The Big Pink release new album 'The Love That's Ours' - their first in 10 years - on September 30th through Project Melody Music
+ NEW TRACK ‘LUCKY ONE’ OUT NOW
STREAM ‘THE LOVE THAT’S OURS’ HERE
Praise for recent singles
"A fantastic return after a decade-long hiatus by the London band who combine big tunes with an undertow of gothic dread. A taster from their long-awaited third album." -
THE TIMES (Best New Tracks)
“A taster of what’s to come and dose of their trademark indie-pop-meets-shoegaze sound from their acclaimed 2008 debut ‘A Brief History Of Love‘” - NME
“The new track sees the ‘Dominos’ group heading back to their roots with darkened and prog-tinged alt pop. It marks their first piece of new material since the release of their second album ‘Future This’ in 2012.” - ROLLING STONE UK
“The electro-rock band have returned with the indie-pop, shoegaze-tinged 'No Angels', which sees a return to their origins. Produced by Tony Hoffer, the track explores the melancholy of feeling far away from home, yearning to return to feelings of comfort and safety.” - CLASH
*****
After spending the last few months unveiling a wealth of impactful new singles including ‘No Angels’, ‘Love Spins On Its Axis’, ‘Rage’, and ‘Safe And Sound’, The Big Pink have now released their long-awaited third studio album ‘The Love That’s Ours’, their first in a decade, showcased by the new offering ‘Lucky One’.
Marking their first full-length release since 2012’s ‘Future This’, The Big Pink are looking to make this new phase in their journey their biggest yet. Produced by Tony Hoffer (Beck, Air, Phoenix), the record features a host of guest collaborators, including Jamie T, Jamie Hince (The Kills), Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Ryn Weaver, Mary Charteris, Ed Harcourt and many more, all aiming to make this new release their most memorable to date.
Speaking about the new album, frontman Robbie Furze said, "I hope that people love this record as much as I do. The album is called “The Love That’s Ours,” and these eleven songs make up the journey of almost losing everything in order to find my way back home again. I had to put myself on a knife’s edge, take myself out of my familiar environment and comfort zone in order to kick start something new. I felt like if I didn’t take the risk, I wouldn’t ever be truly happy. If I didn’t risk everything, I’d always be wondering “what if.” I guess sometimes you need darkness to really see the light. There’s a saying, “Don’t die wondering,” that haunted me. What would I be to anyone I loved, especially my wife and child, if I hadn’t completed this journey. As hard as it was, I have no regrets. I worked with some of the most incredibly talented musicians and I’ve made relationships that have become like family to me. My actual family made it on the record, my wife Mary sang all the backing vocals; and some “lost” family have returned, Akiko is back on drums! The compassion I’ve felt along this road was magical and truly re-established my faith in the world. I’ve never been prouder of anything more in my life and career. I hope that people love this record like I do. Maybe it will help in some way like it’s helped me. I can’t wait for everyone to have a listen. I stand a very happy man."
Showcased by the record’s closing cut ‘Lucky One’, this new delight perfectly caps off what has been an incredible journey for the band. Acting as a mantra to their chances of being able to return after such a long hiatus, this sweet and alluring offering stands as a seminal moment on this new collection as they take stock of all they have done to make this new record happen.
‘The Love That’s Ours’ - Tracklisting
How Far We’ve Come
No Angels
Love Spins On Its Axis
Rage
Outside In
I’m Not Away To Stay Away
Safe and Sound
Murder
Back To My Arms
Even If I Wanted To
Lucky One
A decade is a long time in music.
One listen to The Big Pink’s latest offerings however, and the ten years since we last heard from them melt away. Grandeur mixed with melancholy, singalong tunes tinged with nagging doubt, dreamlike atmosphere and pure noise, electronic dystopia shrouding a spirit of hope, all driven by the big questions on identity, purpose and belonging… It’s all in there. And those ten years out of view have brought to The Big Pink a new character: experience.
“The first album was that classic thing: is this actually happening?” says Robbie Furze, the sole founder member since his musical partner Milo Cordell left in 2013, of The Big Pink’s 2009 breakthrough ’A Brief History of Love’. “There were no expectations, just two best friends working on music together, and to us it felt like an explosion. Then came the second record [Future This, 2012], which we thought we could bash out because we were now so busy on tour, but we soon realised that it didn’t have the same romance or importance of the first record and that affected Milo deeply. I remember doing the first gigs after Future This and thinking: something doesn’t feel right here. We were trying to get the songs written as quickly as possible and we neglected the essence of The Big Pink in the process.”
After a huge tour of Asia that, in Furze’s words, ‘finished us off,’ he and Cordell decided to step away from music; to avoid the fate of so many bands who fall into the recording-touring treadmill and kill the passion that first opened their hearts along the way. There was no major split, no blazing rows presented to the world as musical differences, just an understanding that it was time to move on.
Milo Cordell concentrated on running his record label Merok, while Furze felt a strong urge to change the backdrop and start anew. “I fell into DJing in Los Angeles. London was on a bit of a downer at the time, especially if you were in a rock band, and there seemed to be a lot of English musicians moving to LA – it was the place to be. A friend of mine was opening a bar in Silverlake called Tenants of the Trees and it felt like the beginning of a movement. It had the beautiful models, the token celebs, the bands I love… There I was with Black Motorcycle Club and Queens of the Stone Age, and I was Robbie from the Big Pink, DJing on Tuesday nights. It was fun.” For a moment Furze considered a future as club owner, before realising that he really should be getting back to making music of his own.
“And that’s when things started happening again because there are a lot of lost artists in LA; people who have gone out there with their talent and lost their way. LA’s great when you’re on the up but if you find yourself having fallen out of favour it can be hard to get back on the proverbial treadmill. But if you can get those people in the room for a moment, lovely things can emerge from the chaos.”
The Big Pink’s drummer Akiko Matsuura was back on board while Charlie Barker, a visual artist from Nottingham, joined on bass guitar. Furze bounced musical ideas off a network of friends either visiting or resident in Los Angeles including Jamie Hince from the Kills, Nick Zinner from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Jamie T and Joel Amey from Wolf Alice, the latter suggesting that Furze resurrect The Big Pink to do a US tour with Wolf Alice in 2018. “That reinvigorated me because going on tour is like going to war: it’s so hard but you feel invigorated by the pain, especially if you are back on a support tour, shlepping your own amplifiers around. It gives you a tangible feeling on what it means to be a musician.”
“The Love That’s Ours’, one of the most creative and multi-faceted rock albums of recent times, has offered a rebirth for Robbie Furze. He wants it all back: the festivals, the world tours, the Glastonbury spots. “There is a song on the record called Lucky One, which is about a friend of mine who died of a heroin overdose. Los Angeles is such an aggressive town that people do lose themselves. I found my calling again, and the confidence needed to write these songs. So I was the lucky one because that could have been me. The record became my ticket out of LA, my situation — and myself. From there, I came home.”
And so begins a new chapter for The Big Pink...
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