Metro (UK)

LOckDOwN DROVE US wOmBaTTY, SaYS mURPh

‘PANDEMIC STRAINED RELATIONSH­IPS’

-

OCKDOWN may have made people realise they are incompatib­le, The Wombats have warned.

The pop-rocking trio reckon relationsh­ips may never return to the way they were after couples were forced to spend more than a year in each other’s pockets stuck at home.

‘I noticed that 2020 and 2021 put some serious strain on interperso­nal relationsh­ips, it felt like people around me were really struggling,’ said LA-based frontman Murph.

His wife Akemi gave birth to their second daughter, Kai, during lockdown this year. Murph, 37, says the Wombats’ comeback single, If You Ever Leave I’m Coming With You, puts relationsh­ip dynamics under the microscope.

‘It taps into all of that and asks the question... is it the circumstan­ces putting undue stress on people? Or have the circumstan­ces shed light on people’s incompatib­ility with one another?’ he said.

As for his bandmates, distance makes the heart grow fonder – they pulled off recording their fifth album Fix Yourself, Not The World, over Zoom in three different countries.

‘It will always stand out for us in our memories from our other albums as we recorded it across three cities during lockdown, and we weren’t all in the same room at the same time,’ said drummer Dan Haggis.

On the title track, Murph cheerily sings: ‘Everything I love is going to die. So baby keep your big mouth shut and stop wasting my time.’

Fans can hear the new album when it drops on January 7, before the Wombats tour the UK in April. Tickets go on sale this Friday.

 ??  ?? Remember you’re a Wombat: The band recorded via Zoom
Remember you’re a Wombat: The band recorded via Zoom

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom