Toronto’s Beams have returned to announce the full-length follow-up to last year’s The Spark in Your Eye EP — Requiem for a Planet is arriving May 3, and alongside the news Beams have shared lead single "A.W.I.L.”
"A.W.I.L" comes attached to a video directed by Campdogzz's Jess Price, and the song itself is a dusky, vaguely gothic rocker that's nonetheless infused with light.
In a statement about the song, Beams lead vocalist and songwriter Anna Mērnieks-Duffield said:
"A.W.I.L” is a wake-up call that we as humans are programmed for life — we’re on the same side, and if we could just sit through the discomfort of our differences long enough to see the deep root of love there, the true humanity, we could work together towards justice for each other, and for every being.
Recorded by Kevin S. McMahon at Marcata Recording — a 200-year-old barn at the base of the Shawangunk Mountains in New Paltz, NY — Requiem for a Planet is “a world unto itself. Hypnotic vibraphone, purring amps, glistening guitars, and the pull of ghostly violin strings weave intoxicating soundscapes that create a sense of singular intimacy.”
Check out “A.W.I.L” and see the Requiem for a Planet tracklist below.
Requiem for a Planet:
1. Childlike Empress
2. Starlight
3. Make It Real
4. Shadow of a Shadow
5. We Are Blood
6. A.W.I.L
7. Heat Potential
8. It’s All Around You
9. The Thing Is