THESE NEW PURITANS have revealed details of their fourth studio album, INSIDE THE ROSE, set for release on 22 March 2019. Brutal and beautiful, INSIDE THE ROSE arrives six years after the critically acclaimed 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 currently available to stream and download, and follows the release of the album track INTO THE FIRE, which debuted late last year to immense acclaim. They began playing music together as children, writing songs on a massively oversized 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 Twins 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 have successfully blurred the distinctions between pop, classical, electro, rock and experimental music, earning rave reviews and praise from artists as diverse as Bjork, Massive Attack and Elton John along the way.
The 2008 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, and stood out like a sore thumb among the conservative, guitar-based music of the period. The follow up, HIDDEN in 2010, defied expectations and garnered numerous Album of The Year accolades. After appearing on Bjork’s remix album, Bastards, 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, 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 Union broadcasting studio in the city’s industrial suburbs.
The sharp romanticism of INSIDE THE ROSE 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 mist 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 have announced a run of 12 live dates across the UK and Europe. Taiwanese singer and producer SCINTII, who appears on BEYOND BLACK SUNS on the album, will be performing live with the band and as support act on the European shows.
Full UK dates as follows:
Wed 10 MANCHESTER Yes | Support from VESSEL
Thu 11 GLASGOW SW3 Warehouse | Support from VESSEL
Fri 12 LEEDS Belgrave Music Hall | Support from VESSEL
Sat 13 HEBDEN BRIDGE Trades Club | Support from VESSEL
Wed 17 LONDON Tufnell Park Dome | Support from VESSEL
Thu 18 BRIGHTON Patterns | Support from VESSEL
Fri 19 BRISTOL Thekla | Support from VESSEL
