Pulp have announced their first new album in 24 years.
Jarvis Cocker's band will release More, dedicated to late bassist Steve Mackey, and the follow-up to 2001's We Love Life, on June 6 via Rough Trade. And as a taste of what's to come, the Sheffield band have shared the album's first single, and opening track, Spike Island.
In a post on Instagram, Cocker explains how the album came about.
“Well, when we started touring again in 2023, we practiced a new song called Hymn of the North during soundchecks & eventually played it at the end of our second night at Sheffield Arena," he writes. "This seemed to open the floodgates: we came up with the rest of the songs on this album during the first half of 2024.
"A couple are revivals of ideas from last century," he continues. "The music for one song was written by Richard Hawley. The music for another was written by Jason Buckle. The Eno family sing backing vocals on a song. There are string arrangements written by Richard Jones & played by the Elysian Collective.
"The album was recorded over three weeks by James Ford in Walthamstow, London, starting on November 18th, 2024. This is the shortest amount of time a Pulp album has ever taken to record in the modern era. It was obviously ready to happen.
We hope you enjoy the music. It was written & performed by four human beings from the North of England, aided & abetted by five other human beings from various locations in the British Isles. No A.I. was involved during the process.
This album is dedicated to Steve Mackey.
This is the best that we can do.Thanks for listening."
Spike Island was premiered live last year, on September 8, at Chicago's legendary Aragon Ballroom, on the opening date of the band's North American tour.
Watch the video for the single below:
Cocker teased the arrival of More on Valentine's Day, when announcing Pulp's UK touring plans for the summer, writing, “You deserve more & we have more. In fact, we have More – (but that’s a whole other story… you’ll have to wait a little more time to hear that one). In the meantime: see you this Summer!”
The album tracklist is:
1. Spike Island
2. Tina
3. Grown Ups
4. Slow Jam
5. Farmers Market
6. My Sex
7. Got To Have Love
8. Background Noise
9. Partial Eclipse
10. A Hymn Of The North
11. A Sunset’
The band kick off a UK arena tour on the day after their new album's release.
They will play:
Jun 07: Glasgow, OVO Hydro
Jun 10: Dublin 3Arena, Ireland
Jun 13: London The O2
Jun 14: London The O2
Jun 19: Birmingham Utilita Arena
Jun 21: Manchester Co-op Live
