Foals have shared a teaser for ‘When The War Is Finally Done’, their track from the upcoming ‘Help(2)’ album.
The band have lent their first new material since 2022’s ‘Life Is Yours‘ to the new collaborative album inspired by the landmark 1995 ‘HELP’ record for War Child, which comes out on March 6 (pre-order here).
Produced and stewarded by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz, Florence + The Machine, Blur, Pet Shop Boys) ‘HELP(2)’ was recorded through “a close collaboration with Abbey Road Studios” mostly during one week in November 2025.
So far, the album has been previewed by one track – ‘Opening Night’ by Arctic Monkeys, which also marks their first new song in four years.
Now, Foals have given some insight into their contribution to the LP. Taking to Instagram yesterday (Thursday January 22), frontman Yannis Philippakis shared that the track was written in 2019 when he was “reading a lot of ‘The Trench Poets’, especially Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke.”
“The song is sung from the afterlife; a young soldier sent to war and expected to endure the unendurable,” he continued. “Watching the world return to normalcy from above after the shelling stops. A train runs tentatively, an appointment kept, a day spent alive by others. What was the cost?”
He went on to say: “Through the lens of current world events it feels as if the song has been in waiting for this moment to be released.”
The post also featured a preview of the song in the form of a black-and-white video of a cellist and a violinist playing on the track, which seems to feature a euphoric, moving instrumental. Check it out below.
Rumours of the song and album started to circulate online earlier this month when War Child Records teased a new project with “a group of artists who are working on something important” – with Arctic Monkeys, Damon Albarn, English Teacher, Young Fathers, Fontaines D.C. and producer James Ford among those following their Instagram page and sharing the news.
It was then confirmed that a new song from Alex Turner and co would be the first to arrive from the album.
Alongside Alex Turner and co’s first material since 2022’s ‘The Car‘, the album also features Anna Calvi, Arlo Parks, Arooj Aftab, Bat For Lashes, Beabadoobee, Beck, Portishead‘s Beth Gibbons, Big Thief, Black Country, New Road, Cameron Winter, Blur’s Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon, Depeche Mode, Dove Ellis, Wolf Alice‘s Ellie Rowsell, English Teacher, Ezra Collective, Foals, Fontaines D.C. and frontman Grian Chatten, Greentea Peng, Kae Tempest, King Krule, Nilüfer Yanya, Olivia Rodrigo, Pulp, Sampha, The Last Dinner Party, Wet Leg, The Smiths‘ icon Johnny Marr and Young Fathers.
The record follows more than 30 years from the original and legendary Brian Eno-led 1995 ‘Help’ album that featured Oasis, Blur, Radiohead, Orbital, Portishead, Massive Attack, Suede, Sinéad O’Connor, Manic Street Preachers, The Boo Radleys and more.
That album raised over £1.25million and sold over 700,000 copies, and was followed by other charity records including 2002’s ‘1 Love’, 2003’s ‘Hope’, 2005’s ‘Help!: A Day in the Life’ and 2009’s ‘War Child Presents Heroes’. The charity works to protect, educate, and support the mental health of children affected by war – and comes at a time of conflicts in Palestine, Ukraine, Sudan, Syria and beyond.
The original ‘Help’ charity album was reissued and made available on streaming platforms in 2020 to celebrate its 25th anniversary. In October last year, it was then reissued again, this time as a limited, numbered 7” single boxed set in celebration of it turning 30.
As well as releasing new music under War Child Records, BRITs Week 2026 will also be returning this year, and see big names play intimate gigs to help raise awareness and funds for the charity.
The shows take place in the run up to the BRIT Awards, and this year’s performers include Fatboy Slim, Myles Smith, Lambrini Girls and more. Visit here to sign up for any remaining tickets.
In other news, the upcoming Foals album was named one of NME‘s most anticipated album releases of 2026.
The band began teasing new material on social media at the start of this year, sharing pictures from the studio, while Philippakis previously said that a new record was a point of conversation during a band holiday to Iceland.
Back in 2024, Philippakis told NME that the band’s next album “could be the best Foals record yet”. He said at the time that the band “really want to have some time at home and apart to individually get replenished and be inspired – not make one out of a knee-jerk sense of obligation. We want the next record to be really special.
The post Foals share teaser and explain inspiration to ‘When The War Is Finally Done’ from ‘Help(2)’ album appeared first on NME.
