“Music isn’t about haircuts and shoes,” the boring ones cry. But they’re wrong, Dear Reader. Pop music is all about haircuts and shoes – and absolutely anything else we want it to be, too. In the big melting pot of culture, to just concentrate solely on The Art, as worthy and amazing as it may be, is to ignore the vibrant seasoning of the world around it. Context is everything, and everything – at the end of the day – is haircuts.
Not that any of us need to justify ourselves. Styling choices are very important. Does anyone thing Alex Turner decided on the stylistic shift for Arctic Monkeys’ latest album by himself, or is it more likely that new beard whispered sweet, hairy nothings in his ear until we finally came round to the joys of plinky plonking the old ivory keys? Is it any surprise that the 1975’s new era is being accompanied by some brave barnet choices from Matty Healy? He knows that to change his viewpoint, first he must change his locks. One without the other would simply not be pop.
Some of our brightest talents are powered purely by hair alone. Bastille’s Dan Smith is basically a birrova genius, not only fronting one of the biggest bands on the planet, but being a dab hand at the old production game, and running his own label too. We’ve not scientifically proven that talent all stems from his iconic quiff, but like Thor and his hammer, we’re about to find out.
Yes, Dear Reader. This is all a roundabout way of breaking it to you. Dan’s quiff is gone.
We know. When we were first told, we needed a sit down and a cup of tea too. “Wait…” we realised, “is that why he’s been wearing hats for weeks now?”
Yes, it turns out. It is. The act itself takes place in the video for most recent single ‘Quarter Past Midnight’, which has just this minute dropped online. In it, Danny boy loses his locks before it all starts getting a bit weird.
“We made the video over a couple of days and nights in Paris with our incredibly talented friend, and long-time collaborator, Austin Peters,” Dan explains “It’s is a nod towards some of our favourite films and directors. Like the album as a whole, it’s a surreal journey through euphoric highs and lows of a night, and all that comes with it: the escapism, warped realities, and unclear memories.”
What remains unclear is when we’ll be getting Bastille’s much anticipated third album. We know this is a first taster of it, and Dan has promised a fan we’ll have it before November, but beyond that – who knows. Keep ‘em peeled and check out the video below.
“It’s just about trying to capture that Sliding Doors moment on a night out,” explains Dan, speaking about the track. “Some people are gonna go home; for some this is just the beginning. It became about being in someone’s car, driving through the city, and I wanted to try and capture that sense of excitement, and that rush.”
“It’s way easier to escape in the night time,” says Smith. “Places that aren’t normally open are open to the world, and the places that you associate with reality and work are all shut down. There’s a parallel universe that exists, and this other set of people who are out and about.”
Recorded and self-produced in their newly built studio (“an old porn studio that we turned into a place that could be ours”), it’s the product of a five month spell recording new music – the longest Bastille have spent in one place since releasing debut album ‘Bad Blood’ five years ago.
“Our first album was pieced together over a period of time, and then we never stopped to make our second record, we just carried on going,” Smith recalls. “So it was really unusual and awesome to stop, properly focus on one thing and live a life in London for a while.”
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