These New Puritans today reveal details of their fourth studio album Inside The Rose, set for release on 22nd March 2019. Brutal and beautiful, Inside The Rose arrives six years after the critically acclaimed album Field of Reeds and is arguably the Barnett brothers' most innovative work to date.
Recorded in Berlin, London and Southend-on-Sea, and mixed in Los Angeles, Inside The Rose is a record unlike anything else you’ll hear this year – 40 minutes of powerful melodies, lush strings and progressive electronics, packed with jaw-dropping sonic left turns. The title track of the record is available to stream and download from today, and follows the release of another album track ‘Into The Fire’, debuted late last year to immense acclaim. ‘Inside The Rose’ debuts alongside a short film that draws the viewer into the world of the album, directed by the award-winning photographer Harley Weir in collaboration with George Barnett.
Inside The Rose tracklist
1. Infinity Vibraphones
2. Anti–Gravity
3. Beyond Black Suns
4. Inside The Rose
5. Where The Trees Are On Fire
6. Into The Fire
7. Lost Angel
8. A–R–P
9. Six
Pre-order Inside The Rose here
These New Puritans began playing music together as children – writing songs on a massively over-sized guitar and a pair of bongos from a charity shop. “We’d learn Captain Beefheart songs together,” says Jack. “And I would slow down Aphex Twin songs to analyse them, then create copies, to learn how to make those kinds of sounds.”
Together they began to create their own musical world and in the years since they’ve successfully blurred the distinctions between pop, classical, electronic, rock and experimental music, earning rave reviews and praise from artists as diverse as Björk, Massive Attack and Elton John along the way.
2008’s debut Beat Pyramid, released when the brothers were still in their teens, was a circular work of fast rhythms, repetitive lyrics and fractured field recordings, stood out like a sore thumb amongst the conservative, guitar-based music of the period. The follow up, Hidden (2010) defied expectations and garnered numerous ‘album of the year’ accolades. After appearing on Björk’s Bastards remix album, the band released the cinematic Field of Reeds in 2013. Since then, Jack and George’s desire for new sonic challenges saw them produce the musical score for the first authorised theatrical production of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.
Now, reverting to the original duo of brothers Jack and George Barnett, These New Puritans open a new chapter with Inside The Rose. Writing sessions began in Essex in 2015 and were completed in Berlin after they relocated there; the majority of recording was done in a former Soviet broadcasting studio in the city’s industrial suburbs.
Inside the Rose’s sharp romanticism grips like a vice, drawing you into a nocturnal alternate reality where nothing is as it seems. “The songs are about beauty, transcendence, desire, oblivion, ecstasy and eyes,” says Jack.
The album’s adventurous spirit is summed up by a band phrase George would use as a touchstone throughout recording: “why dream backwards when you can dream forwards?”
Inside The Rose isn’t just These New Puritans’ most affecting music yet, it’s further proof that they operate in a different realm to most bands, making music with true fearlessness. “I want to go beyond myself and my time,” says Jack. “That’s the art I like. Whether it’s Francis Bacon or William Blake. You fail, inevitably, but that’s the challenge.”
To accompany the release of Inside The Rose, These New Puritans announce a run of 12 live datesacross the UK and Europe, including a stop at The Dome, Tufnell Park, London on 17th April. Taiwanese singer-producer Scintii, who appears on Inside The Rose’s ‘Beyond Black Suns’, will be performing live with the band and as support act for the European dates.
- Tuesday 2nd April - Bi Nuu, Berlin
- Wednesday 3rd April - Knust, Hamburg
- Thursday 4th April - Rotonde, Brussels
- Friday 5th April - Paradiso, Amsterdam
- Saturday 6th April - Petit Bain, Paris
- Wednesday 10th April - YES, Manchester
- Thursday 11th April - SW3 Warehouse, Glasgow
- Friday 12th April - Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds
- Saturday 13th April - Trades Club, Hebden Bridge
- Wednesday 17th April - The Dome, Tufnell Park, London
- Thursday 18th April - Patterns, Brighton
- Friday 19th April - Thekla, Bristol
Tickets go on sale on Friday 1st February