The band will release their fifth album, Tangk, in February
Idles have released a new single, “Dancer,” featuring LCD Soundsystem‘s James Murphy and Nancy Whang. The song is the first listen from the U.K. group’s forthcoming fifth LP, Tangk, out Feb. 16 via Partisan Records.
The band performed a secret show at London’s Village Underground on Oct. 17 under the name Tangk and previewed two new songs, “Gratitude” and “Dancer,” according to NME. Frontman Joe Talbot told NME how he approached Murphy and Whang while on tour with LCD Soundsystem to ask if they would provide the vocals on “Dancer.”
“If you don’t ask, you don’t get,” Talbot said. “By that point we’d been touring with them for a few weeks and knew they were lovely human beings. They took time out of their day off and took us to their studio. They were really accommodating and lovely, so hard-working, patient and awesome. They’re sick.”
Tangk was produced by Nigel Godrich and Idles guitarist Mark Bowen. It follows the band’s 2021 LP Crawler. Talbot told NME “Dancer” is emblematic of what the new album will be about.
“When I started this album, I said to Bowen: ‘I want to make people dance, I want people to feel the love that I need in my life, I want to make people move, I want our music to be infectious again – and I want it to be infectious in a way that makes people feel, not think. I want to feel part of something electric again,’” Talbot said. “I wanted to elaborate and transgress from 2021’s Crawler, which was the start of something new for us. When something feels as electric as Crawler did, I just wanted to continue it and to evoke a sense of purpose with what we are as musicians.”
In a statement on social media, the band noted, “I needed love. So I made it. I gave love out to the world and it feels like magic. This is our album of gratitude and power. All love songs. All is love.”
Tangk is available for pre-order now. Idles have a slew of upcoming tour dates, with stops in Asia and Europe schedule through next March.