Manic Street Preachers announce new album with lead single "Orwellian"

Having teased The Ultra Vivid Lament with an album trailer yesterday (13 May), Manic Street Preachers have returned with the official announcement of their 14th album, and have released a first taster of the record called "Orwellian".

Manic Street Preachers say of the new single, "The track is about the battle to claim meaning, the erasing of context within debate, the overriding sense of factional conflict driven by digital platforms leading to a perpetual state of culture war. As with many songs on the record, it was written on the piano by James Dean Bradfield. Musically, it echoes ABBA, the majesty of Alan Rankine’s playing in the Associates and Talk Talk’s "It’s My Life" with a Lindsey Buckingham guitar solo. It felt like the perfect sonic and lyrical introduction to The Ultra Vivid Lament."

The Ultra Vivid Lament will follow Manic Street Preachers' 2018 album Resistance is Futile, and was the group's first album to be conceived on piano rather than guitar.

Manic Street Preachers recorded the album last winter between Rockfield in Monmouth and their own Door to the River studio in Newport. They worked with longtime collaborator Dave Eringa (The Who), and got it mixed by David Wrench (Blossoms, Frank Ocean, Arlo Parks).

The album will feature guest vocals from Julia Cumming (Sunflower Bean) on "The Secret He Had Missed", and Mark Lanegan on "Blank Diary Entry".

Tracklist:

1. Still Snowing In Sapporo
2. Orwellian
3. The Secret He Had Missed
4. Quest For Ancient Colour
5. Don't Let The Night Divide Us
6. Diapause
7. Complicated Illusions
8. Into The Waves Of Love
9. Blank Diary Entry
10. Happy Bored Alone
11. Afterending