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Aug 31, 2020 Everything Everything By Mark Redfern and Celine Teo-Blockey

British art-rockers Everything Everything are releasing a new album, Re-Animator, on September 11 via Infinity Industries/AWAL. For episode four of the Under the Radar Podcast we spoke to frontman Jonathan Higgs about the inspirations behind Re-Animator and the history of the band. Listen below.

In the interview Higgs shares how the quartet formed after university and have managed to stay together for more than a decade. He talks about how their songwriting has evolved as they continue to expand the bounds of Math Rock, leaning into pop and emotions without losing sight of form and structure.

Re-Animator was recorded last December at RAK studios in London with producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Sharon Van Etten, David Byrne). Prior to that there was a year of writing and demoing. A press release announcing the album pointed out that for this album the band wanted to focus “on harmonies and melodies over synths and programming.”

In terms of lyrical themes, the press release said album tackles “wonderment at the wider world despite the horror of its politics; existentialism and the prolonged, if fading, youthfulness of being in a touring band; and the ominous threat of climate change. All things which contribute to a sense of one door closing while another awaits.”

Higgs also became interested in the theory of the bicameral mind, as put together by psychologist Julian Jaynes. The press release explained the theory: “It argues that early in human evolution, the two sides of the brain were next to each other but functioned independently. In essence, one side would hear the other sending instructions via a disembodied voice—a zombie-like state of pre-consciousness.”

Higgs further expounded in the press release: “This idea of the divided self captivated me. Jaynes attributes this to the origin of gods, people ascribing deity status to this voice they could hear in their head. All this blew my mind, and I started thinking of ways I could make this a central concept. It really touched me. So across the whole record there are millions or references to this theory—to having a split brain, two selves, hearing voices.”

The pandemic has meant that the release date for Re-Animator was pushed back from August to September but Everything Everything have capitalized on this by holding the first album release show held in virtual reality. Created with Sansar, fans will be able to meet the band in “a be-spoke virtual space” for a complete live show featuring tracks from the new album, as well as older favorites. The event will be held on two dates—September 10 and 11—happening at separate times to better accommodate fans in various time zones around the globe.

Here is the info on the timing:

Show 1: 19:00 (UTC) 10th September 2020
UK 20:00, Europe 21:00, Pacific US 12:00, East Coast US 15:00

Show 2: 08.00 (UTC) 11th September 2020
Sydney 18:00, UK 09:00, Europe 10:00

More info on the event can be found on the band’s website.

In April the band shared Re-Animator’s “In Birdsong,” via a video for the track that was one of our Songs of the Week. Then when the album was announced they shared “Arch Enemy,” which was also one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared a strange video for “Arch Enemy.” Then they shared another new song from the album, “Planets,” via a video. “Planets” was also one of our Songs of the Week. Then in July they shared another song from the album, “Violent Sun,” via a video for the track directed by the band’s frontman Jonathan Higgs. “Violent Sun” also made our Songs of the Week list.

The band features Higgs (vocals), Jeremy Pritchard (bass), Michael Spearman (drums), and Alex Robertshaw (guitar). Their last full-length was 2017’s Mercury Prize-nominated A Fever Dream, although they released the Deeper Sea EP in 2018.

The Everything Everything episode is available now on major podcasting platforms and can also be streamed below.

Each monthly episode of Under the Radar features an interview with a different musician conducted by host and producer Celine Teo-Blockey. Episode one featured an in-depth story on Black Belt Eagle Scout (aka Katherine Paul), episode two featured gender non-conforming artist Ezra Furman, and episode three featured Caroline Rose.

As well as writing features and reviews for Under the Radar, Teo-Blockey is an independent radio producer and Transom Traveling Workshop alumni. She has previously produced radio stories for Sound & Vision, a podcast from the Seattle public radio station KEXP, and a sonic postcard for Sounds LA, from the Los Angeles public radio station KCRW.

As well as our new Under the Radar podcast, we have also been co-presenting the second and third seasons of the Why Not Both podcast.

Find the Under the Radar podcast on Apple here and Spotify here.

Read our recent COVID-19 Quarantine Check-In interview with Everything Everything’s Jonathan Higgs.

Read our 2017 interview with Everything Everything on A Fever Dream.

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.