Enter Shikari give update on their next album

'More grandiose than punk'

Enter Shikari have given an update on their new album, which the band are due to start recording in January and they say will be more ‘extreme’.

The band, who have just finished touring for their acclaimed fourth album ‘The Mindsweep’, will be back in 2017 to headline Slam Dunk Festival – and it looks like they’ll be back with new material too.

“I’ve been writing for the last few months, so it’s an organisational period really of getting stuff together,” frontman Rou Reynolds told NME. “I can’t really not write or have down time. Even if I’m on holiday there’ll be something going on. We’ll be recording in January – February time, so we’ve got a few months to get everything prepared.”

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Asked if the band’s recent surprise single ‘Hoodwinker’ was a sign of things to come, Reynolds replied: “It’s definitely an anomaly. We recorded it at the same time as our previous single, ‘Redshift’ and it’s a completely different sound and vibe from that. It’s just a track that’s a bit of fun, every now and then it’s good to throw these one off tracks out there that don’t have to represent anything larger and can push the boat out a bit more.”

 

When asked where they’d be likely to take their sound from here, Reynolds said: “The biggest thing that’s inspired us was the arena tour last year. We’ve never been the most ambitious band – success-hungry or however you define success, but I think that because it opened so many doors creatively. You know, with the quadraphonic surround sound and visuals synced up with the music.

“Production-wise there were things that we’d never been able to do before. When you go into a venue that size and it’s a big empty room you can bring in stuff and make the whole space your own, make it an environment, and that’s something we’ve never really shied away from really. We’re edging towards the more sort of, not theatrical but a bigger. Something more grandiose than punk I suppose. So yeah, I think that gave us a taste of what we can sort of be, and grow into hopefully.

Reynolds added: “I think that’s the only thing that we’re thinking of at the moment, just kind of, as we’re writing, trying to figure out not a complete direction change or departure but just trying to make things sound bigger.

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“It’s always the classic cliché of, the heavier bits are going to be heavier, the melodies are going to be more melodious.”

Speaking of the progress with lyrics on the new album, Reynolds said: “I’ve been writing lyrics not to music, just poetry I guess. Some of that might be used, Some of it’s I guess not more personal but I guess philosophical rather than frank direct politics. I’m sure there’ll be a wide range of subjects, but I always like to let the music do the dictating. Whatever each song conjures up and makes me feel that directs the lyrical topics.”

Slam Dunk Festival 2017 takes place across multiple venues in Birmingham on 27 May, Leeds on 28 May and Hatfield on 29 May.

‘Live At Alexandra Palace’ is out now.

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