SIMPLE Minds will release Walk Between Worlds, their first album of new material since 2014's Big Music, on February 2 on BMG.
Produced by the veteran Glasgow band with Andy Wright and Gavin Goldberg, who each worked on Big Music, the eight tracks add up to a concise 42 minutes on an album of two distinct sides: an old-school format that recalls albums from the days when founder members Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill were growing up as music fans.
"Side One" numbers such as Summer and The Signal And The Noise revisit the glassy guitars and new wave dance grooves of the post-punk era, whereas "Side Two"explores more cinematic sounds, with the title track and Barrowland Star featuring dramatic orchestrations recorded at Abbey Road.
The album artwork for Simple Minds' Walk Between Worlds
Walk Between Worlds will be bookended by two songs about faith, Magic and Sense Of Discovery. The first is a reflection on the desire and hunger of youth: the faith in their own abilities that Simple Minds possessed during their formative years in the late 1970s. The second, built on a melodic refrain that alludes to 1985’s Alive And Kicking, is centred on the voice of an older narrator passing on wisdom and advice to a younger individual.
Key track Barrowland Star is named after the iconic ballroom in Glasgow's East End that has hosted many memorable Simple Minds shows. Taking Simple Minds away from their comfort zone, it layers strings and a glistening Burchill guitar solo – reminiscent of Hull's Mick Ronson, suggests Kerr – over poignant words as they convey how playing Barrowland is more akin to engaging in a prize-fight than simply performing a rock gig.
Walk Between Worlds will be available on standard and deluxe CD, standard, deluxe and picture-disc vinyl, digital download and stream. The standard track listing will be Magic; Summer; Utopia; The Signal And The Noise; In Dreams; Barrowland Star; Walk Between Worlds and Sense Of Discovery, joined on the deluxe formats by Silent Kiss, Angel Underneath My Skin and Dirty Old Town (Live).
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