After a summer of teasing fans with hidden USB drives and kiwi keychains placed around New York City, the “Heat Waves” band officially debuted their latest single since their 2024 album, I Love You So F***ing Much.
“Vampire Bat” is a whimsical track that combines the usual sparkle of a Glass Animals song with marching band beats and cheerful synthesizer, with vocals much deeper than expected from the indie rock band. The tone contrasts from the more sinister narrative, which suggests a story of a toxic and greedy partner who tries to ignore or hide that they’re really sucking the life out of the singer. All of this is intertwined with the band’s love of pop-culture references, in this case highlighting Nintendo character Diddy Kong, and comic strips “Dennis the Menace” and “Calvin and Hobbes.”
The “Human Musical Group Sensations” maintain their overarching theme of fruits, dating back to their How To Be A Human Being single and setlist staple “Pork Soda” (2016), a song about pineapples in their head, and their more recent hit “Tangerine” from Dreamland (2020). “Vampire Bat” features cover art depicting a kiwi on a fork, as well as lyrics like, “A kiwi is a cross of a strawberry and a lime / So detuned to the truth is a tight line.” The antagonist continues to gaslight the narrator into believing things that simply are not true.
“Vampire Bat” features lyrics most reminiscent of Dreamland’s “Melon and the Coconut,” both exploring complex interpersonal relationships alongside fruit-related endeavors. Sonically, the single is most comparable to their 2020 title track, so much so that one may wonder if this song was originally written for that album.
What makes this song so unique is the juiciest part: frontman Dave Bayley playfully introduces the fanbase to the real-time recording of “Vampire Bat” while playing the “KEY-WI-BOARD,” an innovative instrument made from the kiwifruit itself!
Glass Animals listeners will have to keep an ear out for the second unreleased single (represented with a strawberry emoji) teased in July. Should fans expect more hidden keychains, secret passcodes, thumb drives, and snippets of new music? Only time will tell.
Glass Animals are finishing their Tour of Earth this August in support of their latest album I Love You So F***ing Much (2025). Remaining tickets are available here.
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