Yannis and The Yaw share new single ‘Rain Can’t Reach Us’
Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis has unveiled the latest single from Yannis and The Yaw, ‘Rain Can’t Reach Us’. The new track is taken from the outfit’s upcoming debut EP featuring the late Tony Allen.
‘Rain Can’t Reach Us’ is the latest single to have been previewed by Phillippakis after the project was officially launched in April, but the body of work has been many years in the making and has been a labour of love for the indie icon.
Through Transgressive Records, the Lagos Paris London EP is set to be released on August 30th. Allen, who passed away in 2020, recorded the material with Phillippakis in Paris, hence its inclusion in the title. Meanwhile, Lagos was the late Fela Kuti drummer’s hometown and London is home to the Foals singer.
In 2016, their paths crossed, if only fleetingly. The duo only spent two days hauled up in a recording studio in Paris, which was long enough to lay down the bones of the forthcoming EP, which Phillippakis later completed following Allen’s passing.
He previously said of the project: “There was an imperative to finish it in a way that I had never felt with another record. There was a deep duty to do it, to finish it as well as possible, and to pay respect to him by getting it out there.”
“He wanted people to hear this, and it’s good to be able to do it for him – but of course, it’s slightly bittersweet,” the Foals singer added.
Lagos Paris London contains five tracks in total with debut single, ‘Walk Through Fire’, acting as the opening track, and penultimate effort, ‘Under The Strikes’, arriving as the second teaser of the EP back in June. Now, ‘Rain Can’t Reach Us’ has arrived to further heighten excitement with little more than a month to wait until the EP is shared with the world.
Explaining the process behind the new track, Phillippakis said: “We actually referred to ‘Rain Can’t Reach Us’ as ‘The Tornado’ for a long time because it feels like a gale blowing through your house and it’s just cool to hear Tony at the heart of that.”
The singer also revealed that in another world “it could have become a Foals track, but sharing that idea with Tony made it become this other thing.”
Phillippakis concluded: “I think that’s really exciting, it’s like putting in random coordinates, getting in your car and driving and not knowing where you’re going to show up. You could be led anywhere.”
Yannis & The Yaw will be playing three special headline shows in Paris, Amsterdam and London in September following the release of the EP, as well as an appearance at the Crammerock Festival in Belgium. The Foals singer will be joined on the jaunt by bandmates Vincent Taurelle, Vincent Taeger, Dave Okumu and Seye Adelekan.
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