Watch Wild Beasts' video for new single 'Big Cat'

Watch Wild Beasts' video for new single 'Big Cat'

Following the announcement of new album Boy King, released 5th August 2016 on Domino, alongside its first single ‘Get My Bang’, Wild Beasts have released the video for the album’s second single, ‘Big Cat’. Filmed in several locations outside of Barcelona, Spain and directed by Pablo Maestres, watch the video now HERE, as premiered earlier today via The Guardian.

“If ‘Get My Bang’ was a song of the id then ‘Big Cat’ is the super ego,” says lead vocalist Hayden Thorpe of ‘Big Cat’, Boy King’s menacing opening track. “It marked a breakthrough in the writing process for the album, defining the swagger and attitude that would come to shape Boy King. He is all powerful, but at what price?”

Listen to Big Cat on Spotify HERE

Listen to Big Cat on Apple Music HERE

Where 2014's Present Tense album found Wild Beasts in reflective mood, absorbing a fascination with online culture and electronic music, Boy King has them, as Fleming puts it, "back to being pissed off". The quartet’s ever-present knack for sensual melody via Hayden Thorpe and Fleming's dueting vocals, Ben Little's sinuous guitar groove and Chris Talbot's potent rhythm section carries in Boy King an aggressive, snarling and priapic beast that delves into the darker side of masculinity and Thorpe's own psyche. As Hayden himself says, "After five records there had to be an element of 'what the fuck?'".

The raw pop of Boy King's songs are the perfect foil to Thorpe's libidinous lyricism: "it became apparent that that guitar almost became the character within the songs, that phallic character, the all-conquering male," he says. "I'm letting my inner Byron fully out, I thought I'd tucked him away, but he came screaming back like the Incredible Hulk." Here lies Boy King's greatest success. Between the slide of prowling aggression and interior darkness, there are glorious, gorgeous moments. It’s yet another incomparable Wild Beasts record; a visceral, sensual and jolting body of work that acts as a remarkable soundtrack to the early 21st century male malaise. Or as Thorpe puts it: "I think Boy King is an apocalyptic record. It's about swimming in the abyss. When you think about sex, you've got to think about death, they're one and the same.”

Boy King will be released on heavyweight 12” vinyl including album download card, with a deluxe edition including a bonus 7” of two bonus songs available via the Wild Beasts online store. The album will also be released on standard and deluxe CD formats, with the deluxe edition including a 12-page booklet, as well as digital download.

All deluxe editions include bonus material, Boy King Trash.

Wild Beasts will support the release of Boy King with a run of UK and European live dates in autumn 2016, including two nights at London’s Roundhouse on Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th October. The dates follow summer festival appearances including a headline slot at Green Man Festival in August, with those dates preceded by two short residencies in Leeds and Brighton in July.

The band have also announced two in-store appearances to coincide with the album’s release at London’s Rough Trade East on the day of Boy King’s release, Friday 5th August, as well as Banquet Records on Thursday 25th August.

All tickets are on sale now via the band’s website HERE. Pre-order in-store tickets as part of a Boy King album package via Rough Trade HERE and Banquet Records HERE    

Forthcoming live dates are as follows, with UK live dates highlighted bold: -

Tue 26 Jul 2016 UK, Leeds Brudenell Social Club

Weds 27 July 2016 UK, Leeds Brudenell Social Club

Thu 28 Jul 2016 UK, Brighton Hove Old Market

Fri 29 Jul 2016 UK, Brighton Hove Old Market

Fri 05 Aug 2016 UK, London Rough Trade East [IN STORE PERFORMANCE]

Thu 18 Aug 2016 UK, Green Man Festival

Thu 25 Aug 2016 UK, London Banquet Records [IN STORE PERFORMANCE]

Fri 26 Aug 2016 UK, UK Electric Fields

Sat 27 Aug 2016 Finland, Helsinki Modern Sky Festival

Fri 02 Sep 2016 Netherlands, Into The Great Wide Open

Sun 04 Sep 2016 Ireland Electric Picnic

Sat 24 Sep 2016 Germany, Reeperbahn Festival

Wed 28 Sep 2016 UK, Bristol Motion

Thu 29 Sep 2016 UK, Oxford O2 Academy Oxford

Fri 30 Sep 2016 UK, Margate By The Sea Festival

Sat 01 Oct 2016 UK, Sheffield The Foundry

Mon 03 Oct 2016 UK, Cambridge The Junction

Tue 04 Oct 2016 UK, London The Roundhouse

Fri 07 Oct 2016 UK, Newcastle Northumbria Uni

Sat 08 Oct 2016 UK, Glasgow QMU

Sun 09 Oct 2016 UK, Manchester Academy

Wed 12 Oct 2016 Belgium, Brussels Botanique Orangerie

Thu 13 Oct 2016 France, Paris La Gaîté Lyrique

Fri 14 Oct 2016 France, Tourcoing Le Grand Mix

Sat 15 Oct 2016 France, Strasbourg La Laiterie

Sun 16 Oct 2016 Germany, Cologne Luxor

Tue 18 Oct 2016 Denmark, Copenhagen Pumpehuset

Thu 20 Oct 2016 Germany, Berlin Kesselhaus

Fri 21 Oct 2016 Czech Republic, Prague Lucerna Music Bar

Sun 23 Oct 2016 Switzerland, Zurich, Rote Fabrik

Tue 25 Oct 2016 Italy, Milan, Magnolia

Wed 26 Oct 2016 France, Lyon Epicerie Moderne

Sat 29 Oct 2016 Spain, Bilbao BIME