Mystery Jets have shared a powerful new song called ‘Soul River’ from their upcoming album.
The song is the latest to be shared from the Twickenham indie-rockers’ upcoming seventh album, ‘A Hole To See The Sky Through’ – visit here to pre-order.
Set for release on August 21 via Fiction Records, the record is titled after Yoko Ono’s minimalist masterpiece of the same name and features the original work – a simple white postcard with a circle cut out – as the album cover, having been granted special permission by the artist herself.
So far, it has been previewed by the psych rock anthem ‘Black Sage’ and its unmistakable title track. Today (June 15), the band have shared a more tender, emotive side to the album, dropping the deeply personal new song ‘Soul River’.
The song is written in memory of a close family friend and cherished figure on their hometown of Eel Pie Island, who the band describe as a “guardian spirit” of the community. The lyrics pays tribute to a life lost to suicide.
“The song is a celebration of a life cut short but one which lives on in our memory and our music,” Blaine Harrison and co. shared, and the song is one of their most poignant, heartfelt releases to date.
Mystery Jets’ new album was written in the years following the release of their 2020 record ‘A Billion Heartbeats’, and then recorded with producer Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno, Frightened Rabbit) at his East London HQ.
Like seen in the latest single, the album as a whole will explore heavy themes like freedom and forgiveness, trauma and wisdom.
“If 2016’s ‘Curve Of The Earth’ was written from the skies, looking back down, and ‘A Billion Heartbeats’ rooted itself firmly in the trenches of ‘the culture wars, and protests, and a very street-level perspective’, then their newest completes the trilogy by casting its gaze ‘back up from the void, to the cosmic again’,” read a new press release.
“It’s an album with a clear, coherent point of view, comprising nine songs that all form fragments of a thematic whole.”
Since announcing the album, Mystery Jets have announced a new tour for the UK and Ireland. Dates kick off at the SWG2 Studio Warehouse in Glasgow on November 22, and include a gig at London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town. Visit here for tickets.
As well as dropping ‘A Billion Heartbeats’, 2020 also saw the band share a covers album called ‘Home Protests’, and in 2022 bassist Jack Flanagan launched a solo career, releasing the album ‘Rides The Sky’.
For help and advice on mental health:
- CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably
- Help Musicians UK – Around the clock mental health support and advice for musicians (CALL MUSIC MINDS MATTER ON: 0808 802 8008)
- Music Support Org – Help and support for musicians struggling with alcoholism, addiction, or mental health issues (CALL: 0800 030 6789)
- YOUNG MINDS – The voice for young people’s health and wellbeing
- Time To Change – Let’s end mental health discrimination
- The Samaritans – Confidential support 24 hours a day