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press releases | big music | big music






Big Music

SIMPLE MINDS

NEW ALBUM 'BIG MUSIC'

"Their best album in 30 years." **** Mojo

"Simple Minds at their ideal fighting weight." **** Q Magazine

"A brave new phase of their career." 8/10, Vive Le Rock

"Big Music is the genuine article: a remarkable record that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with any of Simple Minds' first five albums." **** Record Collector

"A vibrant return to founding principles." Uncut

"A high-water mark for wide-screen synth-driven rock. The Simple Minds we want." NME

"Simple Minds have stuck to a winning formula." **** The Times 2 Arts

"Big Music indeed!" **** SFTW, The Sun

"Epic and sensitive, structured yet euphoric." **** The Ticket, Daily Mirror

"Simple Minds return to epic form." The Guardian

BIG MUSIC is Simple Minds' first album of new material in five years. It sees the band rekindling the energy and attitude, the mystery and magic, that made them one of the greatest bands on the planet.

BIG MUSIC is Simple Minds' 16th album. It's a swaggering collection that reiterates the band’s world-class credentials; a culmination of a decade of stealthy rediscovery that has seen the band make two albums, 2005's Black & White 050505 and 2009's Graffiti Soul, before reminding us all of their legacy with the acclaimed X5 boxed set and subsequent 5X5 Live album and tour.

With a touring cast that now sees Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill joined by stalwart drummer Mel Gaynor, keyboardist Andy Gillespie, Ged Grimes, backing vocalists Sarah Brown and Catherine AD (additional keys and guitar). Simple Minds have a settled line-up that re-affirms their status as one of the great live bands. Made with an array of collaborators old and new – including co-writer Iain Cook (of Glasgow band Chvrches) and producers Steve Osborne, Andy Wright and Steve Hillage (who worked on 1981's Sons And Fascination / Sister Feelings Call) – Big Music is an irresistible mix of artistry and accessibility.

Among the highlights on BIG MUSIC are the propulsive Blindfolded, which harks back to the powerful electro-glide of 1980's I Travel, and the swirling Human and immediately infectious Midnight Walking, both of which are reminiscent of the booming sounds of 1984’s Sparkle In The Rain. The actual song Big Music, too, is suitably gargantuan, with its popping syn-drums, a song all about the songs that make people feel ecstatic and romantic.

The most touching moment on BIG MUSIC, however, arrives with the haunting Honest Town, a track inspired by fond memories of Jim's mum, who passed away in Glasgow four years ago. Co-written with Iain Cook of Chvrches, it is a dream-like travelogue through Kerr's childhood stomping grounds on Glasgow's South Side. Broken Glass Park is an extension of this theme, exploring the nostalgia of adolescent innocence and discovery.

BIG MUSIC features another homage of sorts, with the arena-sized anthem Let The Day Begin, a fitting tribute to American singer and guitarist Michael Been of The Call who passed away in 2010. The Call toured with Simple Minds in the 1980s and became close friends - Let The Day Begin was their signature tune.

BIG MUSIC is an album that combines a sense of sonic euphoria with some of the most personal lyrics Jim has ever written. It does justice to the Simple Minds legacy, an album that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Empires And Dance, New Gold Dream and Sparkle In The Rain.

More relevant than ever, Simple Minds have been lauded in recent times by NME (recently included in their ‘100 Most Influential Bands’) and Mojo, and artists including The Horrors, The Killers, King Creosote, Manic Street Preachers, Primal Scream and Radiohead. Last year the band played to 130,000 people in the UK alone – the most ever in one year.

Simple Minds are "widely regarded as one of the best live bands in the world" (BBC Breakfast) and over a thirty year career have been responsible for some of the most innovative and enduring anthems in rock music. Next March the band will undertake a 29-date tour across the UK.