Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis has spoken of how their new album ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost (Part 2)’ is concerned with the efforts to prevent the ongoing environmental crisis.
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With new single ‘The Surf’ dropping tonight, the band recently shared ‘The Runner’and ‘Black Bull’ from the upcoming follow-up record ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost (Part 2)‘ – due for release on October 18 as the follow-up and sister-album to this year’s ‘Part 1‘.
Continuing, the previous album’s concern with the clash of humanity and technology, ‘Part 2’ looks at the potential aftermath of climate change and environmental disaster.
“I think that the main thing for us is that it’s something that on a personal level has been bothering me certainly, Edwin, some of the other members of the band, just on a human day to day level,” Yannis told Zane Lowe on Beats 1. “We pick up the newspaper or we get on Twitter and we read a constant stream of news that is full of peril, and that’s what’s informed a lot of this album.”
He continued: “So the fact that there are these movements like Extinction Rebellion going on, who are voicing a lot of these personal concerns and bringing people together, I think it would feel like were we not, in whatever way, getting involved, we would be missing out, and that we would be fundamentally betraying ourselves.”
The band have been vocal in urging the music industry to support ongoing protests to fight climate change, and also praised the efforts of 16-year-old figurehead Greta Thunberg.
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“I think that Greta Thunberg’s speech to the climate group at the UN was just a perfectly measured, between articulacy and vitriol,” Yannis continued. “And vitriol’s what’s needed at the moment. I think if we just pretend like things are going to sort themselves out in the right time, we know that they’re not…And leaders like Trump or Boris Johnson, or Bolsonaro in Brazil, the crop of global leaders we have at the moment just will not do it for us.”
He added: “So that’s why it’s important to get involved in local groups like Extinction Rebellion, and on a personal level, just to make decisions in your life, which will try and help us survive and make the world better. Because otherwise, I don’t know, just, it’s not looking good.”