English band Pulp surprises by announcing a new album. More will be released on June 6, 2025, via Rough Trade Records, almost 24 years after We Love Life, released on October 22, 2001.
According to the band, the new album was recorded in London with producer James Ford over a three-week period and is dedicated to bassist Steve Mackey, who passed away in 2023 at the age of 56. He joined Pulp in 1989.
Tracklist
- Spike Island
- Tina
- Grown Ups
- Slow Jam
- Farmers Market
- My Sex
- Got to Have Love
- Background Noise
- Partial Eclipse
- Hymn of the North
- A Sunset
“Spike Island”, the first single
The first single shared from the album is the track, “Spike Island,” inspired by a Stone Roses open-air concert on the island of the same name in 1990.
“Spike Island” is not the first song that Pulp has taken inspiration from the Stone Roses’ iconic concert on the British island. The track "Sorted for E’s & Wizz" from the 1995 album Different Class was inspired by stories that Jarvis Cocker heard from a girl who attended the legendary concert.
Stone Roses’ concert at Spike Island took place on May 27, 1990, at the height of the band’s popularity. Reports describe chaos in the organization of the event, but also the audience’s satisfaction with the experience they had at the venue. The concert also inspired a 2012 film titled Spike Island, which tells the story of a group of fans who try to get to the show but are unable to get tickets.
