Snapped Ankles announce new album 'Hard Times Furious Dancing' released 28th March 2025
Snapped Ankles have given up trying to make sense of it all. The forest only offers so much protection. Feeding on a diet of fractured narratives, meme culture, viral moments and the very worst of human impulses weighs heavy. The woodwose hold up a mirror to the absurdity of modern life once again. The only sane response is to dance. Make your way to the clearing, gather around the megalith of speakers, drum machines, amps and synthesisers and dance like there’s no tomorrow.
Watch the video for first single ‘Raoul’ (out today) below - a feverish conversation about geopolitics between unreliable narrators over buzzing synths and howling dogs.
Hard Times Furious Dancing will be released on CD and digital, and in four vinyl formats including black vinyl, a limited edition indies only ‘Don Quixote’s Green’ vinyl edition, and a Bandcamp only ‘Weird & Eerie’ luminous vinyl edition of 800. There is also a Dinked Edition of 700 on ‘Procession of the Possessed’ pink vinyl, which also includes an ‘Armchair Protest Banner’ (aka a tea towel) and a ‘Hard Times Preparation Manual’ booklet.
Press Release | High Res Artwork | Press Photo
Artist:Snapped AnklesTitle:Hard Times Furious DancingLabel:The Leaf LabelFormats:Black vinyl LP (BAY 134V)Limited Dinked Edition ‘Procession of the Possessed’ pink vinyl LP + ‘zine + tea towel (700 copies) (BAY 134VD)Limited edition Bandcamp only ‘Weird & Eerie’ luminous LP (800 copies) (BAY 134 VBC)CD (BAY 134CD)Digital (BAY 134E)Release Date:Friday 28th March 2025CDLP21.A1.Pay the Rent2.A2.Personal Responsibilities3.A3.Raoul4.A4.Dancing In Transit5.B1.Where’s the Caganer?6.B2.Smart World7.B3.Hagen Im Garten8.B4.摆烂 Bai Lan9.B5.Closely ObservedHard Times Furious Dancing is an invitation to all those lost in the unrelenting noise of the present, to leave it all behind and come together in the forest. Driven by the primitive thrust of their single-oscillator ‘log’ synths, high and low culture collide in a surreal, free flowing narrative - but the rhythm is universal. This is easily the closest Snapped Ankles have come to capturing their rapturous live energy in the studio. It’s everything you’ve come to know and love from a Snapped Ankles album, amped all the way up until the ground begins to shake.
The first single, ‘Raoul’, is a feverish conversation about geopolitics between unreliable narrators over buzzing synths and howling dogs. The protagonists? Raoul Duke and Don Quixote of course - the original and best where unreliable narrators are concerned. ‘Pay The Rent’ takes a sideways look at how the global cost of living crisis is putting a squeeze on the arts – or “Dancing at the misery of the situation,” as frontman Austin puts it. Which leads neatly on to ‘Dancing In Transit’ – a true tale of bumping into ballroom dancers while stuck in post-Brexit Eurotunnel customs purgatory and “getting an impromptu tango class in the middle of the mayhem”. Elsewhere there are odes to various pioneers of arthouse cinema, Neue Deutsche Welle and krautrock, and defecating nativity figurines. Standard Snapped Ankles’ fare.
The sound of Hard Times Furious Dancing evolved at Snapped Ankles’ South London ‘Forest Rayve’ club nights in 2024 in response to that age-old primal urge to bring people together and make them move. It’s the first time the woodwose have road tested new material to this extent before committing it to tape since debut album Come Play The Trees, and in doing so have harnessed that feral energy once again. This surreal human/woodwose connection is the very best release from an algorithm that knows you better than you know yourself. Dance it all loose.
Snapped Ankles embark on their biggest tour to date, with a run of over thirty shows in the UK and Europe this spring, including a night at Fabric in London on May 15th. Support for the March UK leg comes courtesy of The Sick Man Of Europe.
Snapped Ankles Live:
Fri 7 Feb Northern Winter Beat, Aalborg, DENMARK
Wed 5 Mar Bedford Esquires, Bedford, UK #
Thu 6 Mar Junction, Cambridge, UK #
Fri 7 Mar Norwich Arts Centre, Norwich, UK #
Sat 8 Mar Colchester Arts Centre, Colchester, UK #
Tue 11 Mar Crookes Social Club, Sheffield, UK *
Wed 12 Mar The Crescent, York, UK *
Thu 13 Mar The Georgian Theatre, Stockton-on-Tees, UK *
Fri 14 Mar Room 2, Glasgow, UK *
Sat 15 Mar Rough Trade, Liverpool, UK *
Tue 18 Mar Face Bar, Reading, UK *
Wed 19 Mar Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, UK
Thu 20 Mar Lantern Hall, Bristol, UK *
Fri 21 Mar Hare & Hounds, Birmingham, UK *
Sat 22 Mar Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, UK *
Tue 1 Apr L'Aeronef, Lille, FRANCE
Wed 2 Apr Maroquinerie, Paris, FRANCE
Thu 3 Apr Museum @ Botanique, Brussels, BELGIUM
Fri 4 Apr EKKO, Utrecht, NETHERLANDS
Sat 5 Apr Paradiso Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS
Sun 6 Apr Effenaar, Eindhoven, NETHERLANDS
Tue 8 Apr Bumann & Sohn, Cologne, GERMANY
Wed 9 Apr Hafenklang, Hamburg, GERMANY
Thu 10 Apr Polimagie Festival @ Beatpol, Dresden, GERMANY
Fri 11 Apr Urban Spree, Berlin, GERMANY
Sat 12 Apr Import / Export, Munich, GERMANY
Tue 15 Apr Commissary Art Space, Heidelberg, GERMANY
Wed 16 Apr Palace, St Gallen, SWITZERLAND
Thu 17 Apr Fri-Son, Fribourg, SWITZERLAND
Fri 18 Apr Arci Bellezza, Milan, ITALY
Sat 19 Apr Covo, Bologna, ITALY
Fri 9 May The Forum, Tunbridge Wells, UK
Sat 10 May Boileroom, Guildford, UK
Tue 13 May The Old Market, Brighton, UK
Wed 14 May Papillon, Southampton, UK
Thu 15 May Fabric, London, UK
Fri 16 May The Tin, Coventry, UK
Sat 17 May Meltchester Festival, Manchester, UK
# with Maria Uzor
* with The Sick Man Of Europe
