Glass Animals frontman Dave Bayley spoke to NME backstage at Reading Festival 2022 about the “unbelievable” experience of working on Florence + The Machine‘s fifth album, ‘Dance Fever’. Watch our full video interview above.

In April the pair released an electronica-inspired remix of Welch’s recent single, ‘My Love’. Bayley co-wrote and co-produced the original track and worked on the ensuing ‘Dance Fever’ along with Jack Antonoff. For Bayley, collaborating with Welch was “a real honour”, as he explained: “I learned so much from [Florence]. We did a bunch of sessions for the new album, and I was blown away. I was like, ‘Woah, how do I compete with this real force of nature when it comes to songwriting?’

He continued: “I had to hold my own and I think we made a really wicked album. She’s a brilliant songwriter. Shout out to Florence: thank you for letting me work on your record, I feel really lucky.”

Bayley also praised some more of his previous collaborators, describing former NME cover star Bree Runway – who Glass Animals teamed up with for a reworking of their 2020 track ‘Space Ghost Coast To Coast’ – as a “genius”. Referencing Denzel Curry‘s ‘Tokyo Drifting’ collaboration with the band, the Florida rapper also got a nod: “I think Denzel Curry is one of the greats: he is so young and so talented,” Bayley said. “I feel lucky I got to work with him.”

Yesterday (August 26), Glass Animals made their first appearance at Reading Festival since 2017. Taking to the main stage, the Oxford four-piece leaned on their 2020 album ‘Dreamland’. The set wrapped up with that record’s smash hit ‘Heat Waves’, which set a US chart record last year for the longest climb to the Top 10 in the country’s chart history.

Reading & Leeds 2022 continues today with performances from Arctic Monkeys, Bring Me The Horizon and more.

Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, photos, interviews and more from Reading & Leeds 2022.