
Manic Street Preachers announce new album, Critical Thinking
Manic Street Preachers have released details of their fifteenth studio album, Critical Thinking, alongside an accompanying UK tour.
The new single, "Hiding In Plain Sight" features for the first time, lead vocals from bassist/lyricist Nicky Wire. Initially inspired by a line from the poet Anne Sexton ("I am a collection of dismantled almosts"), the track contrasts a fearful midlife nostalgia – one in which the writer longs to “keep the curtains drawn all day”.
“This is a record of opposites colliding - of dialectics trying to find a path of resolution," Wire explains. "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."
"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," Wire continues. "There are crises at the heart of these songs. They are microcosms of skepticism and suspicion, the drive to the internal seems inevitable - start with yourself, maybe the rest will follow.”
Manic Street Preachers have announced a series of UK tour dates to follow the release of the album. All of the dates take place on Friday and Saturday nights, with shows in Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol, London, among others. Fans who pre-order the new album from the official store will have access to the pre-sale on Wednesday 30 October.
Critical Thinking is released on 31 January 2025, via Columbia. Tickets will be available at 9.30am on Friday 1 November.
- Car Seat Headrest present new single, "CCF (I’m Gonna Stay With You)"
- Common Holly signs to Keeled Scales and announces new album, Anything glass
- Wire announce two special Record Store Day releases
- The Beaches return to announce third album, No Hard Feelings
- No Windows unveil new single, "Easter Island"
- Nick Mulvey details fourth studio album, Dark Harvest (Pt. 1) and accompanying world tour
- S.G. Goodman announces her third studio album, Planting by the Signs
Get the Best Fit take on the week in music direct to your inbox every Friday

Great Grandpa
Patience, Moonbeam

Deafheaven
Lonely People With Power

Perfume Genius
Glory
