This morning, Bastille returned to Good Morning America’s Summer Concert Series to perform their electric hit single, “Distorted Light Beam”—watch their performance HERE and watch their interview for Good Morning America Digital HERE.
“Distorted Light Beam,” a retro-futuristic pop anthem that was the first taste of the band’s forthcoming new album, was co-written and co-produced with Ryan Tedder alongside the band’s long-time collaborator Mark Crew and shows the next evolution of Bastille’s sound. The song was released earlier this summer alongside a cinematic official video starring British actress Remmie Milner from the BAFTA-winning series, Save Me, and frontman Dan Smith—watch HERE. “Distorted Light Beam” continues to climb up the Alternative Radio Chart and currently sits in Top 15. In support of the track, the band recently released a live performance video, “How We Made It” breakdown, and “Behind The Lyrics” video.
Last week, Bastille dropped their latest euphoric single, “Thelma + Louise”—listen HERE. On the song, they pull together the punchy drum machines and dreamy synths of the 80’s with a newfound sparseness, creating a fresh backdrop for a classic, anthemic chorus. Co-written with legendary songwriter Rami Yacoub (Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time”, Lady Gaga’s Chromatica Album) and Mark Crew, it’s an infectious meditation on “days like these” where you want to just get away, whether that’s simply shutting your eyes and imagining yourself somewhere else or driving down to Mexico and leaping off the edge of the world. The song cleverly taps into the dichotomy at the heart of the 1991 classic film, where freedom and living in the moment are tempered by the threat of cold, hard reality intervening at any moment.
Escapism is a theme that’s explored in depth on Bastille’s upcoming record, especially in connection with technology—in this case under the watchful gaze of Future Inc., a data-hungry, fake big tech enterprise from the future (that may or may not bear some resemblance to big tech enterprises in the present). The company’s innovative “Futurescape” technology (as seen in the video for “Distorted Light Beam”) is offering infinite possibilities of a new kind—the chance to journey in to your own innerverse.
In Dan’s words, the concept gives Bastille the opportunity to “poke fun at the way these companies appeal to us and appeal to the world, and advertise themselves and talk about themselves, and take themselves really seriously and earn huge amounts of money whilst taking all our data and more.” Watch Bastille talk about the inspiration behind Future Inc. HERE.
More exciting news to follow!
