Kae Tempest reveals new single ‘I Saw Light’ with Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten

Kae Tempest has unveiled the latest single from their upcoming fifth album, this time a collaboration with Grian Chatten of Fontaines D.C. You can hear it below.

‘I Saw Light’ is the fourth single from ‘The Line Is a Curve’, following ‘Salt Coast’ as well as two other team-ups, ‘No Prizes’ with Lianne La Havas and ‘More Pressure’ with Kevin Abstract of Brockhampton. Now, they’ve released what’s likely to be the final taste of the album before it drops in its entirety a week on Friday (April 8).

Over a tense, burbling synth line, Tempest swaps verses with Chatten; the former is on typically animated form, whilst in contrast, the Fontaines frontman opts for quiet menace. The video, which has Tempest pounding the pavement around their hometown of Brockley, south-east London, was directed by Wolfgang Tillmans, who is also behind ‘The Line Is a Curve’s artwork.

The record will be the first for Tempest since they came out as non-binary in August of 2020, as well as their most collaborative to date; as well as the aforementioned contributors, it will also feature turns by assia and Confucius MC. Speaking back in January on their decision to bring in a number of guests , Tempest said: “There are collaborators that have come to play session parts that I’ve been playing with since I was 17 years old and with Dan Carey, this is album four. We’ve spent the best part of a decade just getting to know each other, and it creates this sense of community.” 

“I think that some of my other albums were coming from a place of real isolation and often despair.” they went on. “This album hopefully comes from a place where I’ve made some changes in my life. I’m trying to let go of some of that stuff. So maybe it’s a less lonely listen.” 

Tempest will head out on an extensive UK tour later this year in support of ‘The Line Is a Curve’. After playing a trio of U.S. gigs in March, they’ll head home the following month to play shows in Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cambridge, Bexhill-on-Sea, Brighton, Belfast, Bristol, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Hull, Cardiff, Sheffield, Leicester, London and Gateshead. 

The full track listing for ‘The Line Is a Curve’ is as follows: 

1. ’Priority Boredom’ 
2. ‘I Saw Light’ [feat. Brian Chatten of Fontaines D.C]
3. ’Nothing to Prove’
4. ‘No Prizes’ [feat. Lianne La Havas]
5. ‘Salt Coast’
6. ‘Don’t You Ever’’
7. These Are the Days’
8. ‘Smoking’ [feat. Confucius MC]
9. ‘Water in the Rain’ [feat. assia]
10. ‘More Pressure’ [feat. Kevin Abstract]
11. ‘Grace’

Kae Tempest, April 2022:

22 – Manchester, Albert Hall

23 – Edinburgh, Assembly Rooms

24 – Glasgow, SWG3 Galvanizers Yard

26 – Cambridge, Corn Exchange

27 – Bexhill-on-Sea, De La Warr Pavilion

28 – Brighton, Dome

May 2022:

3 – Belfast, Cathedral Quarter Festival

6 – Bristol, Marble Factory

8 – Liverpool, Grand Central Hall

10 – Birmingham, Town Hall

11 – Leeds, Stylus

12 – Hull, Asylum

14 – Cardiff, St. David’s Hall

15 – Sheffield, Octagon

16 – Leicester, O₂ Academy

18 – London, O₂ Shepherd’s Bush Empire

21 – Gateshead, Sage