Manic Street Preachers have revealed details of their highly anticipated fifteenth studio album, Critical Thinking, set for release on Columbia Records on January 31st, 2025. To coincide with the album, the band will embark on a UK tour.
The first single from the album, “Hiding in Plain Sight,” is out now. This track marks a significant moment for the band as it features lead vocals from bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire for the first time. The band will perform “Hiding in Plain Sight” alongside their massive radio hit “Decline & Fall” on Later with Jools Holland tomorrow evening.
Inspired by a line from the poet Anne Sexton, “Hiding in Plain Sight” juxtaposes fearful midlife nostalgia with an uplifting melody that draws influence from classic ’70s rock ‘n’ roll acts like The Only Ones and Cockney Rebel, as well as the loose flow of Dinosaur Jr’s “Freak Scene.” Recorded at the band’s Door To The River Studio and Rockfield, Monmouth, the song features additional vocals from Lana McDonagh and was produced by the band in collaboration with Dave Eringa, Loz Williams, and mixed by Caesar Edmunds.
Critical Thinking is a celebration of clashing ideas, blending unflinchingly honest lyrics with some of the band’s most infectious melodies to date.
Lead singer, Nicky Wire, says of the album:
This is a record of opposites colliding – of dialectics trying to find a path of resolution. While the music has an effervescence and an elegiac uplift, most of the words deal with the cold analysis of the self, the exception being the three lyrics by James (Dean Bradfield) which look for and hopefully find answers in people, their memories, language and beliefs.
He continues, ‘The music is energised and at times euphoric. Recording could sometimes be sporadic and isolated, at other times we played live in a band setting, again the opposites making sense with each other. There are crises at the heart of these songs. They are microcosms of scepticism and suspicion, the drive to the internal seems inevitable – start with yourself, maybe the rest will follow.’
To accompany the album release, the band has announced a series of UK tour dates. These shows will take place on Friday and Saturday nights, with pre-sale access granted to fans who pre-order the album from the official store (no purchase necessary, sign up here). The pre-sale will begin on Wednesday, October 30th, 2024.
April 11th – Glasgow Barrowland
April 12th – Glasgow Barrowland
April 18th – London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
April 19th – London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
April 25th – Wolverhampton The Civic at the Halls
April 26th – Bristol Beacon
May 2nd – Manchester O2 Apollo
May 3rd – Manchester O2 Apollo
May 9th – Swansea Arena
May 10th – Swansea Arena
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