The Wombats return with new track ‘Method To The Madness’, out now via AWAL. The song marks the first offering since their highest charting album to date, 2018’s UK Top 3 Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life and is accompanied by a stunning Aaron Brown-directed video (Arctic Monkeys, King Krule). The new music follows the spectacular viral success of their 2015 hit ‘Greek Tragedy’ on TikTok, bringing the Liverpool-formed trio to a larger audience than ever before.
‘Method To The Madness’ finds frontman Matthew “Murph” Murphy in a typically introspective mood, his aloof vocals perfectly in tune with melancholy piano chords and a traipsing drum machine beat. That is until a moment of realisation kicks in halfway through as the track breaks down, building back up again to a crescendo of rave-inducing breaks and a cathartic refrain in which Murph vows to dump his demons and “Fuck my sadness.”
“‘Method To The Madness’ is about trying to find patterns within chaos and ultimately giving up, and letting go. Some of the lyrics are lifted from my own honeymoon experience – walking around European cities, being amongst tourists whilst simultaneously being one myself, and generally blagging it with last minute hotel bookings. Feeling excitement but still being fully aware that nothing much has changed,” Murph explains.
About the video, director Aaron Brown says “Murph told me where the material of the song came from and I really related to his honesty. The story is about how the muse finds you on its watch, not on ours. It is up to you to step into that inspiration without fear. The world of the muse doesn’t make sense, but its beauty is irresistible. It is also scary though. You have to walk down dark hallways and challenge your fears, but when you do you develop a relationship with the muse. You see where it hides out and in turn, what inspires it! By the end of the video, we see our hero bring the muse to life in an intentional way. She has found how to connect with it consciously, and not always be at the mercy of its bidding. Through this healthy relationship, our her has begun the path of an artist’.
15 years and three top 5 UK albums into their career, The Wombats (made up of Murph, Dan Haggis and Tord Overland Knudsen) are pulling in a bigger audience than ever before. The viral success of Oliver Nelson’s remix of their 2015 hit ‘Greek Tragedy’ on TikTok has enraptured a whole new generation of fans, a feat they’ve managed to continually repeat since their 2007 debut A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation. Used in over 600,000 videos (some of which have over 100 million views), the remix has rocketed to over 30 million streams, propelling the original to 120 million streams and sending it Gold in the US. It’s also helped them amass an extra 2.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify since just January; further illustration, if any were needed, of The Wombats’ ability to remain relevant to new generations of fans through the timeless power of their songwriting alone.
Recording remotely over the past year from their respective homes, the band have been working hard to produce some of the most captivating, inventive and forward-thinking music of their career. With a summer ahead that includes second from top billings at Reading & Leeds Festival main stage and Neighbourhood Weekender, ‘Method To The Madness’ is only the start of what’s to come as fans new and old gear up for the next exciting chapter in this constantly evolving success story from one of Britain’s most adored bands.
