Pulp – ‘More’ album review: Delivering exactly what they promise and even More
THE SKINNY: The release of More marks the first Pulp album in 23.5 years. When their last, We Love Life, came out in 2001, I was three, which means I’ve listened all my life so far, becoming a huge fan of the band simply on replays; a thing that is more than common for music fans. But what’s also common is for that period to be concluded by a weak comeback. Plenty of bands decide to hop on a wave of revivals, deliver a middling album resting on the laurels of their reputation, they do a tour and then they fuck off again with a big bag of cash. Pulp haven’t done that. Pulp instead have proved for years now exactly how to give their fans exactly what they promise… More.
Even better than that, More is a record that delivers what it says on the tin and then some. From start to finish, it is a Pulp record, unaffected by the years that have passed. It’s two singles, ‘Spike Island’ and ‘Got To Have Love’, are as anthemic and big as any of the greatest hits. ‘Grown Ups’, a song that has been in the works for decades, is a masterclass in Cocker quips, and ‘Hymn Of The North’ shines with his stirring poeticism.
The music traverses the band’s whole terrain, too. There are huge, arena-sized, festival-field filling rock choruses that send you right back to the Britpop days when the band became the leaders of a movement almost by accident, simply off the back of their infectious energy. There are also odd, avant-garde bits that meander through the realm of genres they’ve touched on before, especially folk; a genre Cocker often falls back on when it comes to storytelling.
But this isn’t a comeback album that just reheats the past. Sure, there is a lot of nostalgia at play here as the band interacts with their own past and youth in a deeply playful and celebratory way, but it doesn’t get bogged down there. Instead, it really delivers more: more energy, more intrigue, more cinematic builds, more wit, more heart, more soul, more.
In the 23-year gap, the band have got better. Cocker’s voice is perhaps sharper than ever here as he maintains the quick humour that caught the world’s attention, but it’s developed now. As he sings on ‘Got To Have Love’, the lyricist has spent the time learning how to be more sincere, learning to “say it whilst keeping a straight face.” The album hugely benefits from that as its closing numbers are poignantly emotional, but it’s ‘Farmers Market’ that feels like it’s covert opus as he puts a whole love story into a song with no cliches but all heart.
It’s got it all. There are songs here that I’m so hungry to hear live during what Charli XCX declared as ‘Pulp summer’. There are songs here that will sit forever in my heartache playlists. There are songs here I will love now, and songs here that I have a feeling I’ll return to when I’m older, returning to ‘Grown Ups’ years in the future when the topic of mortgages and school runs will hit different. Pulp might not be around then, but their work will.
Their work always will be, and it would have been even without this album. The band already had a legacy secured, but with More, they’ve added another shiny jewel to it, not just used everything that came before and tagged on a weak charm. This is another great Pulp album. It is not a comeback or a lazy return; it is simply More greatness.
For fans of: Anything Pulp have done before, you’ll find something new to love here.
A message from me, age 27, to me at 16, first getting into the band: Hey! Pulp are back, you’ve seen them live many times, and you’re reviewing their album. Life is good, kid.
More track by track:
Release date: June 6th 2025 | Producer: James Ford | Label: Rough Trade
‘Spike Island’: Exactly how to do a comeback single. As big as any anthem that came before, the perfect opener to what was coming next. Cocker sings “I was born to perform” and proves himself right. [5/5]
‘Tina’: A classic Cocker storytelling track that hums with the tension and characterfulness that makes oldies like ‘The Wickerman’ and ‘Sheffield: Sex City’ so gripping. High drama but still as fun as all the rest. [4/5]
‘Grown Ups’: Imagine if Jarvis Cocker, of 1980s Pulp fame, got older and had a kid; oh wait. Packed full of perfect quips proving Cocker’s voice is still as sharp as ever as he considered the new landscape of his age and the fact that, in their inner workings of their mind, no one ever truly grows up. [4.5/5]
‘Slow Jam’: A truly incredible song with truly incredible bones. There’s a sense that this song could be handed to any number of other new acts, and it would still be a showstopper, as Cocker’s songwriting on this heartbreak song is stunning. [4.5/5]
‘Farmers Market’: I barely have words for this one, I’m struggling for references, I can’t come up with a quick quip. This song is staggering and perfect, feeling unlike anything Cocker has delivered before as it’s a narrative piece like he does best, yes, but packed with so much more sentiment and sincerity as he shares a love story, a love song, like a poem. [5/5]
‘My Sex’: Hello and welcome back to 1998 and the This Is Hardcore era. This is the album’s only weak point, but I think that’s simply because I see Cocker as a wholesome uncle type, and here we’re getting PG13. [3.5/5]
‘Got To Have Love’: For the album’s second single, my comment from its first can simply be repeated; “As big as any anthem that came before, the perfect opener to what was coming next”. [5/5]
‘Background Noise’: Anthems after anthems after anthems, all told with Cocker’s signature turns of phrase. This is just a Pulp album, another perfect Pulp album, utterly unaffected by time passing, as this is another track that could have been written during any of the band’s eras. [4/5]
‘Partial Eclipse’: The folky elements on this record are gorgeous, reminiscent of Cocker’s solo efforts in the years between and his cinematic references. But as the song builds and it breaks into a spoken word section, it becomes something even more beautiful. [4/5]
‘Hymn Of The North’: A song audiences got to hear get perfected on their 2023 tour, aptly unveiled in their hometown of Sheffield, ‘Hymn Of The North’ is another hugely cinematic song packed with sincerity. [4.5/5]
‘A Sunset’: Harking back to the end of We Love Life and ‘Sunrise’, Pulp provide a follow-up that we can only pray is not the sunset of the band, given they’ve just proved how much more they can give. [4.5/5]
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