On April 2nd, at 11:00 CST on the Glass Animals Discord Server, about 2,000 people got to listen to the newest single “Creatures in Heaven” not once, but twice. This started in February, but over the month of March, Glass Animals has released bits and pieces of the new single on their SoundCloud account. This has been written about previously, but specifically the teasers released in March. On April Fools Day, the band released a video where Drew MacFarlane (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals) was playing the bagpipes and it was modified to fit the theme of Creatures in Heaven.
The Hints
As the hints to the single were being released, many things were happening behind the scenes. For one, pictures of Dave Bayley (lead singer) were shown while he was at various locations (airport, bus stop) on his laptop.Bayley acknowledged them, and as well released his own teasers. On March 21st, the band released a teaser video, and on the 23rd and 24th they released isolated tracks for the synth/guitar/vocals/etc. on their Instagram story. On the 29th of March, the single cover was released and the song name: “Creatures in Heaven” was known.
Some of the hints referenced Bayley’s favorite “space media”, as one of the stories was a clip from a movie, a reference to Space Odyssey, and a disappointing announcement that Bayley couldn’t release the song on a specific day due to the rules of music releases (it’s actually a shame). The real release date was suppose to be April 2nd, 2024 (or 4/2 in London). Sadly though, the joke would have to end (but also explains why the listen party was on April 2nd).
dear everyone. we’ve missed you very much. i can’t explain how lovely it is to be back and speaking to you all again… be it in mailers, on discord, bumping into you in supermarkets, in the park with my dog, through your art and messages and comments….It’s wonderful and like being back with the oldest of friends.
Glass Animals Instagram, March 29th
some of you have already started to put together what is happening. and some of you even have some titles, themes, and release dates worked out. some of you are right. some of you are not. haha. anyway…many big announcements coming soon. but firstly, this one: Creatures in Heaven. April 3*. i can’t wait for the next chapter of things.
*you would have it clever to release it on 4/2/2024 to play on the hitchhikers guide theme a bit more. well. we thought that was far too obvious. (also it turns out you can’t release a song any day you like…different countries have different rules and we wanted everyone to get it at the same time. who knew? not me!)
Ilysfm,
dave and co. x
The Meetings
Around late March, these posters went up. First, it was only for March 29th in London. Then, two more locations showed up: April 1st in Kansas City (Missouri), and then April 2nd in New York. Then on April 2nd, early in the morning the discord for Glass Animals they released an event to listen to the new single and get information from Bayley and ask him questions. With the meet and greet event, fans got to meet Bayley, his dog and get his autograph. As well as listen to bits of the new single, but nothing entirely new (at least based on what they released on their Instagram story).
The event garnered a little bit over 2,0000 participants to listen to the new single and get answers from Bayley about the new single, the album and other information (like his favorite planet). Then, at the end of the event the information that the new single will drop on April 3rd, at 10:00 CST.
Creatures in Heaven
The new single, is interesting. I definitely am a fan, and I think it’s a great start to this new album era. When Bayley was explaining this song he mentioned how this song felt like a “Diary entry” to him, that we got to see a moment in his life. We also got to see how the song is about a relationship that maybe ended too soon. But, he made an importance note on how small we might feel but relationships (platonic, romantic or otherwise) are so much bigger than us.
Now, the name of the song came first and everything else came in within. But the song is definitely a heartbreak song to say the least. My favorite line from the song kinda encapsulated it:
Three in the morning safe inside Bare with me here, in your laundry pile.
With these lines, we get the feeling of a laundry pile being nice, warm and safe. I mean, a safe laundry pile isn’t going to be cold, wet but instead warm, comforting. Of course, how does this fit into the heartbreak theme of the song? Well, something I didn’t mention was later before we return back to the bridge that just screams heartbreak. That warmth, that safety is a faded memory.
'Cause it's merely a moment, here for a moment Here is the moment, here for a moment
But, to be noted this is written on April 2nd a few hours after the prerelease party, and I will say that the song is slowly fading from my memory. It was also explicitly said by Dave Bayley that this was a breakup/heartbreak song. This new album that we are receiving is an existential crisis. So, yay.
