Muse Talk About “Dig Down” & Upcoming 8th Studio Album
Yesterday Muse released a brand new song called “Dig Down” along with an action-packed music video. Frontman Matt Bellamy and drummer Dom Howard also sat down with Zane Lowe to talk about the new song and upcoming album. They spoke to MistaJam and Stryker as well, and Matt confirmed some extra details on Twitter.
First things first: “Dig Down” is an early preview of Muse’s next album. We won’t hear the full album until 2018, but Matt promises “Dig Down” will be included in the tracklist. They wrote the song about 6 (or 7 or 8) weeks ago in reaction to all the political drama we’ve endured in the last year. Matt wasn’t quite ready to start writing new music, but last November he suddenly felt a surge of inspiration.
In contrast to more assertive and resistant political songs (like “Uprising” or “Supremacy”), “Dig Down” takes a new approach. This time, Matt wrote a more hopeful lyric about finding strength and peace in the face of turmoil. Matt explained to MistaJam that “Dig Down” started with the bass line. He and Dom worked on that for a couple weeks, and once they got the sound just right, it only took an hour to write the rest of the song. It was recorded in three days.
They explained to Stryker today that they like the idea of putting out songs as they became ready, and letting fans feel what they’re feeling in real time. Muse plans to put out a few more songs in the coming months before the album is ready.
Currently, Muse only has two or three songs they’re working on. As Matt told Stryker, “I think you’re seeing sort of a live process here where another song might come out in a few months or something which will again be written, recorded, and put out quite quickly.”
He continued:
I’ve already got an idea of a theme for the next album, but it’s such early stages. But when we come to do the next album there will be a cohesive theme. You’ll end up with an album next year sometime that’ll have 4 or 5 songs you’ve already heard, but then it will become part of a group of songs that will have a cohesive theme and a feeling to it. We’re not giving up on the album at all, we love making albums. We like the fact that we can put out a song so fresh so people can actually sort of feel like what we’re feeling at the same time we’re feeling it when we put these songs together.
Muse’s next album won’t be out until 2018, and Matt and Dom say that they’re taking an approach similar to the one they had with The 2nd Law. They explained that Drones was a very cohesive, conceptual album that was recorded with a consistent focus. In contrast, The 2nd Law was more all over the place, in terms of production and musical style. We can expect album #8 to be more like The 2nd Law in that way. They say it will be pretty diverse.
Will be diverse! https://t.co/oUYHX26jgB
— Matt Bellamy (@MattBellamy) May 18, 2017
Watch the full interview with Zane Lowe below:
Listen to the full interview with MistaJam here and the interview with Stryker here.
“Dig Down” is being released in conjunction with Muse’s upcoming tour with 30 Seconds To Mars and PVRIS, which kicks off tomorrow, on May 20th. (Check out tour dates and tickets before it’s too late!)
Last November, Muse hinted that the new album may be more stripped down and acoustic… or hip-hop. Matt confirmed to MistaJam that they’ve been inspired by EDM and hip-hop that has been popular in the US lately. However, Matt cannot rap at all, so they’d need to find a rapper to do the vocals. But Muse is good at making beats.
They also said the new album won’t be ready until 2018. At the time they only tentatively mentioned a new song or two could be ready in 2017. Luckily for us, that part came true, and only a few months into the year! Now that we’ve gotten one single, Muse has reaffirmed that the album will be out sometime in 2018.
“Dig Down” is the first hint of Muse’s upcoming 8th album, which will serve as the followup to their 2015 record, Drones. Enjoy the new single, and get ready for the new tour. Keep checking back here for all the latest on Muse’s new music.
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