The Charlatans kick off a new era with the news of their fourteenth studio album, 'We Are Love', accompanied by the title track.
The Manchester five piece debuted the track live this month at a landmark hometown show at Castlefield Bowl. Lead single ‘We Are Love’ is a celebratory statement of intent, an urgent, limber, clattering love song to the human race. Propelled forward by driving drums and anthemic guitar, frontman Tim Burgess describes it as “like an open top car ride in the credits of your favourite movie driving along the coast to somewhere amazing.”
One of the first tracks to emerge from the album – out October 31 via BMG – it became a pathfinder for the record, as Mark Collins explains: “Early on we thought it felt right. And it turned out that way: first single, title track, second song on the album. And things started forming around We Are Love. There was a certain energy to it that drove us forwards.”
Listen to ‘We Are Love’ on Red Devils Records.
One of the best loved UK bands of the last four decades, The Charlatans’ career spans 13 albums, 22 Top 40 singles, three #1 albums and era-defining anthems like ‘The Only One I Know’, ‘North Country Boy’ and ‘One to Another’. We Are Love launches a bold new era, one that finds them at peace with their past whilst looking forward to a bright future.
An eight year gap between albums is the longest ever for one of the UK’s most enduring bands. A combination of covid, solo projects, life’s complexities and the fact that its five members – Tim Burgess (vocals) Martin Blunt (bass), Mark Collins (guitar), Tony Rogers (keyboards) and Pete Salisbury (drums) – live scattered across Europe, meant that it took longer than usual for the stars to align at the right place, right time, right vibe.
They took the time to carefully select a recording A-team of production duo Dev Hynes (aka Blood Orange and Lightspeed Champion) and Fred Macpherson (Spector, Rachel Chinouriri, Jessica Winter, Taahliah), plus legendary producer Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur, The Cranberries), alongside a list of engineers, mixers and collaborators that reads like a who’s who of alt rock greatness. The result has been well worth the wait.
Alongside the album announcement, The Charlatans have also shared plans for a December UK tour, playing headline shows in Leeds, Stoke, Bath, London, Manchester and Glasgow.
