Post-punk band White Lies have just released their latest single, titled “I Don’t Want To Go To Mars“, along with a music video created by the band themselves. Band member Charles Cave described the track as having “all the distorted bombast of White Lies best anthems neatly packed into a short story.“ He says the song is about “a character seemingly being herded off Earth to live out a sterile and mundane existence on a newly colonised Mars. Fundamentally the song questions the speed at which we are developing the world(s) we inhabit, and what cost it takes on our wellbeing“.

• ‘I Don’t Want To Go To Mars’ is available to stream everywhere now, and the video is live on YouTube. Enjoy • pic.twitter.com/TqUTDQqj7D

— White Lies (@whiteliesmusic) November 30, 2021

The single is the second release from the group’s soon-to-be-released new album, As I Try Not to Fall Apart, which was announced last September and will be available next February 18^th via PIAS Recordings. Recorded in London’s Sleeper, Assault and Battery studios with long-term collaborator Ed Buller, the album will be the group’s sixth effort, following up the 2019 LP Five.

The first release from the new album was the title track last September, more of which you can read about here. On writing the track, the band said that “We wrote this song really quickly, late one night and often the songs that come quickest are written from the gut and the heart, not with the head … We wanted the melody to feel like a hymn, to give the confessional lyrics weight despite being wrapped up as a pop song …It’s about accepting vulnerability as a man and knowing it’s OK to be broken. There’s never been a more pressing time to spread the message that it’s OK to not be OK.“

The title track was also released with a music video, directed by Jame Arden and showing band member Harry McVeigh being buried in sand. On the experience, McVeigh said “Being buried in sand was too mad to pass up. The sensation was really chilling and I was picking sand out of my ears for days, but I’m thrilled with the video, it really carries the message of the song and it looks beautiful.“

The band are also embarking on a new tour around the UK and Europe next year, more details of which you can see here. The tracklist of the new album may be seen below. For those interested in ticket details, you can look here. For those wanting to pre-order the album, you can look here.

Tracklist:

1. “Am I Really Going To Die”
2. “As I Try Not To Fall Apart”
3. “Breathe”
4. “I Don’t Want To Go To Mars”
5. “Step Outside”
6. “Roll December”
7. “Ragworm”
8. “Blue Drift”
9. “The End”
10. “There Is No Cure For It”