After a significant hiatus, Pulp return with their new album More.
When Pulp began performing live again, I think many were eager for this new music, but taking the time to reacquaint themselves with each other and working on this for months in secret before finally putting it out there seems to have really paid off. The record feels as if they’ve been making music together all along. This really struck me on track Grown Ups, which is like looking at Disco 2000 through a rear view mirror. They’ve literally met up again now they’re all fully grown, and realised it’s maybe not quite all it was cracked up to be.
Jarvis Cocker’s lyricism certainly hasn’t faded over time either. The album is full of stunning, witty one liners alongside his astute observations through the lens of disillusionment. “I was wrestling with a coat hanger can you guess who won” and “without love you’re just jerking off inside somebody else” are two particularly good examples. His trademark half spoken half sung vocals feature heavily, atop albeit slightly more refined Brit-pop melodies.
Picking a favourite track is really tough, and I might unpick this album track by track at some point. I love the orchestral vibes on Farmer’s Market and the spoken word section of this track gives me goosebumps! The aforementioned Grown Ups is already one I can feel I’ll listen to over and over for its storytelling, Got to Have Love is so well constructed it feels like you already know it and Tina is Brtipop perfection.
I’ve said this many times before, but Different Class is still to this day one of my favourite albums and I play it regularly, so I was nervous that More would feel disjointed against it, or that Pulp would somehow emerge fundamentally changed from everything they used to be. I’m incredibly relieved that this is not the case. James Ford has done a beautiful job working with Pulp to retain the heart of everything they are about. I’m thankful they decided to give us More.
Find our more about Pulp here.