Circa Waves announce Death & Love Pt.2 and new single ‘Cherry Bomb’

Liverpool indie outfit Circa Waves have confirmed the second part of their two-album project, with Death & Love Pt.2 due on 24th October.

The announcement lands alongside a new single ‘Cherry Bomb’, and details of a London launch party later this month.

The track, a breezy, low-slung indie cut in the vein of Is This It-era Strokes, finds frontman Kieran Shuddal reflecting on the kind of unconditional loyalty that anchors you. “It’s all about that person who would do anything for your,” he explains. “Jump into a fight for you, take you for a beer when you’re down… we all need a cherry bomb in our life.”

Here’s the video, directed by guitarist Joe Falconer:

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Released earlier this year, Death & Love Pt.1 began as a way of making sense of a near-death experience. In 2023, Shuddall underwent emergency surgery after doctors found a major arterial blockage. “There was a release of creativity,” he says, describing the songs that poured out in the months following the procedure. “There were more songs than I’d ever written before, in one furious writing period.”

Where Pt.1 grappled with mortality, Pt.2 finds the band shifting tone, leaning into a sense of rebirth. “It almost feels like if the first record was before the operation and death and fear of dying, then [this] one is coming through the other side. It’s about love, life, survival and euphoria.”

The album was produced by Shuddall and recorded across two London studios – a friend’s space in Finsbury Park and the storied RAK Studios, where Green Day and Muse were recording at the same time. (“I saw Billie Joe Armstrong in the toilet!” Shuddall notes.)

The nine new tracks include the warm optimism of ‘Stick Around’, the kaleidoscopic ‘Love Me For The Weekend’, and closer ‘Wave Goodbye’, a psych-pop waltz that nods toward both The Beatles and Empire of the Sun.

To mark the announcement, Circa Waves will host a themed launch party on 16th July at Signature Brew in Haggerston, London. Fans can expect a ‘Death vs Love’ DJ set, a Cherry Bomb cocktail, and a DIY patch station.

Now over a decade into their career, Circa Waves continue to offer indie pop as a salve for hard times – a reminder, as ever, that life is still worth dancing through.

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