I’m Alone, But I’m Not Lonely: Inside World News’ Debut In Purgatory
The world is full—almost absurdly full—of sad songs capable of reaching our most delicate corners. Paradoxically, far fewer move in the opposite direction; far fewer, put simply, make you want to be alive. Most of us would probably reach for Oasis’s biggest anthems, The Verve’s “Lucky Man,” Felt’s “Sunlight Bathed the Golden Glow,” or something by Built to Spill. All the more precious, then, are full-length records capable of bottling that high for thirty or forty minutes straight. London quartet World News have delivered exactly that—and it sounds like a million bucks.
On paper, the formula seems simple enough: two chiming guitars, major-key melodies, a restless bassline, and instantly memorable choruses. Yet there is something unmistakably World News about the whole apparatus— their meticulously constructed visual identity, intricately illustrated sleeve art, and immaculate suits with loosely knotted ties; sprawling instrumental bookends, deliberately muted production, and occasional flashes of brass. Coupled with an unironic affection for retro aesthetics, it feels entirely natural to invoke R.E.M., The Smiths, or The Feelies in the same breath. Funnily enough, though, the quartet never seems in any rush to reach the hook—even if choruses have always been one of their greatest strengths.
World News spent nearly six years gathering material for their debut, In Purgatory. Some of these songs first surfaced during lockdown, while others were written just weeks before entering the studio. The title neatly captures the state of limbo in which the band crafted the record: suspended between their early sound and the group they’ve evolved into today; between ’80s British indie and its modern reincarnation; and, above all, between remarkably dark, near-despairing lyrics and arrangements that stubbornly insist on pushing you forward.
Immediately after “Frog”—a song front-loaded with a two-minute instrumental intro and boldly chosen to open the record—comes the impossibly sunny “Don’t Want to Know.” The track was born out of guitarist Alex Evans’s ill-fated move to Brighton, where he lost his job and spiraled into depression. On the similarly buoyant “Everything Is Coming up Roses,” Evans repeats the title phrase so many times it gradually begins to sound almost sardonic, as if mocking a reality that insists on proving the exact opposite. Another standout, the six-minute “Sidestep,” shifts the focus outward, watching someone you love slowly waste their life. Yet even when the lyrics threaten to corner you, the long instrumental coda steps in, washing away every drop of accumulated sadness.
The core tension of In Purgatory emerges most vividly on the seven-minute centerpiece, “Classical Music.” It kicks off with near-cartoonish rock ’n’ roll guitars and climbs toward a massive payoff—before dodging the final chorus entirely, looping back to where it began, and cutting cold. It’s a classic World News maneuver: crafting euphoria strictly through the dynamic arc of the song itself. “I’m alone, but I’m not lonely,” Evans delivers in the chorus. What could be more life-affirming than that?
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