“The 1975 are being their cryptic selves and have deactivated all of their social media accounts as of Wednesday,” reported Billboard yesterday. Yet as of Thursday morning when Music Ally is writing this bulletin, the band’s Twitter, Instagram and Facebook profiles are all up and running again.
If you’re thinking this is part of a campaign for some new music from the popular British band, you’d be right: later yesterday, they released the first single from their next album ‘Notes on a Conditional Form’. The track is called ‘The 1975’ (as is the opening track on each of their albums so far) and features a guest vocalist: climate-change activist Greta Thunberg.
The Guardian reports that proceeds from the track will go to the Extinction Rebellion campaign. In fact, the Guardian’s piece is well worth reading, not just for what the single is about, but also how the band and their label Dirty Hit are trying to minimise the environmental impact of their music: cutting out plastic products, and making some changes to their vinyl strategy.
“Rather than ignoring that it’s a pollutant, we’re minimising it by only doing lightweight vinyl from now on,” said Dirty Hit’s Jamie Oborne. Recycled merchandise and (this is the tough nut to crack) touring changes will also be on the band’s agenda. “We’re not going to have touring worked out in six weeks because everything’s working against you, but we are going to have it sorted out in a period of time, and 50% is better than nothing,’ said Oborne. There are no easy answers here, but it’s good to see these challenges being talked about more openly.
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