
Circa Waves today release the second chapter of their brand new album Death & Love Pt.2 - out now via Lower Third/[PIAS] - with both parts now making the whole 18-track album available on CD and double gatefold vinyl.
Back in July, the band returned with the bubbling, laid-back slacker indie anthem "Cherry Bomb", which was followed by the brilliant "Old Balloons" - an homage to touring, reflecting on life left back at home, and today sees the release of Strokes-esque "Stick Around".
On the release of the second part to the band's new record, frontman Kieran Shudall explains; "Death & Love marks the end of a chapter - a farewell to the scariest part of my life so far. These songs are about being close to death, coming out the other side, and rediscovering a love for life. They're the truest representation of Circa Waves yet - the thing we've been chasing since our very first album. It's a record filled with fear and euphoria, sadness and joy. It's both sides of life - the darkness and the light."
Released in January 2025, Death & Love Pt.1 was all about starting from scratch and starting over after his lowest point with his brush with mortality. In early 2023, Kieran received a call from doctors to say that the main artery in his heart was severely blocked. Two days later, he was lying on an operating table watching a wire being inserted into his heart to fix it. What followed was the cancelling of a lot of shows, working out a lot of medication, and most crucially, now having to navigate a new way of life.
However, one record wasn't enough to house all that would come flooding from such a profound experience. "I'd written so much stuff after all the heart incident stuff - there was a release of creativity," Shuddall admits. "There were more songs than I'd ever written before, in one furious writing period."
The two albums were produced by Shuddall and recorded between a friend's studio in Finsbury Park and the iconic RAK studios in London, where Green Day and Muse happened to be working at the time ("I saw Billie Joe Armstrong in the toilet!" Kieran excitedly proclaims). The sister records come together to boast the sound of bouncing back from potential tragedy.
Circa Waves was formed in Liverpool in May 2013. The band first gained a buzz and earned favorable comparisons to the Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, and the Vaccines before they hit the Top Ten with their debut, 2015's Young Chasers. Buoyed by singles like "T-Shirt Weather" and "Stuck in My Teeth", the album reached the Top Ten of the U.K. albums chart and paved the way for a series of well-attended live shows, including a sold-out date at London's O2. In 2020, they reached number four on the U.K. albums chart with Sad Happy and returned in 2023 with Never Going Under.
Life is for living - and living well - and Circa Waves are here to soundtrack that. Stream the album here and watch the "Stick Around" video below:
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