The unstoppable force that is IDLES have announced their fifth studio album, TANGK, and shared its first single, ‘Dancer’.
Their first new material since 2021’s Grammy-nominated CRAWLER, the news comes in the wake of the band’s secret show earlier in the week at Village Underground, where they were joined by James Murphy and Nancy Whang of LCD Soundsystem.
The duo also appear as collaborators on the track, providing backing vocals over the chorus while IDLES also reunite with Kenny Beats and add Nigel Godrich to the production fold for the full album.
‘Dancer’ takes things a few steps back for IDLES, though not in terms of the group’s ambition. The song revels in a certain simplicity lyrically without any of the anger that permeated their previous two albums, with frontman Joe Talbot directly focusing his lyrics around the theme of dancefloors rather than employing the laboured similes that had begun to take centre stage.
Musically there are a number of features that remain part of IDLES’ sound, such as the rumbling bass and cataclysmic drums, while Talbot is still growling gutturally throughout despite there not being as much of a sting in his lyricism on this outing. Love them or loathe them, there’s still plenty of life left in IDLES, and this offering serves as a reminder of why they’ve reached the levels they find themselves at.
The track is also accompanied by a video; a visually striking clip directed by Jocelyn Anquetil, which you can watch below.
Photo credit: Tom Ham
