Glass Animals Returns with "Your Love (Déjà vu)"

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By: Amelia Zollner

In their newest track, “Your Love (Déjà vu),” British band Glass Animals explores harmful relationships and takes listeners through a tour of their previous releases, partially dipping their toes back into the tropical-inspired sounds of their debut album ZABA while mainly sticking to the hip-hop beats and confident demeanor of their recent releases. It’s exactly this combination of sounds from the past two albums that makes the single so enticing, creating an appealing preview of their upcoming, long-awaited third album.

After a 2018 cycling accident involving drummer Joe Seaward, the increasingly popular Glass Animals had to put music on hold as Seaward endured a lengthy recovery process. Although some fans grew worried that Glass Animals would return weakened by their hiatus, the band proved their doubts wrong with “Tokyo Drifting,” which was their first release in three years and featured rapper Denzel Curry. In the track, lead singer Dave Bayley adopts the alter ego of “Wavey Davey,” a confident, spontaneous version of himself manifested in lyrics woven between Curry’s verses, forming a hard-hitting hip-hop track. 

Much of this sound carries over into “Your Love (Déjà vu).” The track begins with hypnotic flute-like synths and shallow drums, creating a tropical feel similar to the one that defined ZABA. These instrumentals are constant throughout the song, as Bayley smoothly glides between verses and choruses. It’s slightly repetitive between listens, as the song features no significant buildups or changes between verses besides a bridge, but what it lacks in dynamics it makes up for in lyrics. 

In “Your Love (Déjà vu),” instead of showcasing the confidence that he equipped for “Tokyo Drifting,” Bayley is confessional as if he’s experiencing a moment of self-awareness within a toxic relationship. 

“I think we’ve all found ourselves in fucked up relationships that make us feel sad and helpless,” Bayley remarked. “Not necessarily something romantic—maybe it’s with a family member or a friend. A relationship that we know on some level is going to keep breaking our hearts. We let that person back into their lives over and over again, even though it always ends the same… “This song is about that…about being addicted to chaos.” During the chorus, he sings, “I can feel your love, your temporary touch, it’s a hit and run, you go back there when you’re done,” an honest description of what it’s like to feel tempted to return to a harmful relationship, battling between the love he feels and the consequences he suffers.

Bayley closes the track by repeating the lyrics “I can feel your love” as the instrumentals fade. It’s as if finishing on this lyric signifies his decision to return to the relationship in question despite knowing he’ll get hurt, a fitting ending for a song about self-destruction. 

Although it becomes repetitive at times, “Your Love (Déjà vu)” is an intimately written, instrumentally captivating track that touches on the various sounds that Glass Animals has adopted throughout their years as a band. With this single as well as their upcoming sold-out U.S. tour, it’s clear that 2020 is going to be the year that Glass Animals cements itself back into the music world.

Be sure to catch Glass Animals on their upcoming intimate tour -

UPCOMING TOUR DATES:
February 25                Washington, DC                     U Street Music Hall*

February 26                Brooklyn, NY                           Music Hall of Williamsburg*

February 28                Cambridge, MA                       The Sinclair*

March 1                       Toronto, ON                            Mod Club Theatre*

March 3                       Chicago, IL                              Lincoln Hall*

March 4                       Minneapolis, MN                     Fine Line Music Café*

March 6                       Kansas City, MO                     Record Bar*

March 8                       Okeechobee, FL                     Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival

March 11                     Los Angeles, CA                     The Troubadour*           

March 12                     San Francisco, CA                 The Independent*

March 14                     Seattle, WA                             Neumos*

March 15                     Portland, OR                           Aladdin Theatre*

March 20                     New Orleans, LA                    BUKU Music & Art Project

June 12                       Manchester, TN                      Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival

June 16                       Morrison, CO                          Red Rocks Amphitheatre*

June 17                       Morrison, CO                          Red Rocks Amphitheatre
* Sold Out