Today, Declan McKenna announces that he will release What Happened To The Beach? on February 9th on his own label, Tomplicated Records. “In the past few years there has been a bit of weight behind making music,” he says. “Opening up and embracing the simple things in life has helped me make something that is more authentically me than ever before.” What Happened To The Beach? is available to pre-order on all format here. Declan McKenna will kick off leg three of his 56-date US tour on September 27th in New Haven, CT. You can pre-save here.
McKenna landed in California last year to work with producer Gianluca Buccellati, whose previous projects include Arlo Parks and Lana Del Rey. On his third studio album, McKenna taught and trusted himself to take his time and let the listener soak in the ambience. The result, What Happened To The Beach?, is an album that revels in both space and atmosphere. “The songs sound a lot like the music I listen to,” McKenna says about the new tunes, citing St Vincent (“She takes the guitar to a really cool place. Everything can be manipulated”) and Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s hypnotic and spacey energy as influences.
McKenna also debuts his new single “Nothing Works”, which follows McKenna’s latest song “Sympathy.” “‘Nothing Works’ came out of the frustration of feeling boxed in and tied to expectation,” McKenna reveals. “It is a euphoric tune, at its core it’s a celebration of being true to yourself. In the track, I’m kind of mocking the idea that I’d just take advice that neglects my own intuition, and I often feel like nothing works when you’re trying to match norms or expectations, because you can never please everyone, but if you trust your gut and your own motivations in any aspect of life, the parameters for feeling good in yourself are much simpler and more powerful.”
What Happened To The Beach? is an album full of tone and colour. There is an undeniably buoyant energy across the album, at once best exemplified by “Nothing Works” frustrations of record label interference and criticism. Musically, you feel the freedom in the sound of a songwriter enjoying himself. “I wanted to open up and not worry about things so much,” McKenna says, “I was putting a lot of pressure on myself in the past when I just needed to drop the intensity a bit and have some fun.”
McKenna is in his early 20s and is pproaching a new era in his journey as a songwriter. He is aware that writing a more personal album, particularly one that focuses on joy over disaster, might suggest a line draw in the sand between Declan and Declan 2.0. “If every song features a lyrical statement then it loses some of its impact, too. I haven’t let go of that aspect of myself but I don’t want to live out that style forever.”
Recently McKenna, wrapped up his seond leg of his US tour and shared his first single from this record, “Sympathy” which Paste says “carries a similarly boisterous indie-pop melody as his previous work and has chiming ogans, jumpy piano chords and an overall shimmer to it.” Following an early evening slot on the main stage of the Reading and Leeds Festival behind Billie Eilish, Declan McKenna is redy for the next step. McKenna has always been a smart, literate songwriter. With What Happened To The Beach? he’s still all those things – he’s just down for a good time.
Declan McKenna’s Big Return Tour Dates
Special guest: Allie Crow Buckley
Sep 27 | New Haven, CT | Toad’s Place
Oct 01 | Columbia, SC | The Senate
Oct 02 | Athens, GA | Georgia Theatre
Oct 03 | Chattanooga, TN | The Signal
Oct 05 | New Orleans, LA | Toulouse Theatre
Oct 9 | Mexico City, MX |Pabellón Oeste
Oct 11 | Guadalajara, MX | C3 Stage
Oct 16 | Albuquerque, NM | El Rey Theater
Oct 17 | Tempe, AZ | Marquee Theatre
Oct 19 | Denver, CO | Ogden Theatre
Oct 21 | Salt Lake City, UT | The Union
Oct 23 | Seattle, WA | Showbox SoDo
Oct 25 | Portland, OR | Roseland Theater
Oct 29 | Vancouver, BC | Commodore Ballroom
Oct 31 | Sacramento, CA | Ace of Spades
Nov 1 | Oakland, CA | Fox Theater
Nov 3 | Los Angeles, CA | The Novo
Nov 4 | Pomona, CA | The Fox Theater
