William Doyle has a new EP, Alternate Lands, on the way.
Set for release in November, the four-track EP builds on work that Doyle lost, with the process of recreating it taking him in a different direction from before. Above, you can listen to lead track ‘The Unanswered Why’.
Alternate Lands follows on from March’s Great Spans Of Muddy Time LP, which was Doyle’s second full-length release under his given name. He previously put out two albums as East India Youth, with his first release under the alias, 2013’s Hostel EP, arriving via The Quietus Phonographic Corporation.
"The material on [Great] Spans [Of Muddy Time] was largely left untouched in its crushed and saturated format, having been salvaged from cassette tapes after losing session files in a hard drive failure, whereas Alternate Lands takes sketches first started on those same tapes and reimagines their potential," Doyle explains. "Although these songs were crafted in the same time period as Spans, I’ve taken them in a direction that resonates with where my head is at currently, while also signposting to the way my sound is heading for the next album.
"Across the three original tracks here, the production is more full and direct than at any point in my career, favouring upfront vocals and solid rhythms as opposed to hazy atmospherics. I also chose to include a cover of one of my favourite songs by Robyn Hitchcock, ‘Autumn Is Your Last Chance’. Hitchcock has always been influential on my music, perhaps more in spirit and feeling than as a touchstone for sound."
Tough Love will release Alternate Lands on November 26, 2021.
