#SongoftheWeek: McFly – ‘Touch the Rain’

• ARTIST: McFly
• SONG: Touch the Rain

SO ALEX, WHY IS THIS YOUR SONG OF THE WEEK?

Well well well. Just where do you start with this last couple of weeks? All in the space of less than fourteen days, McFly have suddenly gone from MIA to everywhere, with a sold out show at The O2 now in the offing, which has subsequently turned into their first national arena tour in six years.

And yet it’s been somewhat easy to forget that at the centre of this whirlwind is the long awaited unveiling, week by week until that London O2 show in November, of the songs that were intended for their sixth album back in 2013.

An album which, through a combination of supergroup merges with Busted and other life events and solo projects, kind of got put on the back burner (much to the mildly terrifying annoyance of the more zealous sections of their fanbase. ‘WHERE IS ALBUM 6’ has been their eternal caps lock strewn rally cry on Twitter for the last six years).

Hopefully Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd can all breathe a sigh of relief when they click on their notifications now, for that album – now rather sweetly titled ‘The Lost Songs’, in a nod to their unheard until now state – is about to be unleashed on the world, untouched from their original mixes.

The first two songs actually went live last Sunday – the first, a balls to the wall techno rock stomper called ‘Red’ which is from the more tougher sounding end of their oeuvre (think ‘One for the Radio’ on steroids and you’ve probably got a fair idea. It takes a few listens to grow on you).

And then there’s ‘Touch the Rain’, a song that is so instant and classically them and yet doesn’t sound like it’s been stuck in a dusty vault for the last six years. Like all the best songs about rainy weather, it’s atmospheric, building to a thrilling crescendo of call and response bits and Danny going hell for leather on the choruses and is a reminder of just how good they are. Was the wait worth it? Better late than never on this basis.

‘Touch the Rain’ is available to stream and download now, and McFly’s new album ‘The Lost Songs’ will be released song by song, week by week every Sunday, via Super Records. Their – now sold out – show at London’s O2 Arena is on 20th November, but they will kick off their UK tour next April, starting at Liverpool M&S Bank Arena on 26th – tickets on sale from 9am this morning. Twitter: @McFlyMusic

Don’t forget to Tweet us or comment below and let us know your thoughts on our #SongoftheWeek this week! Plus you can follow our brand new #SongoftheWeek playlist on Spotify, so you never miss a new song and you hear it first.