr – Usher Hall, Edinburgh (Sold Out)
  • Thu 21 Apr – Usher Hall, Edinburgh (Sold Out)
  • Sat 23 Apr – Utilita Arena, Birmingham
  • Mon 25 Apr – Bonus Arena, Hull
  • Tue 26 Apr – O2 City Hall, Newcastle
  • Wed 27 Apr – Brighton Centre, Brighton
  • Fri 29 Apr – Olympia, London (Sold Out)
  • Sat 30 Apr – Olympia, London (Sold Out)
  • Sun 01 May – Olympia, London (Sold Out)
  • Mon 02 May – Olympia, London (Sold Out)
  • Thu 05 May – Empress Ballroom, Blackpool (Sold Out)
  • Fri 06 May – Empress Ballroom, Blackpool (Sold Out)
  • Sun 08 May – O2 Academy Brixton, London (Sold Out)
  • Wed 29 Jun – Sounds Of The City, Castlefield Bowl, Manchester
  • Fri 08 Jul – Sounds Of The City, Millennium Square, Leeds

Following the departure of founding member Edwin Congreave (Keyboard, Saxophon) last summer, Foals are now a trio completed by Jimmy Smith (rhythm guitar) and Jack Bevan (drums, percussions).

Listen on Apple Music

Deborah Jacobs

Music blogger by night, SEO by day. Started Indie is not a Genre in 2011, will always prefer live music over recordings and intimate pub gigs over arena shows.



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