Following the release of their critically acclaimed EP Hit & Run in February, rising Manchester band Larkins have burst back into the spotlight with their huge new offering “Are We Having Any Fun Yet?”. The first teaser from their upcoming new body of work, “Are We…?”, the synth-infused pop-rock track emerges as a hugely bold and exciting statement of intent, boasting production and mixing credits from Dan Nigro (Conan Gray, Sky Ferreira) and Andrew Dawson (Kanye West, Childish Gambino) respectively.

LISTEN TO “ARE WE HAVING ANY FUN YET?” HERE

The scale of the track, with its anthemic, thudding bassline and hyper-personal lyricism from frontman Josh Noble, is an electric, charismatic, and ambitious move that will be sure to continue the intrigue and attention around them.

“‘Are We Having Any Fun Yet?’ It’s a question I’ve been asking myself forever I guess,” said Josh Noble. “I’d never written something so personal and so quickly, it kinda just came out… I love the section about mental health and pretending to be alright to your friends. I feel like that temptation to portray strength all the time is within all of us.

I started writing in London and finished production alongside Dan Nigro in LA. The Juno pulses and harmonisers on the vox was something I’d wanted to try for ages.

AWHAFY feels so anthemic and yet serious and cutting all at the same time. I love this song and I hope it can be the soundtrack to people’s lives for a while, even just to give a bit of perspective and start to challenge what’s actually important.”

With epic, cinematic visuals shot by award-winning Manchester duo GRANDMAS, it’s another marker of Larkins’ creative ambitions.

Indeed an exciting reputation is already being formed: Larkins’ arena-scale blend of anthemic, synth-laden alt-pop reverberates with a growing number of fans with each subsequent release. The band have accumulated millions of streams, with their two offerings for 2019, the “TV Dream” EP and single “Not Enough Love” amassing 5 million alone.

Now named in the NME ‘100 for 2020’ at the start of the year, Larkins are already drawing critical attention from tastemakers incl. THE LINE OF BEST FIT and DORK, BBC R1 (Jack Saunders), Beats 1 (Zane Lowe) and Radio X. Burgeoning US tastemaker support across ALT NATION and KROQ has swiftly followed, and it feels like Larkins are a force of nature continuing to imprint themselves onto the mainstream.

Originally from Glossop in Derbyshire (the same birthplace as fashion’s Dame Vivienne Westwood) before moving to Manchester, Josh Noble, Dom Want (guitar/synth), Henry Beach (bass/synth) and Joe Gaskell (drums) have forged a similar reputation for climate change awareness, gender equality and ethical practices in the music industry.

Crafting music that is huge, layered and mixing the kind of natural melody and new generation fan hype that will conjure relevant comparisons to the likes of Foals and The 1975, Larkins are certainly making their mark.

“Are We Having Any Fun Yet?” is available to stream on all platforms now.