Distorted-pop three piece The XCERTS have released their new album, Learning How To Live And Let Go via UNFD. Alongside the release of the album on CD and vinyl, the band also released the video for “Lovesick”, which can be seen now below. The album release heralds an exciting new chapter for a band consistently regarded as one of the most exciting bands the UK has to offer. Learning… shows the band at their slickest, their most-pop, and at the same time their most raw and honest. Diving into subject matter that lays bare love & heartbreak, joy & sadness and pulls no punches; the band wholly admit to having worked on the album “without limitations” and reaches for exciting new musical influences, putting the band in a lane they were yet to occupy on previous outputs.
Reflecting on the record, frontman Murray Macleod shares, “At times over the past couple of years, I didn’t think this record would ever be heard, so the fact we are here is a beautiful thing. We rid ourselves of fear and pride and let our true experiences take centre stage. It was up to the 3 of us to create a fully realised vision and commit ourselves wholeheartedly without second guessing ourselves and to make a record only The XCERTS could make. At times it’s raw, vulnerable, emotional, tender, humorous, claustrophobic, narcissistic, noisy, quiet, calm, chaotic, slick and loving, but it’s a record rooted in healing and finding inner peace which I found during the course of making the album after a pretty tumultuous period in my life where everything was too loud, so I turned it all up. We wanted to make a record where the beauty transcends the chaos and I think we did it with a career best.”
“Lovesick”, one of the boldest cuts from the album, show’s the trio pushing their pop credentials and have created a beautiful cacophony of 90s influenced gospel-pop-soul, a track that will open eyes to what the three-piece are capable of. The accompanying video literally bursts in bubblegum techni-colour; an exploding and sometimes graphic imagining of a song that takes a comically honest look at a situation that’s too far gone.
Speaking on the track, frontman Murray explained “‘Lovesick’ plays out almost like a twisted rom com. It’s about a relationship I was involved in that was, for all intents and purposes, comically bad. I wish it had been a cute ‘will they or won’t they?’ situation, but it was more ‘will they just fucking stop already?’. We just couldn’t get on the same page about anything but unfortunately for us, we were attracted to one another, and sex is god. It was all really unhealthy and we became somewhat obsessed with one another at any given moment, and the ol’ childish hot and cold treatment became a staple for the both of us. I didn’t want to write a wallowing heartbreak song, I wanted to write an anthem that was true to life and the lived experiences – full of ego, pride, humour, swagger and sex.”
Recently released tracks “Jealousy” and the explosive “Blame”, joined the brash & bombastic comeback single “GIMME” (described as “a furiously catchy, superbly punchy return” by CLASH Magazine), as well as the gloriously optimistic “Ache” featuring Sam Carter of Architects, (“another lesson in alt-pop brilliance”- DIY Magazine) as a perfect introduction to a diverse record that the band have poured their heart and soul into.