From being well-received at press, to strong UK radio support, Death & Love Pt.1 was both terrifying and liberating to write, and is the first instalment of urgent, 9-track hits of cathartic guitar-pop, serving as a powerful coping mechanism to help process frontman Kieran Shudall’s near-death experience. Both parts are set for release on the 24th of October. The album sees supreme indie hits including a nice big slab of Strokes-y dancefloor destruction of ‘Like You Did Before’ to its first offering ‘We Made It’, as well as the extremely topical and longing ‘American Dream’. Back 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. And the results are quite simply stunning. Self-produced by Kieran, and engineered by Matt Wiggins (Adele, Lana Del Rey, Glass Animals), the nine tracks that make up Death & Love Pt.1 ooze nostalgia, and hark back to the sounds and themes that made Shudall want to pick up a guitar in the very first place. Death & Love is an incredibly powerful snapshot in time - a reflection on a moment of true terror, and the joy of coming through the other side. It’s a brave and remarkable next step for a band in the finest form of their career.
