British singer-songwriter William Doyle has announced a surprise new EP, Alternate Lands.
It’s been quite a while since Doyle ditched his previous moniker, East India Youth, to perform under his own name. The EP will be the second release from Doyle this year, following the full length LP Great Spans of Muddy Time.
“Following the release of Great Spans of Muddy Time in March, I’ve decided to release this new EP called Alternate Lands,” Doyle explains in a press release. “The material on Spans was largely left untouched in its crushed and saturated format, having been salvaged from cassette tapes after losing session files in a hard drive failure, whereas ‘Alternate Lands’ takes sketches first started on those same tapes and reimagines their potential.”
“Although these songs were crafted in the same time period as ‘Spans’, I’ve taken them in a direction that resonates with where my head is at currently, while also signposting to the way my sound is heading for the next album. Across the three original tracks here, the production is more full and direct than at any point in my career, favouring upfront vocals and solid rhythms as opposed to hazy atmospherics,” the singer continued.
“I also chose to include a cover of one of my favourite songs by Robyn Hitchcock, ‘Autumn Is Your Last Chance’. Hitchcock has always been influential on my music, perhaps more in spirit and feeling than
as a touchstone for sound. My cover was recorded direct to cassette around the time of making ‘Spans’ and blends my love of Hitchcock’s compositions with the sort of sound world that people may associate me with.”
Check out the EP’s first single, ‘The Unanswered Why’, down below. Alternate Lands will come out on November 26.
