Normal Fears, Fatherson’s fourth album, is a lush lesson in letting go. Gorgeous, groove-led singalongs steeped in electronics find the band in a playful mode, putting break-ups, old ways of working and everyday worries behind them to start afresh, sunny side up. The album follows 2018’s Sum Of All Your Parts, which saw the band reach new levels of critical acclaim, with extensive support from BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac, Clara Amfo, Huw Stephens and Phil Taggart, culminating in a European arena tour supporting Lewis Capaldi. Normal Fears was largely written remotely, taking flight with the first lockdown. Stuck at home, Fatherson embraced the new normal and the fresh possibilities it posed. When lockdown lifted in early summer, the band decamped to RAK studios in London with producer Steph Marziano (Hayley Williams, Denai Moore, Mumford & Sons) and engineer Isabelle Gracefield (Dua Lipa, Stormzy), where “Normal Fears” took yet another twist. Rather than record everything live, as Fatherson previously had, songs were torn apart and reassembled, pianos fed through cassette players and ping pong balls introduced. Renowned for their encapsulating live performances, they have toured alongside the likes of Lewis Capaldi on his EU arena dates and at Wembley Arena, as well as playing with Frightened Rabbit, Biffy Clyro, Idlewild, Augustines, Enter Shikari, Amber Run, Twin Atlantic, and more.
