The British artist took an 18-month hiatus to learn to like himself, and now, he's dancing like nobody is watching.
Jack Garratt released his first new music since 2016 on Wednesday (Feb. 5). The enrapturing single aptly titled “Time” is paired with a stimulating music video.
The 28-year-old singer-songwriter is freely dancing while vibrant paintings are dancing on his skin. He sings, measuredly: “You wanna run till you run out of light / But why? / When time is on your side.”
Garratt is presumably sending this message to his former self and anybody who has ever felt like he did. He walked away from music following his breakout debut album Phase.
“I was in what should have been this huge celebratory moment, I’m 24, 25, my album has not only sold but sold well, globally, the tours were selling out, I was getting all these accolades and awards,” Garratt said of his 2016 musical breakthrough via press release. “I should have felt comfortable, at the very least. And instead I was scared and alone, and desperate for affection. I’d realised that a lot of the pillars of affection were hollow; they weren’t real.”
After taking care of those internal battles, Garratt is back with his forthcoming sophomore album Love, Death & Dancing due out on May 29 through Island Records. The “Time” music video is the first installment of the album’s accompanying long-form visual of the same name.
Fans can get a taste of the album right now in Love, Death & Dancing Vol. 1 featuring “Time,” “Mara” and “Return Them To The One.”
“The album was written from the point of view of someone who has a functioning sadness,” Garratt added in the press release, “who has had his day-to-day depressions and anxieties that have influenced the decisions he’s made. The album is about that functionality, that day-to-day battle, conversation, tug of war. We’re making a film at the moment, to go with the whole album. The premise of it is that it’s me in the back rooms of my mental health, on my own, interpreting the album. The one thing it needs to do is for the very last shot to be exactly the same as the opening shot. Because this battle in my head is cyclical, infinite; it’s a line of consistency, a time loop that’s just going round and round and round.
“I think this is the first time I’ve felt proud of the songs I’ve made. I wrote this album as someone—and for anyone—who likes dancing but doesn’t necessarily want to go out on a Saturday. It’s dance music for people who don’t want to go out! And that’s the music that I love: music that doesn’t care if you’re standing up or sitting down. It’s going to give it to you either way.”
Love, Death & Dancing was produced alongside Jacknife Lee and James Flannigan and available for pre-order here.
‘Work In Progress’ Tour Dates:
Feb. 18: Manchester @ Deaf Institute
Feb. 19: Edinburgh @ The Caves
Feb. 20: Leeds @ Belgrave Music Hall
Feb. 22: Birmingham @ Castle & Falcon
Feb. 23: Bristol @ Thekla
March 2: Amsterdam @ Paradiso-Noord
March 3: Paris @ Theatre Les Etoiles
March 4: Brussels @ Orangerie-Botqniue
March 6: Cologne @ Helios 37
March 7: Berlin @ Silent Green
March 9: London @ EartH
March 10: London @ EartH
