Manic Street Preachers: new album and 2021 UK tour dates announced

14 May 2021, 12:43

Manic Street Preachers 2021: Sean Moore, Nicky Wire and James Dean Bradfield
Manic Street Preachers 2021: Sean Moore, Nicky Wire and James Dean Bradfield. Picture: Columbia Records/Press

The Ultra Vivid Lament will be the band's 14th studio album and a new single, Orwellian, is available now.

Manic Street Preachers have announced details of a new album, single and UK tour for 2021.

The Ultra Vivid Lament will be the band's fourteenth studio album and is to be released on 3 September 2021. The songs were recorded during the winter in Wales at Rockfield studios in Monmouth and the band's own Door To The River studio in Newport with longtime collaborator Dave Eringa.

The first preview from the album is the new track Orwellian, which is available to stream now. The band say of the song: "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."

Manic Street Preachers - Orwellian (Official Lyric Video)

"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."

Orwellian is available to stream now from www.manicstreetpreachers.com.

Other influences on The Ultra Vivid Lament include Roxy Music, R.E.M., Echo And The Bunnymen and David Bowie. The album features two guest vocalists: Julia Cumming of Sunflower Bean on The Secret He Had Missed and Screaming Trees/Queens Of The Stone Age man Mark Lanegan on Blank Diary Entry.

Manic Street Preachers - The Ultra Vivid Lament album cover
Manic Street Preachers - The Ultra Vivid Lament album cover. Picture: Columbia Records/Press

MANIC STREET PREACHERS - THE ULTRA VIVID LAMENT TRACK LISTING

  • Still Snowing In Sapporo
  • Orwellian
  • The Secret He Had Missed
  • Quest For Ancient Colour
  • Don’t Let the Night Divide Us
  • Diapause
  • Complicated Illusions
  • Into The Waves of Love
  • Blank Diary Entry
  • Happy Bored Alone
  • Afterending

The Manics have also announced a full UK tour for September and October 2021. Fans who pre-order The Ultra Vivid Lament from the official store can get early access to tickets, with a pre-sale starting on Wednesday 19 May at 10am.

Tickets go on general sale on Friday 21 May at 10am from www.manicstreetpreachers.com.

MANIC STREET PREACHERS UK TOUR DATES 2021

  • 26 September O2 City Hall, Newcastle
  • 28 September Usher Hall, Edinburgh
  • 29 September Caird Hall, Dundee
  • 1 October Victoria Hall, Stoke On Trent
  • 2 October O2 Apollo, Manchester
  • 4 October Barbican, York
  • 5 October Barrowland, Glasgow
  • 7 October O2 Academy, Leeds
  • 8 October Guildhall, Portsmouth
  • 10 October O2 Academy, Bournemouth
  • 11 October Corn Exchange, Cambridge
  • 13 October Forum, Bath
  • 14 October Dome, Brighton
  • 3 December The SSE Arena, Wembley, London