Whilst there have been tours, it has been twenty-four years since Pulp last released an album. More is released on the 6th of June.

Pulp are an old enough band to have been formed in the 1970s. It seems strange to think of them in that way as they didn’t really break into the public consciousness until 1994, unwittingly becoming the spearhead of Britpop. In Jarvis Cocker they had a lyricist with a bit more quirk and intelligence than the majority of his contemporaries and ‘Common People’ and ‘Disco 2000’ became enormous, ubiquitous hits.

More really couldn’t have been made by anybody else, this album is INCREDIBLY Pulp. There are some classic Jarvisisms in the lyrics, there is the fascination with sex and relationships, there are solid Northern stylings.

Comeback single ‘Spike Island’ kicks the album off, a fantastic indie-disco stomp that is up there with their best work. ‘Tina’ is less consequential, a character piece with orchestral swell that is okay. ‘Background Noise also slightly underwhelms. Neither track is bad, just there is much better material here. ‘Grown Ups’ is the longest track and bounces along with thoughts about not wanting to grow up but also needing to grow up.

‘Hymn of the North’ towards the end of the album is a key track. Firstly, it sounds excellent, one of the best things on here. It was written for a 2019 play called ‘Light Falls.’ Jarvis doesn’t quite have the full vocal range he once possessed but he sounds great on this over a shimmering backing. A bit after the three-minute mark it soars upwards, beautiful and uplifting after briefly threatening to go full James Bond title-track. It also kick-started the whole album. Jarvis says, “Well: when we started touring again in 2023, we practiced a new song called “Hymn of the North” during soundchecks & eventually played it at the end of our second night at Sheffield Arena. This seemed to open the floodgates: we came up with the rest of the songs on this album during the first half of 2024. A couple are revivals of ideas from last century. The music for one song was written by Richard Hawley. The music for another was written by Jason Buckle. The Eno family sing backing vocals on a song. There are string arrangements written by Richard Jones & played by the Elysian Collective. The album was recorded over 3 weeks by James Ford in Walthamstow, London, starting on November 18th, 2024. This is the shortest amount of time a Pulp album has ever taken to record. It was obviously ready to happen.”

Second single ‘Got To Have Love’ is my favourite track of the album. There is an element of Northern Soul creeping into it, everything is again augmented by the strings. Jarvis has found his emotions on this album in a way he has sometimes distanced himself from previously. ‘Got To Have Love’ is a call to arms, a battle cry for going out and finding yourself a deeper relationship. Has there ever been a more Jarvis lyric than, “Without love you’re just making a fool of yourself. Without love you’re just jerking off inside someone else.”? The honest emotions are best expressed in ‘Farmers Market’, detailing the relationship that led to Jarvis getting married last year: “That’s when I first saw you Babe In the car park of the Farmers Market Backlit by the sunset Or maybe the fires marking the end of the world I stammered some pleasantries As I walked back to the car Then I thought: “Hold on! Are these groceries really that important? More important than getting your number? Or finding out who you actually are?”

The majority of the album is very solid ranging up to brilliant. The danger after a twenty-four year wait is that the offering underwhelms. This is not the case here. Pulp fans will find themselves very satisfied.