Sleigh Bells have surprise-released the first taste of their forthcoming fourth album, a new song entitled "Champions of Unrestricted Beauty." The Brooklyn-based noise pop duo of Alexis Krauss and Derek Edward Miller tweeted "We are finishing up our record, didn't want to wait" when they first dropped the song; a few hours later they self-released a video in which they set a bunch of balloons on fire. Watch the new video and listen to the band's poppiest song yet, below.
The new song is somewhat of a departure from the canon of the band's previous work. "Champions of Unrestrained Beauty" is a shiny, well-polished electro-pop song which features lead singer Krauss' vocals, rather than the harsher, grittier guitar buzz that dominated much of 2013's Bitter Rivals. Judging from fans' comments on the band's Soundcloud and YouTube, the newfound emphasis on Krauss' vocals, howling "don't punish me for telling the truth" clearly and without restraint and not lost within the mix for even a note, is truly striking.
If the lack of the fuzziness that categorized the duo as noise-pop in the first place concerns you, the driving, synthy pop juxtaposed with Miller's ever-edgy lyrics should convince you the new album probably will probably be totally worth the wait. As Noisey points out, the band also shared the new song's lyrics on both Instagram and Twitter. Check them out below.
Champions of Unrestricted Beauty lyrics and credits pic.twitter.com/vgHjnuVQcN
— SLEIGH BELLS (@sleighbells) December 7, 2015
Though the track is the band's most melodic and mellow yet, it remains no less powerful than the larger-than-life sound Sleigh Bells fans have come to expect. There are plenty of explosive, noisy moments within the song. There are familiar speaker-shaking blasts of bass throughout. There are even fireworks launching at the end.
As Pitchfork points out, "Champions of Unrestricted Beauty" follows last year's "That Did It," which was a collaboration between Sleigh Bells and Tink. If this track was already on your radar, the new song shouldn't come as such a surprise. "That Did It" also ditches some of the more hardcore thrashy elements of the duo in favor of hearing the singer and rapper's vocal tracks clearly. Watch "That Did It" below.
