These New Puritans | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Hailing from the town of Southend, England, These New Puritans earned a reputation for art-rock eclecticism following their 2008 debut, which melded the post-punk sounds of bands like the Fall and PiL with electronic dance elements and a sleek visual presentation. Following their critical breakout sophomore set, 2010s Hidden, the band turned the tables and took a lush neo-classical approach on 2013s unusual Field of Reeds. After lying low for half-a-decade, TNP suddenly reemerged in early 2019 with their eclectic fourth album, Inside the Rose. Led by twin brothers Jack (vocals, guitars, production) and George Barnett, the band formed in 2006 and also included keyboardist Sophie Sleigh-Johnson and bassist Thomas Hein, all of whom were still in their teens at the time. The bands edgy and artful aesthetic soon earned attention from the British press, enough that soon-to-be-former Christian Dior designer Hedi Slimane asked Barnett to compose something for his fall 2007 collection for Dior Homme. The resulting piece, "Navigate, Navigate," was debuted in Paris in February at Slimanes fashion show. In October of that same year, These New Puritans issued an EP, Now Pluvial, on Angular Records. "Navigate, Navigate," was released in the U.S. in February 2008 as a 12" single, priming fans for TNPs full-length debut, Beat Pyramid, a month later. Their critically lauded follow-up, Hidden was co-produced by Graham Sutton of Bark Psychosis and released in early 2010, reaching number ten on the U.K. Independent Albums chart and earning Album of the Year status from NME. Undergoing some transformations, including the departure of Sophie Sleigh-Johnson, the band returned with the very untraditional but well-received Field of Reeds in 2013. Indulging in their eccentric nature, the more orchestral album saw TNP recasting themselves as a sort of neo-classical ensemble with jazz elements. Following a rather quiet period, the Barnetts returned in 2018, essentially operating as a duo, with the eclectic single "Into the Fire" marking their first new music in five years. The song later appeared on TNPs fourth album, Inside the Rose, which appeared in March 2019. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 6 Title: Beat Pyramid Released: 2007-11 Tracks: 16 Duration: 35:01 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 ...ce I Will Say This Twice (00:16) 2 Numerology (AKA Numbers) (03:11) 3 Colours (02:26) 4 Swords of Truth (03:12) 5 Doppelgänger (01:30) 6 C. 16th ± (01:38) 7 En papier (04:55) 8 Infinity ytinifnI (02:26) 9 Elvis (02:46) 10 £4 (02:13) 11 MKK3 (01:49) 12 4 (00:07) 13 Navigate-Colours (04:20) 14 H. (00:28) 15 Costume (03:36) 16 I Will Say This Twi... (00:08) |
| Beat Pyramid : Allmusic album Review : Barely in their twenties, These New Puritans are more than willing to verbally admit their various influences, which range from the obvious (the Fall) to the obscure (16th century astrologer John Dee), and many of which are apparent on Beat Pyramid, their full-length debut, an angular, drum-driven album that dips into the experimental and the concrete without ever losing sight of itself. Theres a seriousness to their music, most of which comes from bandleader Jack Barnetts straightforwardness and delivery. The lyrics dont deal with typical themes of love and sadness; instead, Barnett brings up ideas of numbers and colors and philosophy -- and these recur throughout the whole album, taking a very frank approach. "Whats your favorite number, what does it mean?" he asks in the very Wire-esque "Numerology (aka Numbers)," then going through one to ten (skipping five and eight), explaining each ("Number One is the individual, Number Two, duality") and leaving very little room for misinterpretation. This directness, however, is quite charming, and does a fine job of preventing the songs from becoming overly pretentious or esoteric. The drum and bass in "Elvis" pound portentously as Barnett sings "And if there is a God, then please take me up," before launching back into his Eddie Argos/Mark E. Smith attack ("I try to blurt it out but I cant find the words," he says, rather brilliantly), while "Swords of Truth" has him admitting "This music is weightless, and when I sing, so am I." These New Puritans sound has a sense of immediacy, in the way the instruments -- synths, bass, guitar, drums, samples, and especially the vocals -- loop and jolt against one other, but its also clearly planned and considered. The album itself has a circularity about it, both in individual tracks -- which focus on repeating phrases, or, in the case of "Infinity Ytinifni," in name -- and its whole structure, down to the packaging (the track list is written as a kind of continuous loop, next to which are the Arabic translations of it, which, read right to left, mirror the left-to-right English names). Beat Pyramid begins and ends in the middle of the same sentence, literally and figuratively, but it doesnt come across as contrived or insincere, thanks mostly to Barnett, who conveys his words in a manner that is simultaneously solemn and half-winking, as if he knows they could be totally wrong, but hes going to say them like theyre all hes got left, anyway. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 6 Title: Hidden Released: 2010-01-18 Tracks: 11 Duration: 43:02 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Time Xone (02:07) 2 We Want War (07:23) 3 Three Thousand (02:49) 4 Hologram (02:22) 5 Attack Music (04:48) 6 Fire-Power (03:20) 7 Orion (04:31) 8 Canticle (01:12) 9 Drum Courts - Where Corals Lie (06:14) 10 White Chords (03:42) 11 5 (04:32) |
| Hidden : Allmusic album Review : In 2008, the first album from These New Puritans appeared, presenting a band of young Brits who had clearly soaked up the lessons of brainy post-punk outfits like the Fall, Wire, et al., not only in terms of the Burroughs-esque, cut-and-paste approach to composition and the terse, angular riffs and rhythms, but in the tendency to approach an album like an art-school project, with an armful of theories behind each decision. Fortunately for all concerned, These New Puritans -- like all powerful musicians -- operate on a level that connects emotionally and viscerally before the cerebral side is even engaged, so the whole thing plays out in a non-pretentious way. Thats how it is on their second album, Hidden, as well, but the band hasnt been standing still in between releases by any stretch of the imagination. Where the first album was full of blaring guitars and powerful drums -- however minimally arrayed and artfully deployed -- Hidden is a different beast entirely; in fact, its tempting to say that its barely even a "rock" album, except for the fact that no other descriptor seems to fit any better. In place of those Fall/Wire riffs of old, Hidden offers a greater emphasis on electronics; in fact, there seem to be scarcely any guitars at all. And where its predecessor hit you over the head and knocked you down with its ideas, Hidden -- true to its title -- prefers to sneak up on the listener. Some of the most striking features of the album are the brass and wind orchestrations. Three atmospheric, orchestral instrumentals subdivide Hidden -- one at the top, one at the middle, and one (also including Steve Reich-like percussion, wordless choral vocals, and a brief dash of spoken word) at the end. The wind players pop up at a couple of points in the "band" tunes, too, and its a fair guess to say that co-producer/former Bark Psychosis frontman Graham Sutton has something to do with it all. Suttons presence is also significant in that his old bands sui generis art rock is as close as youll come to a precedent for whats happening here, aside from perhaps late-period Talk Talk. Besides the brass and winds, the synths and programmed beats that mix hip-hop, dubstep, and drumnbass styles are the dominant sonic presence. "Fire-Power," meanwhile, finds singer Jack Barnett spitting out a restless tumble of words over a beat that wouldnt sound out of place on an M.I.A. record, while "Hologram" takes things in yet another direction, using jazz piano in combination with winds and more of those Reich-like lines. Ultimately, Hidden is the sound of an ambitious young band as eager to use every tool at its disposal as it is to avoid studiously doing whats been done before. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 6 Title: FACT Mix 167: These New Puritans Released: 2010-07-16 Tracks: 1 Duration: 40:21 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 FACT Mix 167: These New Puritans (40:21) |
 | Album: 4 of 6 Title: Field of Reeds Released: 2013-06-10 Tracks: 9 Duration: 52:58 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 This Guy’s in Love With You (03:02) 2 Fragment Two (04:32) 3 The Light in Your Name (06:03) 4 V (Island Song) (09:16) 5 Spiral (06:03) 6 Organ Eternal (05:31) 7 Nothing Else (07:49) 8 Dream (04:14) 9 Field of Reeds (06:28) |
| Field of Reeds : Allmusic album Review : With their risky third album, These New Puritans abandoned the angular dance-punk of Beat Pyramid and the gloomy electronic beats of Hidden to reinvent themselves once again for Field of Reeds, a record as indebted to classical scores and avant-garde jazz as rock. Taking a hands-off, live approach to the recording process, and allowing open space and emptiness to take precedence over beats, the music has a disturbing, dystopian feel to it, swinging from detached to nightmarish before resolving into something lovingly tranquil. Some of the best songs, like "Fragment 2," "V (Island Song)," and "Spiral" (which sounds like a fever-dream version of Björk and Thom Yorkes "Ive Seen It All" duet from the Dancer in the Dark soundtrack), thrive in this push and pull between atonal dissonance and sheer beauty. Even These New Puritans most stark numbers, while often lacking a concrete backbeat or definitive structure, are bursting with details and ideas. Ambient textures, constructed from melancholic horns and eerie analog synthesizer tones, add a wavering undercurrent that is often hair-raising and haunting. The production is equally unconventional. After writing the material in Essex and Amsterdam, Jack Barnett fleshed out the parts with his brother George and Tom Hein before recording in London, Gloucester, and Berlin with new honey-voiced Portuguese singer Elisa Rodrigues, utilizing an unusual magnetic resonator piano and meticulously detailing the songs with field recordings, including breaking glass and the screaming of an actual hawk. This perfectionism, present in the sonics and in the complex arrangements, makes Field of Reeds the most challenging title in their catalog and also the most groundbreaking. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 6 Title: EXPANDED (live at the Barbican) Released: 2014-10-20 Tracks: 13 Duration: 1:18:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Intro Tape (live) (02:06) 2 This Guys in Love With You (live) (03:13) 3 Fragment Two (live) (04:30) 4 The Light in Your Name (live) (06:36) 5 Island Song (live) (09:52) 6 Spiral (live) (06:21) 7 Organ Eternal (live) (06:21) 1 Nothing Else but This (live) (08:56) 2 Dream (live) (04:13) 3 Field of Reeds (live) (08:17) 4 Three Thousand (live) (04:17) 5 We Want War (live) (08:06) 6 Spitting Stars (live) (05:31) |
 | Album: 6 of 6 Title: Inside the Rose Released: 2019-03-22 Tracks: 9 Duration: 40:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Infinity Vibraphones (06:33) 2 Anti‐Gravity (04:37) 3 Beyond Black Suns (04:40) 4 Inside the Rose (04:57) 5 Where the Trees Are on Fire (04:39) 6 Into the Fire (03:43) 7 Lost Angel (01:15) 8 A‐R‐P (06:29) 9 Six (03:13) |