{"id":598135,"date":"2026-05-22T14:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T14:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/598135\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T14:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T14:42:08","slug":"mark-bowen-talks-most-exciting-idles-album-on-the-way-and-liberating-experience-working-with-florence-the-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/598135\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Bowen talks \u201cmost exciting\u201d IDLES album on the way, and \u201cliberating\u201d experience working with Florence + The Machine"},"content":{"rendered":"

IDLES<\/a> guitarist Mark Bowen has revealed to NME \u00a0and revealed that the ban are currently working on their \u201cmost exciting\u201d album yet, as well as opening up about his \u201cbeautiful\u201d and \u201cliberating\u201d time working with Florence + The Machine.<\/a><\/p>\n

The guitarist and producer caught up with us on the Ivor Novellos 2026 red carpet yesterday (Thursday May 21), where he was nominated alongside Florence Welch<\/a> for Best Song Musically and Lyrically with the title track to Florence + The Machine\u2019s latest album \u2018Everybody Scream<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

Bowen worked closely with Welch throughout the record, which tackled themes of womanhood, partnership, ageing and dying, and has since joined her on stage<\/a> as she kicked off her 2026 tour in the UK earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of the greatest gifts I\u2019ve had in music to work with someone with such an incredible vision,\u201d Bowen told NME, explaining how the experience differed from his work with IDLES.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve ever written music with someone where it\u2019s not intended to be my art,\u201d he said. \u201cNormally when I\u2019m writing in my band, there\u2019s a certain sense of ownership and identity that you bring to it, whereas this was all about being the vessel through which Florence\u2019s genius and Florence\u2019s creative idea flowed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an incredibly enjoyable experience, an emotional experience for me as well, and it was a really beautiful thing,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely very different to being in my band where basically a big argument happens for a few hours, and then a song comes out at the end! With Florence, she\u2019s got this very straightforward vision. She knows exactly what she wants, and then it\u2019s just about how you make that happen musically.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

When asked what he has coming up next, Bowen revealed that IDLES have been back in the studio working on a new album \u2013 the follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2024 record \u2018Tangk<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is probably the most exciting IDLES album, just from a perspective of how excited we are about it,\u201d he told NME. \u201cWe got back in the studio to write, and we\u2019ve kinda gone \u2013 I don\u2019t want to say back to basics because that\u2019s cliche \u2013 but it\u2019s a bit back to basics!<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s five members in a room thrashing it out on instruments. Lots of arguments, [which is great because] if it\u2019s too nice, then it\u2019s not sick. It\u2019s always more sick if someone is not getting what they want!\u201d<\/p>\n

The guitarist and songwriter then revealed that while things are still in early stages, he is sure \u201cit\u2019ll be recorded this year and I\u2019d expect it [released] next year\u201d.<\/p>\n

As for the artwork, Bowen said it \u201cwould be sick\u201d if they could get iconic street artist Banksy<\/a> to design the cover \u2013 particularly given the allusive artist pulling a stunt at IDLES\u2019 2024 Glastonbury set<\/a>, where he put an inflatable boat into the audience during the band\u2019s pro-immigration track \u2018Danny Nedelko\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

While Florence + The Machine\u2019s \u2018Everybody Scream\u2019 was nominated for Best Song Musically and Lyrically at the 2026 Ivor Novellos, the trophy ultimately went to Jacob Alon<\/a> for their song \u2018Don\u2019t Fall Asleep\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Scottish singer-songwriter also won the Rising Star Award, and other winners included CMAT<\/a> getting Best Album, Fraser T Smith<\/a> and Kae Tempest<\/a> winning Best Contemporary Song prize, and Sam Fender<\/a> getting Songwriter Of The Year.<\/p>\n

Rosal\u00eda was crowned International Songwriter Of The Year<\/a>, Radiohead<\/a>\u2019s Thom Yorke<\/a> was handed the Academy Fellowship award by surprise guest Harry Styles<\/a>, and George Michael<\/a> posthumously received the Academy Fellowship, too.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

When it was released, NME gave the \u2018Everybody Scream\u2019 album a glowing five-star review<\/a>, which said that while there is \u201cno easy, radio-friendly hit here, nor a euphoric finale\u201d, the record does feel like a \u201cfinal embrace\u201d and \u201cone that stays with you longer than the rage and anguish which, here, is as fleeting, yet deeply magical, as the changing seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

IDLES will be returning to perform with Deftones at their All Points East x Outbreak show at London\u2019s Victoria Park on Sunday August 23<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IDLES guitarist Mark Bowen has revealed to NME \u00a0and revealed that the ban are currently working on their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[25065,96,128,20322,3584,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-598135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-alternative","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-punk","tag-rock","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}