Ten Fé make their return with gripping new single 'Space Invader'
TEN FÉ MAKE THEIR RETURN WITH A GRIPPING NEW SINGLE “SPACE INVADER”
Today, UK cult indie rock outfit Ten Fé return to the scene with their first offering in 4 years, with new other-worldly single ‘Space Invader’.
Over their two albums and 100m+ streams, Walthamstow-based quartet, Ten Fé, have become something of a cult band amongst their fans. Absent since the 2019 release of acclaimed sophomore record ‘Future Perfect, Present Tense’ – with singer Leo joining a Korean monastery and Ben exercising his jazzy demons - the band emerge from the shadows with 'Space Invader’, the anthemic first glimpse of their third LP, forthcoming in 2025. Recorded at ICP Studios Brussels with Luke Smith (Foals, Depeche Mode, Shygirl) and mixed by Dan Goodwin (The National, Kevin Morby, Cassandra Jenkins).
Listen to ‘Space Invader’ below:
Speaking on the story behind ‘Space Invader’, Ten Fé share; “It is a moment of reflection in the midst of an argument. It's the moment you realise that you're wrong, but you've pushed the other person too far away to bring them back and resolve. And instead the more you argue and convince yourself you're right, the more you continue to push the other person away. In my case, I pursue, and invade the other person's space...communication has broken down and I've lost them.”
“I wrote the track over the course of the first year I was living in Ireland. It was over the course of the first year of my relationship with Ash, and so that's when you're really working out your boundaries. Can be really painful and you find yourself totally emotionally lost in space. That's what I wanted that last held chord to feel like - like you're being blasted into space emotionally” Ten Fé continue.
Musically, it's all Plastic Ono Band: raw, dry, honest - piano led and vocal led. Other references would be Perfume Genius, Donnie Hathaway and Music from Big Pink-era.
“Like all the songs on this album we're going for emotional honesty over everything else. The track was recorded at the very end of the day mid-way through the week in Brussels. May sound dramatic, but it really was in the depths of winter - all the lights off, and did feel like we were floating in our own little capsule.”
With a wealth of experience and success behind them, Ten Fé is poised for an incredible year ahead, filled with lots of exciting new ventures. Building on the distinctive flavors that have earned them acclaim in the past, their latest release, ‘Space Invader’, marks a return to their roots while also introducing a fresh, evolved sound.
In January 2025, Ten Fé will embark on a UK/EU tour in support of their highly anticipated third album. Fans will have the chance to experience the new project live, witnessing the band’s evolution in all its glory.
Ten Fé are Ben Moorhouse and Leo Duncan (songwriters and lead vocals), Rob Shipley (bass, vocals) and Tom Blunt (Drums) based in Walthamstow.
Songwriters Ben and Leo returned home from touring Ten Fé’s debut album ‘Hit The Light’ knowing something had shifted. What had begun as just the pair of them – when they moved to Berlin to record their first album with Ewan Pearson - had evolved on the road into an extended family and fully formed band. When it came to writing their follow-up LP – ‘Future Perfect, Present Tense’ out 8 March on Some Kinda Love/[PIAS] – the band knew their new set-up would allow them to hone CSNY-influenced four-part harmonies and the energy of their live shows to push their own brand of anthemic songwriting, rooted in personal chemistry.
First, the duo holed up in a derelict office block in Walthamstow resolving to write a simpler sort of song for this record that would connect them to the songbook of their days busking on the London Underground. Then, as a band, they upheaved to Oslo – taking Rob, Johnny and Alex along with them - to record the 11-track follow-up.
The Stones, Roy Orbison and Bowie influences can be heard chanelled into ‘Caught On The Inside’, Springsteen and The Cure into ‘No Night Lasts Forever’ and ‘Here Again’. Contrast the sultry, measured mood of ‘Echo Park’ with the candid celebration of new love, ‘Coasting’, also and you can hear the deeply romantic, blissed-out Americana of their debut has been developed further.
Future Perfect, Present Tense is produced by Luke Smith (Foals, Petite Noir, Anna of the North), and mixed by Craig Silvey (Arcade Fire, Florence & The Machine, Amen Dunes) and finds a sweet spot somewhere between the woozy drawl of War on Drugs and the taut melodrama of Fleetwood Mac.
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