Photo by Iona McLeod
BIG FEAR have shared a new track, ‘Anger’, teasing the upcoming EP New Hire. BIG FEAR is fronted by Alice Edwards, alongside multi-instrumentalist Jack Wilkinson. With production from Charlie Andrew, who has credits with Wolf Alice and alt-J, the band bring a theatrical alt-pop energiser with focused, hypnotic arrangements.
Vocaliser synths restlessly punctuate the sound as foundations, the rhythms in both the muted guitar and live drums dance around a kaleidoscopic complexity. It feels urgent and uneasy, but the vocals are so perfectly balanced between angelic tones and assertive delivery that you become engrossed in the intensity. From restraint to volcanic eruption, it constantly defies expectation, and in less than three minutes, delivers a symphonic level of changing layers and melodies.
Alice shares, “Feminine rage, y’all. The woman who has to shed her skin between every relationship, forced into changing herself to be what is deemed desirable by the men she is trying to marry. One by one they will reject her, and she will drive herself mad over the failures. She cannot obtain love for who she is because she is never permitted to show herself, crafted into a new persona with each experience. She is forever angry at what the world does to her, she is forever mourning a happy marriage.”
Releasing their debut EP, Career Day, last year, BIG FEAR picked up a slew of radio and press tastemaker support. Doubling down on all the elements that made them impressive, the band now embark on a new era, with another EP accompanied by a string of live dates.
Check out the track here:
