The Jesus and Mary Chain announce new album ‘Glasgow Eyes’
Scottish shoegaze icons The Jesus and Mary Chain have announced their new album Glasgow Eyes and shared the lead single ‘Jamcod’.
The forthcoming album is the follow-up by Jim and William Reid to their 2017 return, Damage and Joy, which marked their first record in 19 years. In addition to releasing Glasgow Eyes in 2024, The Jesus and Mary Chain will also release an autobiography along with a documentary to celebrate their 40th anniversary.
The new record was crafted in Glasgow at Mogwai’s Castle of Doom studio. According to a press release, the album is “informed more audibly by their love for Suicide and Kraftwerk and a fresh appreciation of the less disciplined attitudes found in jazz.”
However, Jim Reid played down the jazz element of the record, adding: “But don’t expect ‘the Mary Chain goes jazz.’ People should expect a Jesus and Mary Chain record, and that’s certainly what Glasgow Eyes is.”
He continued: “Our creative approach is remarkably the same as it was in 1984 — just hit the studio and see what happens. We went in with a bunch of songs and let it take its course. There are no rules — you just do whatever it takes. And there’s a telepathy there. We are those weird not-quite twins that finish each other’s sentences.”
Meanwhile, in an interview with NME, Jim said of the new single ‘Jamcod’: “It was about the break-up of the band. It was actually about the night in the House of Blues when the band broke up [in 1999]. There’s another song, ‘Chemical Animal’, which is similar but different in as much as I was thinking back to the drug days and what it was like.”
The Jesus and Mary Chain are set to begin their run of tour dates on March 22nd at the Albert Hall in Manchester. The British leg of shows will conclude at the Roundhouse in London on March 30th, and the band will then meander through mainland Europe, stopping off in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, Italy, Belgium and Holland.
Listen to ‘Jamcod’ below.
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