British indie rock band Glass Animals have released a new song this past weekend titled ‘Vampire Bat’. This new single is the fifth song of the band’s Fresh Fruit Series, an experimental ongoing project where the band collaborates with different artists. This series has allowed the band to explore new sounds and musical direction outside of their core album work.
‘Vampire Bat’ was a collaboration with Dave Bayley, the lead singer of Glass Animals, and composer and producer Rob Bisel, known for his work with popular American singer-songwriter SZA. The Fresh Fruit Series includes tracks ‘Lost Control’ with Joey Bada$$, ‘Gold Lime’ and ‘Tokyo Drifting’ with Denzel Curry, and ‘I Don’t Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance)’, with Albert Hammond Jr. This Fresh Fruit project has allowed space to push their comfort boundaries, with each release having a separate and unique sound.
‘Vampire Bat’ explores the duality of fame and the struggle with balancing artistic desire and the spotlight that comes with their career. It highlights the conflict of enjoying and wanting success with the realities of being in the public eye. The song goes back and forth between the ideas of desire and love.
Glass Animals have released a lyric music video for ‘Vampire Bat’, which visually mirrors their cover art of a fork stabbing a kiwi in a space-like background. The band had used this kiwi imagery while promoting the song before it’s release, referencing the Fresh Fruit Series. The song has a smooth, melancholy feel with a psychedelic flow to the sound, allowing for a close and personal listening experience for the audience. ‘Vampire Bat’ has bridged a gap between their earlier work and the hip-hop-influenced style from their popular album ‘Dreamland’ from 2020, which just turned five years old this past week.
Glass Animals is currently on tour in support of their fourth studio album ‘I Love You So F***ing Much’. This world tour started last year in North America before heading to Europe and the UK last autumn, ending in London. The band extended the tour this year, coming back to North America all summer, starting in New York back in June, and is wrapping up this leg of the tour with shows in Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada this weekend, August 15-17.
