Declan McKenna announces new album ‘What Happened To The Beach?’
British pop rocker Declan McKenna has returned to announce his third studio album, What Happened To The Beach?
Coming on the heels of his acclaimed debut solo album, 2017’s What Do You Think About The Car?, and his sophomore effort, 2020’s Zeros, What Happened To The Beach? follows a period where McKenna sequestered himself in Los Angeles. The result is a loose, guitar pop-heavy record.
“Any time I tried to be too serious, the songs would get too heavy and the thing I was trying to get at, this idea of a release, was weighed down,” McKenna says in a statement. “The songs sound a lot like the music I listen to.”
McKenna specifically cites Unknown Mortal Orchestra and St. Vincent as his primary inspirations behind the record. “She takes the guitar to a really cool place,” McKenna says about St. Vincent. “Everything can be manipulated.”
With the new record, McKenna is looking to distance himself from the soapboxing of his previous material. “If every song features a lyrical statement, then it loses some of its impact, too,” McKenna says. “I haven’t let go of that aspect of myself, but I don’t want to live out that style forever.”
“In the past few years, there has been a bit of weight behind making music,” he says. “I wanted to open up and not worry about things so much. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself in the past when I just needed to drop the intensity a bit and have some fun.”
McKenna has shared the first official promotional single, ‘Nothing Works’ to preview the new LP. “’Nothing Works’ came out of the frustration of feeling boxed in and tied to expectation, but it is a euphoric tune, at its core, it’s a celebration of being true to yourself,” McKenna claims.
“In the track, I’m kind of mocking the idea that I’d just take advice that neglects my own intuition, and I often feel like nothing works when you’re trying to match norms or expectations because you can never please everyone, but if you trust your gut and your own motivations in any aspect of life, the parameters for feeling good in yourself are much simpler and more powerful,” he adds.
Check out ‘Nothing Works’, plus the album’s trailer, down below. What Happened To The Beach? is set for a February 9th release.
