Pulp announce new album ‘More’ and share ‘Spike Island’: “This is the best that we can do”
Pulp have confirmed their new album, More, and shared their first single in more than two decades, ‘Spike Island’. The album is set for release on June 6th, 2025, through Rough Trade.
In an interview with Lauren Laverne on BBC 6 Music, Pulp’s Mark Webber recalled seeing The Stone Roses at the now infamous Spike Island concert, which is the inspiration for their new song, sharing, “It was a slight anti-climax to be honest, I think everyone felt that way. There was a lot of anticipation but it didn’t sound very good, it was very windy and the vibe wasn’t there.”
Although Jarvis Cocker wasn’t in attendance, he explained how ‘Spike Island’ came to be, and also how it’s linked to the classic Pulp track ‘Sorted for E’s and Whizz’, stating, “I spoke to people who went and picked up the second-hand thing of it so ‘Sorted for E’s and Whizz’ was a girl that I was speaking to at The Leadmill in Sheffield one night, and she said all that she could remember were people going round saying, ‘Is everyone sorted for E’s and whizz?’. So, that phrase stuck in my mind. “
Cocker continued: “For this song, it was Jason Buckle, who wrote the music for it; he was telling me the story of being at the concert, and all he could remember was a DJ who between every song said, ‘Spike Island come alive, Spike Island come alive’. That phrase stuck with me. I’ve got a very short attention span I think.”
Meanwhile, in a press statement, Cocker wrote of More, which is dedicated to the band’s late Steve Mackey who died in 2023,, “Well: when we started touring again in 2023, we practiced a new song called “Hymn of the North” during soundchecks & eventually played it at the end of our second night at Sheffield Arena. This seemed to open the floodgates: we came up with the rest of the songs on this album during the first half of 2024.”
He also revealed that Richard Hawley wrote the music for one song, and the Eno family provided backing vocals on another.
Cocker continued: “The album was recorded over 3 weeks by James Ford in Walthamstow, London, starting on November 18th, 2024. This is the shortest amount of time a Pulp album has ever taken to record. It was obviously ready to happen. These are the facts. We hope you enjoy the music. It was written & performed by four human beings from the North of England, aided & abetted by five other human beings from various locations in the British Isles. No A.I. was involved during the process.”
The frontman powerfully concluded: “This album is dedicated to Steve Mackey. This is the best that we can do. Thanks for listening.”Pulp will also be touring UK and Ireland arenas in June following the release of More with dates planned in Glasgow, Dublin, Birmingham, and Manchester before headlining Tramlines in their native Sheffield in July.
More is set for release on June 6th, 2025.
Pulp – More tracklist:
- ‘Spike Island’
- ‘Tina’
- ‘Grown Ups’
- ‘Slow Jam’
- ‘Farmers Market’
- ‘My Sex’
- ‘Got To Have Love’
- ‘Background Noise’
- ‘Partial Eclipse’
- ‘The Hymn of the North’
- ‘A Sunset’
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