Katie Fox reviews Glass Animals’ comeback single
After a 3-year wait, Glass Animals have released ‘Tokyo Drifting’, a collaboration with American rapper, Denzel Curry. Returning with a sound that’s a far cry from their ambient sounding first album, ZABA, this track is the first of a series of ‘Fresh Fruit’ releases, after their forced hiatus due to drummer Joe Seaward’s life-threatening crash in 2018.
‘Tokyo Drifting’ starts with a pumping hip-hop beat, before Dave shows off his vocal range as the track rises and drops. The lyrics focus on ‘Wavey Davey’ – the alter-ego of the lead singer. He’s showing off and pretending to be one of the lads that does what he wants without caring what people think. He says the creation of our second selves, in particular the characters we pretend to be online, are a necessity in today’s world, in order to deal with everything that life throws at us.
‘Tokyo Drifting’ starts with a pumping hip-hop beat, before Dave shows off his vocal range as the track rises and drops
Yet when Denzel’s perfectly timed verse drops, it breathes the effortless swagger that Dave states on Instagram his character could only dream of having. The track ends in a ‘detuned, wonky mess’, which, according to Dave, is a representation of the real version of him, and most of the celebrities and influencers who we idolise on social media.
The only criticism I have is that track feels all too brief, but luckily it can be put on repeat this party season to suit fans of multiple genres. It’s definitely not one to miss seeing live, where no doubt Glass Animals will inject even more energy into playing it when the band inevitably go on tour in the near future.
