Lankum share beautiful final album single 'Newcastle'

Lankum have shared a hauntingly beautiful new single 'Newcastle', the final offering from their highly anticipated fourth album False Lankum - out this Friday (March 24) via Rough Trade.

As the Irish four-piece explain, the band heard the track from Dublin outfit The Deadlians.

Lankum explain the background to ‘Newcastle’, “We learned this song from Seán Fitzgerald of The Deadlians, whose mother Pauline sang it to him as a child. The tune was first published in ‘The English Dancing Master’ (1651) where it is simply entitled ‘Newcastle’, while the words may be related to a broadside ballad printed in 1620 and entitled ‘The contented Couckould, Or a pleasant new Songe of a New-Castle man whose wife being gon from him, shewing how he came to London to her, & when he found her carried her backe againe to New-Castle Towne'.”

"Why should I not love my love? Why shouldn't my love love me? Why should I not speed after her? Since love to all is free," Radie Peat sings on the chorus. Warm instrumentation and soft strings breathe life into the background, further allowing Peat's voice to captivate the listener.

False Lankum follows their 2019 breakthrough album The Livelong Day, which paved the way for critical and commercial success, earning them that year’s RTE Choice Music Prize and the #8 spot on NPR Music’s Best Albums of the Year list. Previous singles 'The New York Trader' and 'Go Dig My Grave' have also made a big impact.

Drawing on traditional folk songs, Lankum put their own dark, distinctive mark onto each, leaning into heavy drones and sonic distortion that imparts new intensity and beauty into each track. This record sees the band cement their breakout from the folk genre, creating bold, contemporary music that may be fashioned from traditional elements but is firmly new, sitting comfortably alongside Rough Trade labelmates like black midi and Gilla Band.

False Lankum also features two original tracks, ‘Netta Perseus’ and ‘The Turn’, both penned by the group’s Daragh Lynch.

Catch the band at Dublin's Vicar Street from May 29-31, and listen to 'Newcastle' below.

Forthcoming Tour Dates

APRIL
25th Apr - Silent Green, Berlin, Germany – sold out
28th Apr - Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, Netherlands– sold out
30th Apr - Le Botanique, Brussels, Belgium

MAY
2nd May - Petit Bain, Paris, France
4th May - London, Barbican, London, UK – sold out
10th May - St Lukes, Glasgow, UK – sold out
11th May - Band on the Wall, Manchester, UK – sold out
Fri 12th May - SWX, Bristol, UK – sold out
19th May - Mandela Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland – sold out
20th May - Cork Opera House, Cork, Ireland – sold out
24th May - Cork Opera House, Cork, Ireland
29th May - Vicar St, Dublin, Ireland - new date
30th May - Vicar St, Dublin, Ireland – sold out
31st May - Vicar St, Dublin, Ireland – sold out

JUNE
8th Jun – Beaches Brew, Ravenna, IT
10th June – Best Kept Secret, Hilvarenbeek, NL
28th Jun - Pop Messe, Brno, Czech Republic

AUGUST
4-6th Aug - All Together Now Festival, Co Waterford, Ireland
17-21st Aug - Green Man Festival, Brecon Beacons, UK

SEPTEMBER
1-3rd Sep - Supersonic Festival, Birmingham, UK

NOVEMBER
17th Nov - Manufaktur, Schorndorf, Germany
19th Nov - Transcentury Update Festival, Leipzig, Germany
22nd Nov - Lido, Berlin, Germany
23rd Nov - Stadtgarten, Köln, Germany
26th Nov - Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands

DECEMBER
13th Dec - The Roundhouse, London, UK