Bastille have released the three-part extended edition of their latest album, Give Me The Future + Dreams Of The Past. This new release features another album’s worth of new songs, collaborations, covers, and reprises. Listen to it now below.
The original Give Me The Future album is featured on part one, with part two continuing some of the themes and narratives from the record, delving into songs that are shot through with notions of technological dependence, human connection, and the limitless possibilities of life online. Part three, meanwhile, acts as a mini return to the band’s acclaimed “Other People’s Heartache” Mixtape series, opening the four-piece up to collaborations, covers, and concept-free creativity.
“In releasing this version of the record, we wanted to give the complete picture of what we intended with this album and also explore the idea that you can choose your own adventure,” Dan said of the release. “You can dive into the ideas of the future and an electronic world, or you can fall back into the past – away from technology and into ideas of memory and nostalgia – both thematically and musically. Or you can choose full-on dancefloor heartbreak escape.”
On announcing the release, the band revealed the electronic club banger “Revolution.” Taking inspiration from Quincy Jones’ production, the track had always been one of the core songs for Give Me The Future. The chorus is about the intimacy of human connection in the context of some science fiction, space-centered imagery. But it’s also about the idea of those amazingly thoughtful people who spend their lives trying to change the world in a positive way.
The last song on the record is the beautifully ethereal, “Hope For The Future,” a song which hints at where the band could sonically go next. Written for the soundtrack of the Leonardo DiCaprio-produced documentary From Devil’s Breath – a short film about forest fires, climate change, and tree planting. It centers around an acoustic guitar melody and Smith’s layered vocals. “I was thinking about Sufjan Stevens and Bon Iver and all the acoustic artists who manage to write music that is both orchestral and floaty, but also a grounded in some grit,” he says. “It was very much at odds with all of the synthesizers, drum machines, and electronic instruments and the production that we were using for Give Me The Future, but I feel super proud of it.”