CHARLIE BARNES SHARES NEW SINGLE & VIDEO FOR ‘WILL & TESTAMENT’ & ANNOUNCES BASTILLE SUPPORT TOUR

by | Feb 17, 2018 | News, Tour

NEW SINGLE FEATURES BASTILLE’S DAN SMITH ON BACKING VOCALS
Singer-songwriter and Bastille live member Charlie Barnes has shared a new single from his upcoming sophomore album ‘Oceanography’ with ‘Will & Testament’ featuring backing vocals from Bastille’s Dan Smith. 

 
The follow up to 2015’s post-pop monster ‘More Stately Mansions’, ‘Oceanography’ finds Barnes in a different place in his life. The past two years have seen huge change for the musician, he has spent the majority of his time on the road as a touring member of Bastille, performing on some of the biggest stages in the world and travelling all over the globe as well as getting married and relocating from Leeds to the Midlands.
 
New single Will & Testament sees Barnes exploring his poppiest urges with excellent results explaining “Will & Testament’ has been through a lot of different iterations in its lifetime. The main guitar hook that starts the song is from the very first demo recording I did before the last album was even finished, and I originally built the demo up to be this big, wall of sound moody post rock thing with really nasty sounding guitars in the middle eight. Funnily enough, it was the former Oceansize member who suggested we take a slightly different approach, so we have Steve to thank for how this song eventually turned out. It’s sorted of ended up sounding like Discoceansize. Yep. I went there.”
The new single also features backing vocals from Bastille’s Dan Smith with Barnes adding “He made it all sound much better, so thanks Dan.”
 
In contrast to his previous LP – largely recorded in one place with producer and Oceansize guitarist Steve Durose – ‘Oceanography’ is a story of snatched moments after tour rehearsals, late nights spent in far flung studios from Wales to Virginia, ideas sent back and forth over email and put down in fits and starts while on the road. At points it seemed like it would never come together, so it’s some achievement that it not only matches the attention-grabbing maximalist prog pop of ‘More Stately Mansions’, but builds and expands on that record’s foundations.
 
Barnes has also shared a video to go alongside the single explaining “The idea for this video came about during a severely self-deprecating conversation I was having at a festival somewhere with Bastille’s lighting guy Jamie. I was (half) jokingly explaining that promoting a record can be sort of like screaming at a brick wall for a bit. We thought that would make a good idea for a music video, so I spent a lovely afternoon in Eastbourne looking for really good walls with my long-time collaborator and all round life guru Ryan.”
 
Charlie has also announced he will be pulling double shifts and opening on the sold out run of Bastille Re-Orchestrated shows, including at the Royal Albert Hall and Manchester Apollo.
Tour dates are listed below:
March 7th – Leeds, Oporto (with The Society Pages)
March 13th – Glasgow, Bloc
March 14th – Leicester, The Cookie (with The Society Pages)
March 15th – London, Islington Academy 2
March 22nd – Sheffield, West Street Live
Bastille Re-Orchestrated shows:
April 10th – Manchester Apollo, UK
April 11th – Edinburgh Usher Hall, UK
April 13th – Bristol Colston Hall, UK
April 14th – Sheffield City Hall, UK
April 16th – London Royal Albert Hall, UK
April 18th – Utrecht, Tivolivredenburg, Netherlands
April 19th – Berlin, Tempodrom, Germany
April 20th – Lucerne, KKL, Switzerland
 
 
‘Oceanography’ will be released on Superball Music on the 9th of March 2018 and can be pre-ordered now on CD, LP & digital download here:https://charliebarnes.lnk.to/Oceanography
 
Exclusive bundles featuring a t-shirt & signed postcard are available here: https://charliebarnes.tmstor.es/
 
“Barnes utilises dynamic shifts and sinewy layers to sculpt a rock-solid, emotional track that zaps you in the chest” – The Line Of Best Fit
“Graceful, soothing songwriting..” – Clash
 
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