TV Priest continue the build towards their forthcoming album Cartoons with the release of new single Just So You Know, accompanied by a new video and the announcement of a run of UK headline shows for January and February 2027.
Due for release on 6th November via AMK / Kartel Music Group, Cartoons represents a significant evolution for the London-based band. Across three new songs unveiled this year, TV Priest have demonstrated an increasingly expansive approach to their sound, with the abrasive, shapeshifting The Mud Never Dries and brooding Love Song (A Good Kind of Weapon) now joined by the muscular new track Just So You Know.
TV Priest
Opening with solemn strings before erupting into a groove-heavy indie pulse, Just So You Know finds the band balancing urgency with a more melodic sensibility. Layers of instrumentation twist and reshape themselves throughout the track, surrounding Charlie Drinkwater’s poignant vocals and hook-led melodies.
At its heart, however, the song is less about technology itself than the way it has begun to affect human relationships and everyday life. Drinkwater frames the track as a breakup song in which the other half of the relationship is technology, examining the seemingly endless cycle of scrolling, notifications and digital distraction. “I’m scrolling before I’ve even really had a single thought of my own,” Drinkwater explains. “The stress sits in my stomach like bad coffee and the people I love get whatever attention is left over.”
That tension between the seductive convenience of modern technology and its more corrosive effects runs through Cartoons. Drinkwater questions whether the constant stream of digital stimulation is ultimately beneficial, while acknowledging the difficulty of stepping away from something that offers an endless succession of small rewards. The track provides another glimpse into an album that finds TV Priest looking inward after the more outward-facing concerns of their earlier work.
The band first emerged with 2021’s Uppers, followed by 2022’s My Other People, establishing a sound built around probing songwriting, angular instrumentation and an instinct for examining the increasingly disconnected world around them. Cartoons retains that sense of curiosity and philosophical questioning while opening the door to a considerably broader sonic palette.
Written by Drinkwater and Alex Sprogis over a two-year period, the album grew from a period of slowing down. The pair subsequently opened up the recording process to a wider group of collaborators, friends and musicians, creating what Drinkwater describes as the band’s most communal and exposed record to date.
That collaborative approach has also allowed TV Priest to push beyond the more familiar boundaries of their previous work. Guitars now meet programmed drums and electronic production, while piano, fiddle, choir and field recordings introduce new textures. Even recordings of birds have been manipulated and incorporated into the music, reflecting the album’s interest in the meeting point between the natural world and an increasingly digital existence.
While Cartoons retains the fire and philosophical edge that has characterised TV Priest since their emergence, there is also a newfound willingness to embrace melody. Drinkwater describes it as both their most direct and most expansive record, with choruses allowed to communicate their ideas without being deliberately obscured. The result is an album concerned with confusion, change and the unstable boundaries between the personal and political. Its themes encompass technology, surveillance, work, family, love, grief and the struggle to navigate contemporary life, while resisting the temptation to offer easy answers. “Not resolution,” Drinkwater says of the record’s outlook. “Just company, out in the noisy world.”
Before the headline tour arrives, TV Priest will celebrate the release of Cartoons with a series of UK in-store performances, including two performances at Rough Trade Denmark Street in London on release day, followed by appearances in Leeds, Liverpool, Bristol, Kingston and Southsea. The band will also appear at London’s Blondie’s on Halloween, 31st October, where they join Crows as special guests.
The newly announced headline tour then gets underway in January, taking TV Priest through Bristol, Birmingham, London, Brighton, Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds. The run begins at The Louisiana in Bristol on 25th January and concludes at Leeds’ Oporto on 1st February.
With Just So You Know offering another taste of TV Priest’s increasingly ambitious new direction, the forthcoming shows provide the opportunity to hear Cartoons take shape in the live environment.
Upcoming UK Live Dates:
OCTOBER
31st – London, Blondie’s – special guests to Crows
NOVEMBER
6th – London, Rough Trade Denmark Street – two performances, in-store
7th – Leeds, Crash – in-store
8th – Liverpool, Jacaranda – in-store
9th – Bristol, Rough Trade – in-store
11th – Kingston, Banquet x Fighting Cocks – in-store
12th – Southsea, Pie & Vinyl – in-store
2027 UK Headline Tour:
JANUARY
25th – Bristol, The Louisiana
26th – Birmingham, Hare & Hounds 2
27th – London, The George Tavern
28th – Brighton, Green Door Store
30th – Manchester, The Abbey
31st – Glasgow, McChuills
FEBRUARY
1st – Leeds, Oporto
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