90s wunderkinds Pulp release brand-spanking new single plus a new album is out in June – their first in 24 years

If ever there was a band that epitomised the ironic cool of the 1990s, it’s British outfit, Pulp. Part of the great 90s Britpop explosion, Pulp took themselves less seriously than Oasis, were a little more introspective than Blur, and possibly, possibly a little less fey than Suede. All up, these were the four bands that summed up Britpop best for us.

Pulp stood out on the charts and in the clubs with such brilliant songs as ‘Disco 2000’, ‘Common People’, ‘This Is Hardcore’, and the festival favourite ‘Sorted for E’s & Wizz’.

But things went relatively quiet for the band in the 2010s right through to now, primarily so that some of the band members could go off and have some of those Babies they once sang about.

This week, the band are back big-time with an excellent single titled Spike Island, a song that’s got great groove stamped all over it. While we first thought the title might have alluded to Jeffrey Epstein’s island where we’re fairly certain lots of spiking was going on, it is in fact about a famous 1990 Stone Roses gig where 30,000 people were crammed into a field surrounded by toxic chemical factories. In sum, the song is a metaphor for how nostalgia can sometimes be tarnished with disappointing fact.

The single’s release is a taster of the new Pulp album, aptly titled More, and their first in 24 years, which will be out June 6 via Rough Trade / Remote Control Records.

Says frontman Jarvis Cocker about the new album, “This is the first Pulp album since We Love Life in 2001. We hope you enjoy the music. It was written and performed by four human beings from the North of England, aided and abetted by five other human beings from various locations in the British Isles. No A.I. was involved during the process.”

Thank the music gods.

Limited editions of the album will be available on vinyl, along with a double LP cut at 45 rpm, which will be exclusive to Pulp’s online store and Rough Trade’s website.

Oh, and for fans of colour, there’ll also be four single-disc colour vinyl pressings that have been both personally handpicked and named by Jarvis. 

Alongside the traditional black vinyl, there’ll be a “Theresa” green LP, a “Blue Sky Thinking” marble LP, a “South Yorkshire Sunset” marble LP (available from various exclusive outlets) and “Isha Kriya”, an ink spot design, available exclusively from Pulp and Rough Trade Records’ online outlets.

Here’s to a welcome return, then.

Antonino Tati & Lisa Andrews

PULP – ‘MORE’ TRACKLISTING

1. Spike Island
2. Tina
3. Grown Ups
4. Slow Jam
5. Farmers Market
6. My Sex
7. Got To Have Love
8. Background Noise
9. Partial Eclipse
10. The Hymn of the North
11. A Sunset