Lyrically, it explores the differing experiences of artistic Welsh siblings Gwen and Augustus John, highlighting their preferred subjects and referencing a transformative event on Tenby beach. ‘The Secret He Had Missed’ is yet another triumphant duet in a remarkable recent run, featuring Julia Cumming from Sunflower Bean and wearing the ABBA influence that can be found on a number of tracks especially proudly. Having spent more time at the piano when crafting his 2020 solo album ‘Even In Exile’, frontman James Dean Bradfield foregrounds that instrument in many of these songs and it serves to open up the band’s sound. ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ is a mutation of several different strands of their musical DNA, evoking some of the melancholic textures of 2004’s unfairly maligned ‘Lifeblood’, the angles of 2014’s ‘Futurology’ and even the luscious Bacharachian harmonies favoured on B-sides from the ‘Everything Must Go’ era. With bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire’s fondness for regularly articulating and updating the mythology around the band, listeners are only too aware when they’re going for pop-rock with strings, as on 2018’s ‘Resistance Is Futile’, or capturing a “harrowing 45 year old looking in the mirror” for 2013’s ‘Rewind The Film’. Nearly thirty years on from their debut, it is increasingly hard for the Manics to release a record without drawing comparisons to their past. ![]() Manic Street Preachers ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ Each year, numerous folk reckon they know what the top spot will be with varying degrees of success. The concerts were originally due to take place this December at Cardiff Motorpoint Arena, with one free for healthcare workers and the other a fundraiser for health service charities.Inevitably, anyone who reads my monthly columns for Clash or scrolls past my turntable shots on Twitter will have a rough idea of what to expect as this list comes to its conclusion. The dates include their rescheduled Cardiff Arena shows for the NHS in July 2021. Visit here for tickets and more information. The band’s upcoming UK tour dates are below, with tickets to the newly-announced shows on pre-sale for those who order the album starting from Wednesday May 19 at 10am and general sale on Friday May 21 at 10am. Manic Street Preachers’ new album ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ The tracklist for ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ is: This comes after bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire previously told NME that the album was sounding “expansive” and “retro-futuristic“. It is also said to be sonically inspired by ABBA, post-Eno Roxy Music, Echo & The Bunnymen, ‘Fables’-era REM, and David Bowie’s ‘Lodger’. Musically, the album’s 11 tracks are described as a “departure” from ‘Resistance Is Futile’, having been initially conceived on piano rather than guitar and marrying “ introspection, quiet rage and sublime, irresistible tunes”. ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ is described by the band as “a record that gazes in isolation across a cluttered room, fogged by often painful memories, to focus on an open window framing a gleaming vista of land melting into sea and endless sky”. It felt like the perfect sonic and lyrical introduction to ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’.” “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. “As with many songs on the record, it was written on the piano by James Dean Bradfield. ![]() “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,” said the band in a statement. The first taster of the album is the single ‘Orwellian’, a track that calls upon the shimmering, futuristic and European sounds of their ‘Futurology’ era while painting a world where “ everywhere you look, everywhere you turn, the future fights the past” and “ words wage war“. The follow-up to 2018’s acclaimed ‘Resistance Is Futile‘ will arrive on September 3, and was recorded at the legendary Rockfield studios as well as their own Door to the River HQ with long-time collaborator Dave Eringa – featuring Julia Cumming of Sunflower Bean on ‘The Secret He Had Missed’ and Mark Lanegan on ‘Blank Diary Entry’. Manic Street Preachers are back – sharing new single ‘Orwellian’ as well as announcing details of their 14th album ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ along with a UK tour.
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