Back in 2019, W.H. Lung released their debut album Incidental Music, which in turn started generating some buzz around them in their native UK. Now, they’re about to return with a sophomore album called Vanities, though the circumstances are a bit different. The group lost a member, and as they began working on the music for Vanities they found themselves delving deeper into dance music, inspired by the nightlife experiences they’d had around Manchester but were, obviously, unable to have in the last year.

Along with the announcement, the group have shared a new song called “Pearl In The Palm” — a “transition from the old W. H. Lung to new,” as the band’s Tom Sharkett puts it. Here’s what frontman Joe Evans had to say about the track and its accompanying video:

This video was shot in January across the unlikely beauty of the Irish midlands, in Co. Offaly and Co. Laois. My inexperience directing and shooting films is part of the story here. We did the whole thing on an iPhone with makeshift tripods and second-hand gimbals. It gives the video a beautifully honest, home-filmed quality.

The story speaks to a connection with nature so everything was shot outside, in the rain, in the cold, in the quiet of the early morning. There’s water, there’s forest, there’s bog, there’s a donkey. We wanted to say something about creative expressiveness too, which comes through in the amazing outfits, styled (and hand painted) by Spice Vintage. I think there’s also something in the video about spontaneous living and flowing with the unexpected. Like, a balloon? I’ll have a day out with it!

The song is exploring relationships, the stakes of relationships, and how that defines the individual. You can find yourself in a balloon, if you’re willing to let that happen. Just like you can find yourself in another person. And you’ve got to go away to come back.

Check it out below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Calm Down”
02 “Gd Tym”
03 “Pearl In The Palm”
04 “Ways Of Seeing”
05 “ARPi”
06 “Showstopper”
07 “Figure With Flowers”
08 “Somebody Like”
09 “Kaya”

Vanities is out 9/3 via Melodic.