Thirty-two minutes after the party anthem of “Nocturnal Creatures” comes the crash at “4AM.” The party is quickly beginning to die down and people are either going home or going to sleep. Dan describes the scene imagined in writing the song to Billboard, saying:

We wanted to do something that felt super intimate, super honest, kind of stoned and woozy and sums up that moment at 4:00 a.m. when you’re surrounded by people that you do or don’t know and have that weird, naive, slightly fucked up contentment. You’re thinking, “Ah this is bliss” – but it’s probably not bliss at all. I wanted to celebrate that, so I recorded myself and the choir and pitched it around to make it ethereal.

The musicality of the song draws inspiration from the intimacy of Frank Ocean’s 2016 album Blonde. The song begins with woozy chorus notes and primarily features light guitar with touches of synth and wind instruments for atmosphere. Its minimalist instrumentation, warm and intimate sound, and relatively slow tempo defines the song’s purpose as a sleepy, nighttime, song.

Although the song was not released as a promotional single, it was performed live on the Still Avoiding Tomorrow tour prior to the album’s release. The song is Dan’s favorite on the album, as of early 2018.

Coincidentally, this particular time has appeared in a previous Bastille song, “Winter of Our Youth”

It’s 4am here comes the fear
I’m not prepared yet