The Amazons have announced their third studio album, ‘How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me?’ – listen to new single ‘Bloodrush’ below. Tickets for their 2022 UK and Ireland tour will be available here.
Following on from 2019’s ‘Future Dust’, the 11-track “anthem-packed” record will arrive on September 2 via Fiction. You can pre-order/pre-save it here.
- READ MORE: The Amazons – ‘Future Dust’ review
The Reading band’s upcoming full-length LP was produced by Jim Abbiss (Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Adele) and features co-writing collaborations with the likes of Maggie Rogers and Jamie Hartmann.
Having thought they had half of their new album written, The Amazons later found that the COVID-enforced lockdown period in 2020 provided a wave of unexpected inspiration.
In turn, frontman Matt Thomson began penning material solo on an acoustic guitar for his LA-based girlfriend who he’d been separated from for months.
“The gap between us was no longer being bridged by WhatsApps and Facetimes,” he explained in a statement. “I sent letters but that didn’t do it either. We felt further apart than ever.”
Thomson continued: “Writing songs about what we’d do when we were together again became my way of taking control of the situation. It allowed me to share something truly intimate. Writing songs is how I process life. It’s the best skill I have and being able to use it to fix a problem gave me purpose again.”
The singer subsequently sent the “bare bones” of the resulting tunes to his bandmates.
“I said to the boys, enough with the darkness,” Thomson recalled. “As cheesy as it sounds, I wanted to make music that was a force for good, after everything we’ve all been through.”
He added: “It’s easily our most joyous album – sonically we set out to celebrate the return of real-life and the communal experience of being back at shows.”
The Amazons have previewed ‘How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me?’ with the euphoric sounds of ‘Bloodrush’, which premiered on BBC Radio 1 last night (March 24). You can listen above.
“The verses are all about communicating with my girlfriend – I’d had enough of the monotony of waiting to see her,” Thomson explained.
“We finally met up in Mexico, quarantined for two weeks together, then spent two wonderful months together in LA. I came home and went straight to Jamie Hartmann’s place where we captured the rush of what I’d just been through.
“It’s about whatever it is you never want to live without and the joy of being given it back.”
Check out the full tracklist for ‘How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me?’ below.
1. ‘How Will I Know?’
2. ‘Bloodrush’
3. ‘Say It Again’
4. ‘There’s A Light’
5. ‘Northern Star’
6. ‘Wait For Me’
7. ‘One By One’
8. ‘Ready For Something’
9. ‘For The Night’
10. ‘In The Morning’
11. ‘I’m Not Ready’
The Amazons are set to embark on a UK and Ireland headline tour in October following a run of support slots with Royal Blood this spring. They’re also scheduled to appear at various summer festivals, including The Great Escape and Isle Of Wight Festival.
Tickets for The Amazons’ 2022 UK and Ireland tour go on general sale at 10am BST next Thursday (March 31) – buy yours here.
The Amazons will play:
OCTOBER
5 – Whelans, Dublin
6 – Limelight 2, Belfast
8 – Academy, Manchester
9 – Rock City, Nottingham
11 – O2 Guildhall, Southampton
12 – O2 Academy, Bristol
13 – O2 Academy, Leeds
15 – O2 Institute, Birmingham
16 – SWG3 Galvanisers, Glasgow
17 – Boilershop, Newcastle
19 – UEA, Norwich
20 – Roundhouse, London