With their debut album In Purgatory, London’s World News bring years of restless songwriting, jangly guitars, and bittersweet melodies into one defining statement. Ahead of their biggest UK and European headline tour, the band reflects on nostalgia, the unexpected success of “The Tinman,” and why four friends playing guitars together still feels like something worth fighting for.
There’s something fitting about a band called World News making music that seems determined to escape the noise of the modern world.
For London quartet World News, the everyday experience of living in a city increasingly dominated by screens, distractions, and uncertainty has become the inspiration behind their debut album, In Purgatory, arriving October 16, 2026.
“It was meant to represent being stuck in limbo,” vocalist Alex Evans explains. “People just sort of drudge around London glued to their phones. We’re living in strange times.”
The record brings together 11 songs written across different chapters of the band’s history, some dating back to the uncertainty of 2020 and others completed just days before entering the studio.
Recorded at London’s RAK Studios with producer Tommy Bosustow, In Purgatory captures World News at the intersection of nostalgia and contemporary disillusionment, combining jangly guitars, melancholic songwriting, and the raw chemistry of a band that has spent years developing its identity.
Four Friends, Guitars, and the Search for Something Real
World News began with brothers Alex and Rory Evans, who originally performed under the name Tinman in Brighton’s grassroots music scene.
After connecting with drummer Malte Henning and eventually welcoming rhythm guitarist Jack Tollman, the band developed a sound rooted in classic guitar music without feeling obligated to recreate a particular era.
Their early momentum was interrupted by the pandemic, but the years that followed produced three EPs, numerous singles, and a steadily growing audience.
Although critics frequently compare their sound to ’80s college rock and nostalgic indie-pop, Evans isn’t particularly concerned with those labels.
“I always say there’s nothing new with four guys playing guitars and drums,” he says.
Instead, he approaches songwriting as a process of discovering something overlooked within a familiar tradition.
“Over the years people have mined the songwriting mine to almost depletion, but there are still nuggets in there waiting to be discovered.”
That philosophy extends to the band’s identity.
At a time when live performances can involve rotating musicians and carefully programmed arrangements, World News emphasize the chemistry of a permanent lineup.
“To me, [a proper band] is a group of friends getting together to play music and everyone has their ideas of how things are run.”
The Strange Afterlife of a Song
World News experienced an unexpected breakthrough when their 2023 single “The Tinman” began circulating organically, eventually reaching the global top 10 viral charts and accumulating millions of streams.
There was no major editorial campaign or defining TikTok moment.
The song simply found its audience.
For Evans, the success felt particularly meaningful because “The Tinman” was the first song he wrote for the band.
“I always thought The Tinman deserved to reach a wider audience,” he reflects. “It was the first song I wrote for the band, and probably the best.”
That organic momentum helped set the stage for In Purgatory, which also includes “Don’t Want to Know,” “Everything Is Coming up Roses,” “Sidestep,” and the latest single, “The Way It Goes.”
Written largely in 2020, “The Way It Goes” embraces fragmented thoughts and emotions rather than a conventional lyrical narrative, pairing them with the band’s familiar bittersweet guitar sound.
Evans describes the emotional contrast in their music as something instinctive rather than calculated.
“Powerful highs and lows,” he says. “I think it reflects me as a person.”
Moving Forward Without Reinventing Everything
With sold-out shows already behind them and their biggest UK and European headline tour underway this autumn, World News are preparing to bring In Purgatory into a more immediate setting.
Evans expects the live performances to sound rawer than the album, replacing studio overdubs with the direct energy of four musicians playing together.
And although the debut represents the culmination of several years of songwriting, the band is already considering what comes next.
Rather than abandoning their identity for a dramatic stylistic reinvention, Evans sees the next chapter as a natural progression.
For World News, the point isn’t to escape guitar music’s history.
It’s to discover what might still be hiding inside it.
In Conversation With World News
In Purgatory pulls together songs written across several years, with some dating back to 2020 and others written just before recording. How does hearing those different versions of yourselves together change the way you understand the album now?
I don’t really think about it in that way to be honest. I see it as the best and most appropriate songs we have in the bag being put together to make a decent record.
“The Way It Goes” was largely written and demoed in 2020, with lyrics built more from fragments, thoughts and feelings than a traditional narrative. What do those words mean to you six years later?
I don’t think anything has changed. They didn’t really mean anything back then, but they still mean the same thing.
There’s something fitting about calling a debut album In Purgatory when many of these songs have existed in different forms for years. What does that title represent for the band?
It was meant to represent being stuck in limbo, which in this day and age seems appropriate with everyday things in life. People just sort of drudge around London glued to their phones. We’re living in strange times..
Your music is frequently described through the language of nostalgia, ’80s college rock and retro indie, yet it has connected with a very contemporary audience. How conscious are you of those references when you’re actually making music?
I can see why we’re put in that category, but weirdly I listen more to 60’s, 70’s and 90’s stuff. I always say there’s nothing new with 4 guys playing guitars and drums. I like to think of songwriting in the same vein as mining. Over the years people have mined the songwriting mine to almost depletion, but there are still nuggets in there waiting to be discovered.
You recorded the album at RAK Studios with Tommy Bosustow. What did working in that environment bring out of the band that you hadn’t captured on your earlier recordings?
Tommy was great at getting the best out of us. We would play a few takes and he’d make a few suggestions and do some more, then he would usually make the call as to which take was the best (he was usually right) and we’d go from there. It was so important having those extra pair of ears in the studio.
“The Tinman” unexpectedly reached the global viral charts without a conventional viral moment or major editorial push. What did watching an older song suddenly find millions of listeners teach you about how music travels today?
It was great. I always thought The Tinman deserved to reach a wider audience. It was the first song I wrote for the band, and probably the best.
There’s a distinctly bittersweet quality running through your music—melodies can feel warm or immediate while something more melancholic sits underneath. Is that tension something you intentionally pursue, or simply where your songwriting naturally lands?
It feels like they just naturally go there, and I think it reflects me as a person. Powerful highs and lows.
You’ve been praised as a band that feels distinctly real and guitar-driven at a moment when so much music is created and consumed digitally. What does being a “band” mean to you in 2026?
I feel like we’re a proper unit. You see a lot of bands where there’s one or two people leading it and they just get session players in when they play live, which is great, but it’s rare these days to see a proper band, which to me is a group of friends getting together to play music and everyone has their ideas of how things are run.
You’re following the album with your biggest UK and European headline tour yet. How do you want the live version of In Purgatory to differ from what people hear on the record?
On the record you’ll hear lots of overdubs, whereas on stage it will be the 4 of us playing. So it will be more raw, and I think arguably better. I’m not a fan of acts that try too hard to replicate the sound of the record exactly on stage, although I’ve heard people at gigs say “wow it sounds exactly like the record!”. You can’t please everyone.
This album essentially closes the chapter on World News’ sprawling first era. Now that these songs finally have a permanent home, what do you feel free to explore next that perhaps wouldn’t have fit within In Purgatory?
I guess moving forward, I’m really keen to approach songwriting in different ways. We’ve already got some ideas and plans for the next record, and it will most likely be a natural evolution of the sound. We’re not going to do a primal scream and get someone to turn our songs into an acid house album (even though that would be very cool) but it will be a progression.
World News release In Purgatory on October 16, 2026. Their UK and European headline tour includes stops in Manchester, Bristol, Barcelona, Madrid, London, Rotterdam, Belfast, and Dublin.
