White Denim share live video for new single "We Can Move Along" from upcoming album "12" out this Friday via Bella Union || UK shows this week and in March 2025
One of the most dynamic rock bands to emerge this millennium, White Denim release their much-anticipated new album 12 this Friday, 6th December, via Bella Union. Ahead of the release the band today share the LP’s final preview single, “We Can Move Along”, a track which homes in on frontman James Petralli’s belief in the possibility of love enduring in a nourishing long-term relationship. The track comes accompanied by a live studio performance video of the track recorded at Altamira Sound. Click HERE to watch.
Commenting on the track White Denim frontman James Petralli says: “The music for ‘We Can Move Along’ was written by Matt Young. I suspect he was referencing Bowie's last record and maybe In Rainbows when he was composing but I haven't really asked. I tried to serve the parts and add complimentary textures in my production and arrangement. I like the ambiguity in my lyric - it doesn't hide anything but also doesn't offer a clean resolution. To me this reflects life more accurately than is typical in a song.”
“An album of shimmering pop, slick art-rock, sunshine funk and soul... Some of the hookiest music of their career... A remarkably dynamic record that oozes flair...
it’s unquestionably the most progressive and expansive record White Denim have made to date.” Uncut – 9/10 Album of the Month
“Thrilling... Post-punk, soul and Southern rock collide in an ever-delectable succession of hyper-melodic bangers.” MOJO – 4 stars ****
“Another fertile reinvention... a record of sumptuous soul-funk pleasures, brimming with colour and pop melody.” Record Collector – 4 stars ****
“12 is true to White Denim’s signature blend of good tunes and good vibes, ranking amongst their most uplifting work.
Richly layered and laidback, 12 is groovy, comforting and full of sunshine.” Shindig – 4 stars ****
White Denim have previously shared the tracks “Light On”, “Second Dimension” and “Look Good” from the album.
White Denim UK tour:
Thursday 5th December – Norwich - Waterfront
Friday 6th December – London – Rough Trade East *(Sold Out!)*
Saturday 7th December – Leeds – Leeds University Stylus
Sunday 8th December – Liverpool – Rough Trade *(Sold Out!)*
Monday 9th December – Nottingham – Rough Trade *(Sold Out!)*
Tuesday 10th December – Bristol – Rough Trade *(Sold Out!)*
Wednesday 11th December – Brighton – Chalk
2025:
Sunday 2nd March – Dublin – The Academy
Tuesday 4th March – Glasgow – Queen Margaret Union
Wednesday 5th March – Newcastle – Wylam Brewery
Thursday 6th March – Manchester – O2 Ritz
Saturday 8th March – Liverpool – Arts Club
Sunday 9th March – Nottingham – Rescue Rooms
Monday 10th March – Sheffield – Crookes Social Club
Wednesday 12th March – Birmingham – XOYO
Thursday 13th March – Cardiff – Tramshed
Friday 14th March – London – O2 Forum Kentish Town
Saturday 16th March – Bristol – SWX
It’s always been hard to keep pace with James Petralli’s group, ever since they first exploded out of Austin, Texas in ’08 with hyper-kinetic post-punk bangers like Shake Shake Shake and I Start To Run. There was delicious romance in the original trio’s MO, as they hatched intrepid sounds together in a 1940s Spartan trailer parked up in woodland outside the city. Petralli duly raced on through shifting line-ups and kaleidoscopic shades of soul, jazz and Southern rock, always with a feel of in-the-moment authenticity.
As for so many musicians, the pandemic forced Petralli into a radical rethink in both life and creative process. Going into White Denim’s twelfth long-player, he relocated his family to Los Angeles, and, barred from the usual workouts “on the floor” under COVID, he plunged deep into the science of assembling tracks digitally, with contributions from players he’d sometimes never even meet. The results on 12 are intricate, hi-tech and forward-facing, yet also somehow still of a piece with the questing ambition, rootsy swing and uplifting way with melody we’ve come to adore about Petralli’s music.
“It was out of the window with even the idea of a band,” says Petralli. “On this record, there are many bands, sometimes in the room with me, sometimes miles away in a remote collaboration, and that process opened up a lot of possibility for me.” By way of example, he explains how he heard a track by Chicago’s Finom (aka Macie Stewart and Sima Cunningham), then speculatively reached out to them, and soon had them voicing on ‘12’’s sun-kissed soul smash, ‘Swinging Door’.
“This is the first White Denim record where I’ve engineered and been the main producer,” he proudly states. “I’ve touched every sound that’s on there.”
If ‘12’ is the thrilling sound of Petralli vacating his low-tech comfort zone, it also documents a turbulent and sometimes painful period for his family. Back in Austin, he and his partner Elaine were caring for her father, who passed in spring ’21, and once they’d moved to LA, it fell to James to home-school his kids. His lyrics are his response to some of these “difficult things”, but refracted through the glass-half-full sunshine prism of Petralli’s worldview.
As ever, Petralli takes inspiration, if not specific techniques, from right across popular music’s history. For this project, Scritti Politti’s avant-pop masterpiece from 1985, ‘Cupid & Psyche’, was an influence for its densely detailed sonic texturing, but Petralli says he equally binged on YouTube clips of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and Dennis Bovell dubbing it up on the fly. In terms of actual songwriting, James has been vibing on Nick Lowe, Jonathan Richman, Doug Sahm and Joe Jackson – “these guys who make very energetic, intentional music that’s sophisticated but also willing to have a good time.”
By opening up to different methods of composition and production on ‘12’, James Petralli has succeeded in rejuvenating White Denim, while keeping continuity at its core.
White Denim UK tour:
Thursday 5th December – Norwich - Waterfront
Friday 6th December – London – Rough Trade East
Saturday 7th December – Leeds – Leeds University Stylus
Sunday 8th December – Liverpool – Rough Trade
Monday 9th December – Nottingham – Rough Trade
Tuesday 10th December – Bristol – Rough Trade
Wednesday 11th December – Brighton – Chalk
2025:
Sunday 2nd March – Dublin – The Academy
Tuesday 4th March – Glasgow – Queen Margaret Union
Wednesday 5th March – Newcastle – Wylam Brewery
Thursday 6th March – Manchester – O2 Ritz
Saturday 8th March – Liverpool – Arts Club
Sunday 9th March – Nottingham – Rescue Rooms
Monday 10th March – Sheffield – Crookes Social Club
Wednesday 12th March – Birmingham – XOYO
Thursday 13th March – Cardiff – Tramshed
Friday 14th March – London – O2 Forum Kentish Town
Saturday 16th March – Bristol – SWX
12 artwork and tracklist:
1. Light On
2. Econolining
3. Flash Bare Ass
4. Cat City #2
5. Look Good
6. Second Dimension
7. I Still Exist
8. Your Future As God
9. Swinging Door
10. We Can Move Along
11. Hand Out Giving
12. Precious Child
