Posted by Manic Street Preachers have shared details of new album ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ alongside new single ‘Orwellian’.
The band have been teasing their next move all week, and shared an intriguing clip on social media just 24 hours ago.
New album ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ is their first since 2019’s ‘Resistance Is Futile’, and it’s said to dip into the record box of their formative years – think those classic ABBA singles, Roxy Music’s post-Eno run, and of course Echo & The Bunnymen.
Out on September 3rd, the release will be accompanied by a string of UK shows, including a Wembley Arena date in London on December 3rd.
Mark Lanegan and Julia Cumming from Sunflower Bean appear on the record, and new single ‘Orwellian’ is online now.
A surging piece of oh-so-timely songwriting, it carries a real sense of weight behind it, the sound of a band moving with purpose to reclaim their place in the pantheon of British music.
Lyrically, it dives head-first into themes of culture war and modern division, with Manic Street Preachers commenting:
“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’.”
Tune in now.
‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ will be released on September 3rd.
Tracklisting:
1. Still Snowing In Sapporo
2. Orwellian
3. The Secret He Had Missed
4. Quest For Ancient Colour
5. Don’t Let The Night Divide Us
6. Diapause
7. Complicated Illusions
8. Into The Waves Of Love
9. Blank Diary Entry
10. Happy Bored Alone
11. Afterending
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Photo Credit: Alex Lake
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