Included in ‘100 Most Influential Bands’ – NME, August 2014
Following their renaissance and rightful reappraisal of recent years, on October 31th, SIMPLE MINDS will release their first album of new material in five years. BIG MUSIC sees the band rekindling the energy and attitude, the mystery and magic, that made them one of the greatest bands on the planet.
BIG MUSIC is Simple Minds’ 16th album. It’s a swaggering collection that reiterates the band’s world-class credentials; a culmination of a decade of stealthy rediscovery that has seen the band make two albums, 2005's Black & White 050505 and 2009's Graffiti Soul, before reminding us all of their legacy with the acclaimed X5 boxed set and subsequent 5X5 Live album and tour.
Made with an array of collaborators old and new – including co-writer Iain Cook (of Glasgow band Chvrches) and producers Steve Osborne, Andy Wright and Steve Hillage (who worked on 1981's Sons And Fascination / Sister Feelings Call) – BIG MUSIC is an irresistible mix of artistry and accessibility.
Among the highlights on BIG MUSIC are the propulsive ‘Blindfolded’, which harks back to the powerful electro-glide of 1980's ‘I Travel’, and the swirling ‘Human’ and immediately infectious ‘Midnight Walking’, both of which are reminiscent of the booming sounds of 1984’s Sparkle In The Rain. The actual song ‘Big Music’, too, is suitably gargantuan, with its popping syn-drums, a song all about the songs that make people feel ecstatic and romantic.
The most touching moment on BIG MUSIC, however, arrives with the haunting ‘Honest Town’, a track inspired by fond memories of Jim's mum, who passed away in Glasgow four years ago. Co-written with Iain Cook of Chvrches, it is a dream-like travelogue through Kerr's childhood stomping grounds on Glasgow's South Side. ‘Broken Glass Park’ is an extension of this theme, exploring the nostalgia of adolescent innocence and discovery.
BIG MUSIC features another homage of sorts, with the arena-sized anthem ‘Let The Day Begin’, a fitting tribute to American singer and guitarist Michael Been of The Call who passed away in 2010. The Call toured with Simple Minds in the 1980s and became close friends - ‘Let The Day Begin’ was their signature tune.
BIG MUSIC is an album that combines a sense of sonic euphoria with some of the most personal lyrics Jim has ever written. It does justice to the Simple Minds legacy, an album that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Empires And Dance, New Gold Dream and Sparkle In The Rain.
More relevant than ever, Simple Minds have been lauded in recent times by NME (recently included in their ‘100 Most Influential Bands’) and Mojo, and artists including The Horrors, The Killers, King Creosote, Manic Street Preachers, Primal Scream and Radiohead. Last year the band played to 130,000 people in the UK alone – the most ever in one year.
- “As Bobby Gillespie, James Dean Bradfield and The Horrors’ Rhys Webb recently confided to Mojo, the cool kids kind of dug them all along.” Mojo Magazine
- “Simple Minds are suddenly alive and kicking again.” The Guardian