Blue Bendy announce debut album, release new single

Blue Bendy announce debut album ‘So Medieval’ Due 12 April via The state51 Conspiracy Release new single ‘Come On Baby, Dig!’ WATCH THE VIDEO HERE UK tour dates announced including The Garage in London on 9 May, full dates below

Photo credit: Michael Julings.

"An eclectic mix of art rock and avant pop. There are no boundaries as they move forward” - The Guardian “The London-based band don’t hold back” - Fader “Inscrutable and compelling” - Pitchfork

Blue Bendy are kicking off 2024 with news of their highly anticipated debut album ‘So Medieval’ which is being released via state51 on 12 April. Alongside this big announcement the band are sharing the latest new track from the record, ‘Come On Baby, Dig!’, and dates for their UK tour including their largest headline show to date at The Garage in London on 9 May and a special Album Launch Show in the band’s hometown of Scunthorpe to celebrate the release. Full tour dates listed below. ‘So Medieval’ captures all the musical foibles, idiosyncrasies and departures from the norm which Blue Bendy have displayed across their previous releases. Expressing their sound over the course of a full record for the first time, ‘So Medieval’ is an explosive mix of genre, atmosphere and emotions. The end result is something rare for a new band: a debut album which is as experimental as it is confident and assured, as tender as it is visceral, as quiet as it is loud, as bloody as it is teary. Out today, new single ‘Come On Baby, Dig!’ follows on from previously released album tracks ‘Cloudy’ and ‘Mr. Bubblegum’. Simmering down the tempo and darkening the mood, the track stacks forlorn lyrics against an assortment of riffs, tones and textures. The music video, directed by Michael Julings, depicts an unnamed character locked in an existential battle with an immovable black fridge. Starring Laura Schuller, a performance artist recently cast in the Marina Abramović retrospective at the RA, the video also features the band coming together to conjure supernatural powers at the video's climax.

Singer and lyricist Arthur Nolan explains that “Dig is dedicated to an old flame and a city break. I was eat pray loving, digging around for some culture in the wake of breaking up. The wheels came off the trip quickly, and now I won’t go back to Bologna, I’m banned.”

LISTEN TO ‘COME ON BABY, DIG!

Building on the momentum of their 2022 EP ‘Motorbike’ Blue Bendy are stretching out into vast new sonic terrain. Their following two singles ‘Mr Bubblegum’ - a joyously intricate piece of experimental guitar pop - and the frenetic, propulsive yet incredibly deft sprawl of ‘Cloudy’, saw the band reach new heights creatively. Of the former, The Guardian enthused: “indie is riddled with addled, verbose frontmen right now, but none so rapturous as Blue Bendy’s Arthur Nolan: here he dances all over splayed post-rock and micro-cataclysms.” Having toured as main support for Squid and Cola as well as playing packed out tents at festivals like End Of The Road and Green Man, Blue Bendy have struck a balance between being obviously skilled musicians, writing complex, layered, overlapping and ambitious compositions, while also utilising space, breadth, and restraint. Their music is bursting with dynamism, exploring push-pull dynamics that results in something ceaselessly unpredictable.

Blue Bendy ‘So Medieval’ UK Tour 12 Apr – Scunthorpe, Café Indiependent 4 May – Southampton, Wanderlust Festival 5 May – Bristol, Louisiana 7 May – Cambridge, Portland Arms 8 May – Oxford, Common Ground 9 May – London, The Garage 12 May – Kendal, Glisky 13 May – Glasgow, Stereo 14 May – Liverpool, Kazimier Stockroom 15 May – Manchester, YES Basement 18 May – Sheffield, Get Together Festival