Pulp, the iconic British indie band, has announced the release of their first new album in nearly 24 years, titled More.
Along with the announcement, they unveiled their lead single, “Spike Island,” a track inspired by a memorable, yet infamous, concert at Spike Island in Widnes in 1990.
This marks their return to music after a long hiatus, following their 2001 album We Love Life. The band’s reunion tour in 2023 played a pivotal role in pushing them back into the studio.
Speaking about their decision to record again, Pulp’s frontman, Jarvis Cocker, revealed that the band was inspired by the positive response from fans during their reunion shows.
“We did play one new song towards the end of the tour, and nobody threw things at us, or left to go to the bar,” Cocker told BBC 6 Music. “So we just thought we’d carry on and see what we could conjure up.”
Pulp, originally formed in Sheffield in 1978, rose to prominence during the Britpop era of the 1990s, with their distinctively sharp, socially observant music, setting them apart from the revisionist tendencies of the movement.
With hits like “Common People,” “Disco 2000,” and “Babies,” Pulp achieved massive success, selling over 10 million records. After an extended break following We Love Life, the band briefly reunited in 2011 for festival dates, including a surprise Glastonbury performance.
The band’s 2023 reunion tour reignited interest in their music, leading to the creation of More, which will be released on June 6, 2024.
The track “Spike Island” takes its inspiration from the notorious Stone Roses gig at Spike Island, a concert that became infamous for its chaotic sound and underwhelming experience.
The event, which was meant to be a defining moment in British indie culture, ended up being a disappointing one due to poor acoustics and harsh weather conditions.
Pulp guitarist Mark Webber, speaking with Lauren Laverne on BBC 6 Music, described the concert as “a slight anticlimax.” “There was a lot of anticipation but it didn’t sound very good, it was very windy, and the vibe wasn’t there,” Webber said.
Despite the negative experience, the concert’s cultural significance left a lasting impact on Cocker, who, although not attending the show himself, wrote the lyrics to “Spike Island” after speaking to fans and musicians who had been there.
One of the key contributors to the song’s lyrics was Jason Buckle, a member of the band All Seeing I, who co-wrote the track with Cocker.
Buckle’s recollection of the event was focused on a DJ repeatedly shouting, “Spike Island come alive, Spike Island come alive,” a phrase that stuck with Cocker. “That phrase stuck with me. I’ve got a very short attention span I think,” Cocker admitted, underscoring his ability to latch onto fleeting moments of inspiration.
The song also draws parallels to Pulp’s 1995 hit “Sorted for E’s and Whizz,” which was inspired by a conversation Cocker had with a girl at Sheffield’s The Leadmill nightclub, where the phrase “Is everyone sorted for E’s and whizz?” stuck in his mind and became the foundation for that track.
More is not just a comeback album but a tribute to Pulp’s former bassist, Steve Mackey, who tragically passed away in 2023.
Cocker reflected on the emotional difficulty of recording the album without Mackey, noting that it felt “weird at first.” However, he revealed that two tracks on the album were written while Mackey was still part of the band, ensuring that he remains a part of the project.
“It was not the nicest thing,” Cocker confessed, “but people who you’re close to, you never forget them, and you can do things to remember them by.”
Mackey’s presence on the album provided a sense of continuity despite his absence, allowing the band to honor his contribution.
The recording process for More was a relatively quick one, taking place over just three weeks in early 2024. Cocker explained that the album did not have an overarching theme, which gave the band a sense of freedom and spontaneity.
“There were no over-riding themes, except feelings, maybe, which sounds very wafty and not very precise,” Cocker said. He further explained that the lack of a rigid concept allowed the band to avoid the frustrations that had marred the recording of previous albums, such as This Is Hardcore.
“We recorded it quite quickly, and we were trying not to think about it too much, because that’s what kind of made the last couple of Pulp albums a bit of a pain,” Cocker admitted.
The singer also shared that for the first time in a long while, he had all the lyrics ready before entering the studio, which made the process less stressful.
“It was mainly my fault,” he reflected. “I’d never got the lyrics together, so I was always changing them and messing around. This time, they were all written before we went into the studio, and I realized it was a lot less stressful.”
This approach allowed Cocker to focus on the music and performance without the usual last-minute scrambling for lyrics, which he acknowledged had previously made the studio experience more taxing.
Despite the album’s more straightforward approach to creation, Cocker took a novel step by incorporating artificial intelligence into the promotional video for “Spike Island.”
The video features animated “cardboard cut-out” figures that pay homage to the cover art of Pulp’s seminal 1995 album Different Class. “All the moving images featured in the video are the result of me feeding in a still image and then typing in a ‘prompt’ such as: ‘The black & white figure remains still whilst the bus in the background drives off,'” Cocker explained.
The result was a surreal video that further explored the concept of AI-assisted art, something Cocker described as both fascinating and unsettling.
“The weekend I began work on the video was a strange time,” he shared, “I went out of the house and kept expecting weird transformations of the surrounding environment due to the images the computer had been generating.”
Cocker’s experience with AI video creation ultimately led him to reaffirm his belief in the importance of human creativity. “I don’t know whether I’ve recovered yet,” he joked, but by the end of the process, he firmly declared his preference for “human intelligence” over AI.
This playful exploration of AI was a stark contrast to the band’s ethos of organic, human-driven music, reminding fans that, despite embracing new technology, the band’s core creativity remains grounded in personal experience and emotional authenticity.
The band also announced their UK tour, which will kick off shortly after the release of More in June. However, despite numerous requests from fans, Pulp stated they had “no plans” to return to Glastonbury in 2024.
Although they do have a gap in their schedule during the festival, they clarified that their next performances would take place in Spain.
This decision to not return to Worthy Farm this year signals a shift in the band’s approach to touring, focusing on new territories rather than revisiting old stomping grounds.
In an official statement about the new album, Cocker emphasized the human element behind More.
“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,” he said. “No AI was involved during the process.”
Despite this, the integration of AI into the video for “Spike Island” represents a unique fusion of the old and new, reflecting Pulp’s ability to evolve while staying true to their roots.
Pulp’s return is not just a revival of their music but a reinvigoration of the creative spirit that defined them in the 1990s. The band’s new album promises to deliver fresh, emotionally charged music, while also paying homage to the past and the influences that have shaped them.
With More, Pulp proves that, even after two decades of silence, they remain a force to be reckoned with in the world of British indie music.
Fans can expect the unexpected, as the band continues to surprise with their boundary-pushing creativity and raw, relatable artistry.
