Glass Animals
frontman Dave Bayley spoke to
NME
backstage at Reading Festival 2022 about the “unbelievable” experience of working on
Florence + The Machine
‘s fifth album,
‘Dance Fever’
. Watch our full video interview above.
In April the pair released
an electronica-inspired remix
of Welch’s recent single,
‘My Love’
. Bayley co-wrote and co-produced the original track and worked on the ensuing ‘Dance Fever’ along with
Jack Antonoff
. For Bayley, collaborating with Welch was “a real honour”, as he explained: “I learned so much from [Florence]. We did a bunch of sessions for the new album, and I was blown away. I was like, ‘Woah, how do I compete with this real force of nature when it comes to songwriting?’
He continued: “I had to hold my own and I think we made a really wicked album. She’s a brilliant songwriter. Shout out to Florence: thank you for letting me work on your record, I feel really lucky.”
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Credit: Andy Ford for NME
Bayley also praised some more of his previous collaborators, describing former
NME
cover star
Bree Runway
– who Glass Animals teamed up with for a reworking of their 2020 track ‘Space Ghost Coast To Coast’ – as a “genius”. Referencing
Denzel Curry
‘s ‘Tokyo Drifting’ collaboration with the band, the Florida rapper also got a nod: “I think Denzel Curry is one of the greats: he is so young and so talented,” Bayley said. “I feel lucky I got to work with him.”
Yesterday (August 26), Glass Animals made their first appearance at Reading Festival since 2017. Taking to the main stage, the Oxford four-piece leaned on their 2020 album
‘Dreamland’
. The set wrapped up with that record’s smash hit ‘Heat Waves’, which set a US chart record last year
for the longest climb to the Top 10 in the country’s chart history
.
