Tears For Fears announce first album since 2004
The duo released the title track off the upcoming record, The Tipping Point
Aux News Tears for Fears
Shout, shout, let it all out: Tears For Fears are back! The synth-pop duo is releasing its first album since 2004's Everybody Loves A Happy Ending. The new record, The Tipping Point, arrives on February 25, 2022 on Concord Records.
In a press release, Roland Orzabal says, “Before everything went so right with this album, everything first had to go wrong, it took years, but something happens when we put our heads together. We’ve got this balance, this push-me-pull-you thing—and it works really well.”
Curt Smith adds, “If that balance doesn’t work on a Tears For Fears album, the whole thing just doesn’t work. To put it in simple terms, a Tears For Fears record and what people perceive to be the sound of Tears For Fears—is the stuff we can both agree on.”
Tears For Fears released the lead single, that shares a title with the record. Orzabal addresses his grief after the 2017 death of his wife, Caroline, in the track, singing, “Life is cruel, life is tough/Life is crazy, then it all turns too dust/Will you let them out?/Will you let them in?/Will you ever know when it’s the tipping point?”
“The line in the song says, ‘Will you ever know when it’s the Tipping Point?’ meaning, will you ever know when a person has crossed that threshold from life to death when you cannot even perceive that ‘vague and distant void’ as it’s described in the lyric,” Orzabal tells Rolling Stone about the song. “I have to admit that even in March 2016 when I was read the riot act by doctors about Caroline possibly not making it through the weekend, I was still in denial. I think that when you’ve been close to someone for decades, they are living within you as well as without. And consciously I did not believe she would die, though subconsciously I was, without doubt, preparing for the inevitable, arming myself against the future shock.”
25 Comments
My brother was a roadie for their UK tour about decade or so ago. He said they were nice to the crew and treated everyone well. Therefore, I like this band.
They were good on Comedy Bang Bang too.
How did they get so old? Wait. How did I get so old??
time
I find your comment kind of funny but also kind of sad.
The dreams in which you’re commenting are the best I’ve ever had.
They look at bit too dried up to have any tears left.
I will always love how they essentially modeled the character of Mallory in Archer off of Jessica Walter’s performance in A.D. Granted that vocal cast in Archer is spot on, but it’s gonna be a bit different to say the least without her. R.I.P. (Personal aside, she probably could have retired decades ago, but if you love what you do you don’t want to let it go. Good on her for letting us have those years of A.D. and Archer. Unmistakable voice and mannerisms.)
They look good for 60 year old guys.
Impressively, there are some baller-ass tracks on 2004’s ‘Everybody Loves A Happy Ending.’ The title track and ‘Who Killed Tangerine’ crush it Beatles-style, and ‘Last Days on Earth’ is one of the best things they’ve ever done, while sounding nothing like them. (It’s got a loungy Super Furry Animals vibe.)
fun with punctuation: ball’er ass-tracks
But how do they sound as slowed down acoustic dirges?
I’ll be checking that out tonight. Thanks for the rec
I got my copy of that for next to nothing when, for some reason, one of my local charity shop hrift stores had about a dozen promo copies of it donated to them almost a year before it came out in the UK, very odd as I do not live in a big music or press city. That alone would probably give it a place in my heart, but I think it’s a pretty good album too, a much more consistent take on the Beatles-y pop they were going for on the Seeds of Love album.
Agreed. It’s a barely known album which is excellent in its own right. I’m so glad the boys are back.They produced a couple of new tracks for their Rule the World compilation a few yeas back which weren’t bad at all.
They sound great.
TFF is great of course, but I was endlessly amused by Curt Smith playing “himself” on a few episodes of Psych.
I just watched the show for the first time this past August, and it was an absolute joy. Curt Smith’s cameos were always great.
Before moving to the West Coast, I made one last drive from DC to NJ to say goodbye to family and friends. I don’t know what possessed me to do this but I listened exclusively to Songs From the Big Chair over and over for the entire 4 and a half hour drive. I regret nothing.
While they’re known for the first two albums, there’s some great stuff on third one – Seeds of Love. I’m a huge fan of Woman in Chains.
Yeah, I still think Songs From The Big Chair is their most solid album and Everybody Wants to Rule the World I see as like the most Eighties song of the Eighties. But Advice for the Young at Heart on Seeds of Love is probably my most favorite song that they’ve done.
Agreed. Songs is the better album and Everybody Wants to Rule the World is their best track. But it’s amazing how many amazing songs they’ve done!
Something has occurred, and I find myself oriented with my head above my heels.