Mystery Jets announce that their sixth studio album ‘A Billion Heartbeats’ will be released on 27th September on Caroline International.
The band also today release ‘Screwdriver’, the first single to be taken from the album. Screwdriver is an uncompromising look at the rise of the rebranded alt-right in the UK, built around a powerfully positive message: “Fight them with love / then the world will be ours“.
Over the course of a year, Mystery Jets’ sixth long-player, A Billion Heartbeats, was born. “This album wasn’t about making pointed opinions,” says Blaine. “It was about being a mirror for what’s going on, reflecting back the way people are feeling.” By turns tender and fierce, abstract and full of classic rock energy, A Billion Heartbeats achieves a balance of passion, fear and hope. Amid the colourful cavalcade of rich harmonies, heavy guitars and rallying cries, the album’s essential message – about personal responsibility, and the power in becoming engaged. In a sense, it’s not just their “state of the nation” record but their “state of a generation” record too.
We increasingly hear from musicians that music should be an escape these days – that there’s enough suffering in the world, enough misery on the news, without writings songs about it too. A Billion Heartbeats makes all that sound like a bit of a cop-out. These are songs of protest that get the heart racing in joy; high on hope, and serious in their message. Proof, basically, that music speaks louder than words.
Mystery Jets are on a UK tour later this year and can be seen at the dates below:
05 Nov Cambridge Junction Cambridge
06 Nov The Mill Birmingham
07 Nov Waterfront Norwich
09 Nov 2Q Festival Lincoln
10 Nov The Riverside Newcastle
11 Nov The Caves Edinburgh
12 Nov Oran Mor Glasgow
14 Nov Academy 2 Manchester
15 Nov The Wardrobe Leeds
16 Nov The Welly Hull
18 Nov Concorde 2 Brighton
19 Nov Bristol Trinity Bristol
20 Nov O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire London
