Bleachers‘ debut single I Wanna Get Better is set for a July 14th UK release. The as-yet-untitled debut album will follow on August 4th though Columbia records.

Bleachers is the new artistic outlet of Jack Antonoff - core member of multi Grammy winning band fun. Antonoff wrote and co-produced the Bleachers debut single I Wanna Get Better alongside producer John Hill (MIA, Jay Z, Empire of the Sun).

As Jack explains, Bleachers came about unexpectedly: "I didn't plan to start a new project. Furthermore, looking back on it, it was an extremely un-ideal time to make a record, as I was on a world tour with fun. Yet I felt extremely compelled to do it. Many times when I should have been asleep, or resting, or eating, I would go to the studio. In Stockholm, Malaysia, in my room recording all day in Australia, literally all over the place. When I'd have two weeks off, I’d head into the studio in New York or L.A. and sift through everything I had done overseas and figure out what was interesting and what was garbage.

Then one day I realized I had an entire album and that I had made it all over the world. My experience making albums before this was that you lock yourself in the studio for two weeks, make the album, and it's a documentation of the art in that moment. This could not have been more the opposite. I had, in the most literal sense, a wide perspective. I would work on something in South Korea, then I'd come home and be like, "this sounds like someone recorded it in South Korea at 4 a.m. and they're jet-lagged. But this one vocal part is really cool. Let's build on that.”

Jack continues: “I wanted Bleachers to have a nostalgic element, so some of the emotions almost do feel a little John Hughes-y. But I didn't want it to be a retro album. It had to be fully pushed into the future while grounded in that moment that means so much to me. That’s why I brought in the producer John Hill. He is very modern in everything he does. He's always looking for new techniques and a way to differentiate the work. Vince Clarke, from Depeche Mode, Yaz, and Erasure, worked on a bunch of stuff as well and added the grounding in the time period I was inspired by. I mean, Vince literally made some of the albums that inspired me to do Bleachers in the first place. It was really full circle to have one of the people who inspire you to create with you.”

Bleachers play the following UK dates:

July 2 Manchester Soundcontrol

July 3 Glasgow Oran Mor

July 5 Birmingham Wireless festival at Alexander Stadium

July 6 London Wireless festival at Finsbury Park

July 13 Kinross T In The Park festival