Therapy? have launched a video for Poundland Of Hope And Glory, the second single to be taken from their upcoming 16th studio album Hard Cold Fire. The first track to emerge from the album, Joy, was released last month. Hard Cold Fire is set for release on May 5 via Marshall Records, and is the follow-up to 2018's Cleave.
Poundland Of Hope And Glory, which arrives wrapped in typically buoyant sonic packaging, is a wry look at the reality of living in an era rife with misinformation, as frontman Andy Cairns explains.
"This track started out as a hard take on how people lose themselves in narratives to the point that the myth takes on greater importance than the fact,” says Cairns. “Just like the old adage about the liar repeating the lie so much that they eventually believe it themselves, the culture around us is bursting with fairy stories we tell ourselves.
“Metaphor and hagiography surround us, but in a post-truth world, the Walter Mitty character is no longer a harmless fantasist but an incendiary zealot using misinformation and chaos to achieve their goals."
Cairns continues: “It’s easy to smirk at middle class parents whose Harry Potter loving kids are sent to private school because of the Hogwarts style uniforms, and easy to eye roll at adults who actually play Quidditch, a fictional sport from a novel written for children, but it’s not so easy to stomach the less savoury reinvention of colonialism as a lost paradise to which we should return."
Hard Cold Fire was recorded with regular producer Chris Sheldon at Marshall Studios in Milton Keynes toward the end of 2021, and while lockdown may have inspired many albums over recent times, the band were keen to offer something that was less claustrophobic and more cathartic.
“One thing we did decide when we were eventually able to rehearse, was that we didn't want to make a lockdown record,” says Cairns, “because people have been through enough.
“When we began to rehearse the songs, we realised there was an empathetic quality to them. We wanted to make something that was a bit more relatable, and less standoffish and claustrophobic - which we have a history of, and it stands in places - but we wanted to make something more approachable and open."
“There's a reinvigorated feel to the band, as though things are moving forward,” adds drummer Neil Cooper. “I'm very excited about people hearing this. It's not just about turning up and performing. Everyone's so invested... we're unbelievably lucky, some bands don't get that privilege, and I appreciate that. We're in a fantastic place."
Therapy? will celebrate the album's release with a short run of UK in-store dates. Details below. Hard Cold Fire is available to pre-order now.
Therapy? In-store UK dates
May 08: Bristol, Rough Trade
May 09: Nottingham, Rough Trade
May 10: London, Banquet Records
May 11: Oxford, Truck
Hard Cold Fire tracklist
1. They Shoot The Terrible Master
2. Woe
3. Joy
4. Bewildered Herd
5. Two Wounded Animals
6. To Disappear
7. Mongrel
8. Poundland Of Hope and Glory
9. Ugly
10. Days Kollaps
