Warpaint’s most recent album is their well-received late-2016 effort Heads Up. That was nearly six years ago, which is a long gap between albums, especially in today’s fast-paced music industry. Now, though, the band is finally ready to return, as they announced today that Radiate Like This, their fourth album, is set for release on May 6.
They also shared “Champion,” a new single that is driven by the band’s signature subdued groove and atmospheric sounds. The group said of the inspiration behind the song, “Being a champion to oneself and for others. We are all in this together, life is too short not to strive for excellence in all that we do.”
Last April, the band’s Theresa “TT” Wayman noted of recording the new album, “We got really lucky because the foundation of what we’ve recorded was recorded together. It would feel really disjointed if we had to write it from scratch from afar. It’s actually been amazing that we’ve been separate and had time to record the top layers and we can get even more considered with them. It’s really helping us that there are no time pressures and money constraints. […] I’ve been thinking a lot about lyrics and so I’ve been thinking about [Bob] Dylan a lot and how he strings a story together. He finds these perfect ways to say something that is so normal, it’s something that everyone experiences, but he unlocks this great metaphor for it.”
While it’s been a few years since the band’s last album, Warpaint members have kept busy. Since 2016, Stella Mozgawa has contributed to albums like The xx’s I See You; Sharon Van Etten’s Remind Me Tomorrow; Kurt Vile’s Bottle It In; Courtney Barnett’s Things Take Time, Take Time (which she co-produced with Barnett); and Vile and Barnett’s Lotta Sea Lice. Wayman also dropped her debut solo album, LoveLaws, in 2018.
Listen to “Champion” above and find the Radiate Like This art and tracklist below, along with Warpaint’s upcoming tour dates.
1. “Champion”
2. “Hips”
3. “Hard To Tell You”
4. “Stevie”
5. “Like Sweetness”
6. “Trouble”
7. “Proof”
8. “Altar”
9. “Melting”
10. “Send Nudes”
05/09 — Paris, France @ La Cigale
05/11 — Bristol, England @ O2 Academy
05/12 — Manchester, England @ Albert Hall
05/13 — Glasgow, Scotland @ SWG3 Galvanisers
05/14 — Dublin, Ireland @ National Stadium
05/17 — Bexhill, England @ De La Warr Pavilion
05/18 — London, England @ The Roundhouse
05/20 — Berlin, Germany @ Huxleys
05/21 — Cologne, Germany @ Live Music Hall
05/22 — Hamburg, Germany @ Fabrik
05/24 — Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso
05/26 — Brussels, Belgium @ Ancienne Belgique
05/28 — Warsaw, Poland @ Progresja
06/01 — Istanbul, Turkey @ Zorlu Performing Arts Center
06/03 — Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound
Radiate Like This is out 5/6 via Virgin. Pre-order it here.