“It’s about someone on a planet, miles above the Earth, waking up in outer space and wanting to get home, but not knowing quite how to get there.” Fyfe Dangerfield, the frontman with the name of a Spitfire ace, is gamely attempting to explain the thematic inspiration behind Walk the River, the new album by his cosmopolitan art-indie outfit, Guillemots.
“I wanted it to be the opposite of my solo record [last year’s acclaimed, poppy Fly Yellow Moon], which was very straight and clear,” he continues. “I didn’t want it to be obvious, it was more about catching an atmosphere, although if you go too far down that road it becomes an awful concept album.”
Walk the River is anything but that — it’s an album of deep emotion and high drama, typified by the febrile vocals, buoyant choruses and fuzzed-up guitar exuberance of the new single The Basket (currently available as a free download from guillemots.com).
“It’s probably the most intense record we’ve done,” Dangerfield says of the album, which is released on April 18. It’s also one that demands to be heard live.
When Dangerfield and his bandmates — the Brazilian-born guitarist MC Lord Magrão, the Canadian double bass player Aristazabal Hawkes and the disappointingly monikered drummer Greig Stewart — came to play their previous album, Red, live, “there was just panic,” he admits.
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But for Walk the River, they could play the songs live before they recorded them, “so there was definitely a sense of gagging to play them in public.”
That public will at first consist of fans who have bought tickets for Guillemots’ four secret shows in Birmingham, London, Manchester and Glasgow. Ticket-holders will be told the exact location on the days of the gigs. These dates follow two recent secret London shows, both of which went down a storm.
“It’s just a fun thing to do,” Dangerfield says. “I heard a lot about the Libertines’ shows in people’s houses. There’s an intimacy and it feels more exciting than announcing three dates at Shepherd’s Bush Empire.” Can he tell us anything about the venues they have picked? “They’re all massive football stadiums!” he laughs.
So now Dangerfield is back with the group after his brief but successful solo spell, how does he see the future?
“I hope I’ll always be playing with Guillemots but also do other music,” he says. “I don’t really think about it in terms of who I’m doing it with: it’s just making music.” Not just the name of a Spitfire ace, but the devil-may-care nonchalance too. Chocks away!
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Birmingham, Sun; London, April 18; Manchester, April 20; Glasgow, April 21 (guillemots.com)