Bleachers: "Realising we'd created our own mythology meant we could really plant our flag in the ground"

These days, Jack Antonoff might be better known for being the go-to producer for a galaxy of iconic superstars, but as he returns to Bleachers for their self-titled fourth album, he’s embracing the “really big band that still feels like a secret” .

Words: Ali Shutler.

"I spend all my time doing these different things, but I don't spend any time asking why I do them," says Jack Antonoff. In two weeks' time, he'll win Producer Of The Year for a record-breaking third time at the 2024 Grammys, thanks to his work with Lana Del Rey and Taylor Swift. Right now, though, he's sitting in a Parisian hotel during Fashion Week to talk about Bleachers' rousing self-titled fourth album. "I always mean to figure it out, but I never do," he says. "I just do what compels me, I guess."

The trilogy of Bleachers albums that came before it – 2014's 'Strange Desire', 2017's 'Gone Now' and 2021's 'Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night' – saw Jack "mourning the past and yelling at the future" as he tried to work through the death of his younger sister Sarah, who died when he was 18. "They were all about grief and loss through the lens of time and how that changes." This new record is very much about the present, though.

Again, he's not entirely sure what sparked the shift in perspective. Perhaps it was getting married to actor Margaret Qualley last year or the growing bond between the other members of Bleachers, but he didn't run away from those feelings of being right here. "I was just happy to be writing," he admits. "I don't write unless I'm frantically called to it because it seems like an unfair thing to do to yourself otherwise," says Jack, who believes songs are only worth pursuing if they're about things you don't know.   

'Bleachers' was written about "distant voices within yourself, weird feelings, and trying to figure it all out. I just feel a huge sense of relief that this album actually happened," he continues. "Being compelled to write is such a rare and powerful feeling."

"It's pretty hard for albums not to be cathartic," he adds. "They're all mountains. You get through them, or you get over them."

Still, 'Bleachers' feels very different to other albums the band have released, says Jack. "It's not a big pivot left or right. It's just this huge sense of drilling deeper." That idea of going further and further is "what I've been really interested in with all my work lately," he adds, ordering a Diet Coke to go alongside the sparkling water and fruit plate. "Let's rack this fucking bill up," he grins.

Across the album,