We have a playlist packed full of great tracks and tunes for you to check out as #NewMusicFriday keeps coming up with the goods! Keep scrolling to discover the stories behind the latest releases and grab tickets for the best gigs & festivals too!
Manic Street Preachers are back and with a brand-new single “Orwellian”! Three years on from their critically acclaimed record Resistance Is Futile, they return with a politically charged pop song which challenges the manipulation of social media, the press and conversation by the elites and is the first glimpse of their forthcoming fourteenth album The Ultra Vivid Lament.
“The track is about the battle to claim meaning, the erasing of context within debate, the overriding sense of factional conflict driven by digital platforms leading to a perpetual state of culture war. As with many songs on the record, it was written on the piano by James Dean Bradfield. Musically, it echoes ABBA, the majesty of Alan Rankine’s playing in the Associates and Talk Talk’s ‘It’s My Life’ with a Lindsey Buckingham guitar solo. It felt like the perfect sonic and lyrical introduction to ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’.
Recorded at fabled Rockfield Studios and then their own personal studio Door To The River, The Ultra Vivid Lament is produced by long term production partner Dave Eringa, then mixed by David Wrench (Blossoms, Frank Ocean, Arlo Parks). It also features vocal contributions from Julia Cumming from Sunflower Bean and Mark Lanegan. Set for release on 03/09; CLICK HERE for pre-orders.
The Manic Street Preachers will be playing a set full of their hits and anthems as well as showing off their new material when they take over The Piece Hall at Halifax on Friday 10th September. Support comes from British Sea Power, The Anchoress and Adwaith. Plus, the Manics will also play support for The Killers when they tour during May of next year.
Nottingham born indie band Amber Run have just dropped their powerful new single “52 Blue”, a raw and emotional song which deals which ponders our place in the world through delicate melodies and intricately weaved ambient electronica.
“This song is as existential as it gets. Why are we here? Why do I feel like this? When will it change? Could it change at all?”
Singer Joe Keogh goes into even greater detail, explaining “52 Blue” is “a blue whale that sings at a different pitch from all the others and swims the ocean calling out to no reply, searching for an answer it wouldn’t be able to hear or understand.”
See Amber Run when they appear at 110 Above festival at Gopsall Hall Farm, Leicestershire from Thursday 12th till Sunday 15th August before heading out on tour in October, playing dates all around the UK.
