When Beabadoobee announced her fourth studio album Pylon this June, the message was unmistakable. Lead single "Sun Has Set" arrived with chunky guitar power chords, a raw vocal performance and a video directed by her partner Jake Erland that felt more like a confession than a press rollout. The Filipino-British artist born Beatrice Laus was not making the same record twice. Out 18 September via Dirty Hit and Interscope, Pylon is a decisive pivot from the dreamy bedroom pop that first carried her to fame. It draws from classic grunge, Midwest emo and 1990s alternative rock, zeroing in on a sound that is louder, faster and more direct than anything she has done before.
The Road as Writing Room
Laus wrote much of Pylon while on tour supporting This Is How Tomorrow Moves, the 2024 album that became her first UK number one. Those months on the road left her with a backlog of feelings she had pushed aside. "Once the tour was over, I had no choice but to confront all the feelings I had tucked under the rug while I was away," she told RUSSH. "Things that happened on the road that I now had to face and try to navigate. I could not. And I am still trying to figure it out." The record does not offer neat resolutions. Its power lies in that honesty.
The title itself comes from the electricity pylons that line highways, carrying invisible currents across impossible distances. They reminded her that a line still ran between her and the people she loved. In her own telling, Pylon is about communication, connection and the golden thread home.
A Roster of Collaborators
What makes Pylon striking is not just the sonic shift but the calibre of artists who joined her. Hayley Williams appears on "Nothing to Prove". Turnstile frontman Brendan Yates features on "Powerlines". Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno, Pinegrove's Evan Stephens Hall and Title Fight guitarist Shane Moran all contribute. The 1975's Matty Healy and George Daniel produced "Write Me a Letter". Laus co-produced the wider album with Moran and Luca Buccellati.
The Pinegrove connection carries particular emotional weight. Laus has three musician tattoos, one for Elliott Smith, one for Daniel Johnston and one for Pinegrove. She told RUSSH that when working with Hall, she wore her hair down to hide the Pinegrove tattoo, and voice memos from him still make her panic. "Once a fangirl, always a fangirl," she said.
Singles and Signals
Three singles have so far previewed the record. "Sun Has Set" established the tone with its explosive breakup narrative. "Switchblade" doubled down on the grunge energy. "Memories", the most recent, offered something different: a euphoric acoustic guitar line underpinning lyrics about small, tender details of connection. "The smell of rain on the pavement. It is 3 am and I thought of you," she sings. It is one of the happiest songs on the album, a reminder that even within distortion, warmth survives.
Laus describes the record as a return to her 19-year-old self. "Who I am right now, and who I was when I was making the record, is the closest I have ever been to who I was at 19," she said. "The music I was making, the way I was dressing. I felt like I knew myself so much more then. She just did not care, and I really admire that version of myself."
The Powerlines Tour
Pylon will get its live debut on The Powerlines Tour, beabadoobee's first-ever arena headline run. The North American leg kicks off 1 October at Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut, with stops at Madison Square Garden on 5 October and Los Angeles' Kia Forum on 21 October. The UK and European leg follows in November and December, including London's The O2 on 18 November. Australian arena dates in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney are confirmed for March 2027.
Support comes from Wisp and Violet Grohl on select dates. For an artist who started with a song recorded on a second-hand guitar in her bedroom, the leap from 300-capacity rooms to arenas represents not just commercial momentum but the scale of ambition that Pylon demands. The distortion is louder. The stage is bigger. The thread back home is still there.