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May 20, 2019 Hayden Thorpe By Christopher Roberts

Hayden Thorpe, formerly the singer for British art-rockers Wild Beasts, is releasing his debut solo album, Diviner, this Friday (May 24) via Domino. Now he has shared another song from it, “Earthly Needs,” a track built around a hypnotic beat and Thorpe’s distinctive emotive vocals. Listen below, followed by his upcoming tour dates.

Back in February Thorpe shared the album’s title track, “Diviner,” via a video (it was one of our Songs of the Week). When the album was announced in April he shared another new song from it, “Love Crimes,” via a video for the track (it was #2 on our Songs of the Week list).

In 2017 Wild Beasts announced their breakup in a typed up statement, signed by the band and posted to Instagram. That was followed by a final EP, Punk Drunk and Trembling, three farewell concerts in February 2018, and a final album, February 2018’s live in the studio release Last Night All My Dreams Came True (which featured new interpretations of songs from across their catalogue).

Diviner was written in California, Cornwall, and at Thorpe’s home in London.

A previous press release described the album as such: “Diviner is a deeply emotional album: lyrically generous in its candid tone and self-awareness, the melodies resonant with sense memory. The album feels like a startling departure from Thorpe’s previous work with Wild Beasts and also unlike anything else being made at the moment.”

Thorpe had this to say about the album in the previous press release: “My adulthood was based on a certain belief system, a band, a family. When it shifted entirely, I had a ghost I had to find a new haunt for…. I believe in the medicinal properties of songs. I believe in their healing properties, Songs defy time, they don’t erode or denature, they come with you and reform anew in your mind as and when you need them…. I broke up with myself. So this is a break-up album, but not about a relationship. It’s a break-up from a past self, it’s a breakup from the old idea of yourself and therefore every relationship, of all kinds, that you’ve ever had.”

Thorpe had this to say about the album’s title track in a previous press release: “‘Diviner’ became the first song and the divining rod for what was going to be next. There are, if we can wait for them, rare days of alignment. ‘Diviner’ was written on such a day, my birthday of all days. The curtains were drawn for a while, I went inside. To say I’m delighted to see daylight would be an understatement.”

Read our 2018 interview with Hayden Thorpe about the breakup of Wild Beasts and the band’s legacy.

Hayden Thorpe Tour Dates:

May 20 - London, UK *
May 21 - Berlin, Germany *
May 25 - London, UK - Rough Trade East ^
May 27 - Brighton, UK - Resident Music ^
May 28 - Kingston, UK - Banquet Records ^
May 29 - Cardiff, Wales - Spillers Records ^
May 30 - Sheffield, UK - Bear Tree Records ^
May 31 - Leeds, UK - Jumbo Records ^
June 3 - Brooklyn, NY - Rough Trade NYC ^
June 4 - Brooklyn, NY *
June 6 - Los Angeles, CA *

* denotes Piano Room Sessions, RSVP-only here
^ denotes in-store performances, free

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