Leftfield have announced that they are releasing a new album, only their second since the turn of the century. As with many albums, apparently it has been inspired by the lockdown and Paul's own experience of illness.

 

I'm interested to see where they go with this, I'm a firm believer that their debut is one of the very best albums of all time and it's been a case of diminishing returns there on in. As is the case these days, the album announcement has been accompanied by a single release and said single is entitled Pulse:

 

 

 

Sounds decent enough on first listen, a better effort than I recall anything from their third album being and has a euphoric element that has been missing from their music for a while. An optimistic start!

 

And the album has a feature from Grian of Fontaines D.C.!

Pulse added to 6 Music's playlist today

Pulse somehow passed me by! Really enjoying listening to it today. I love how many layers there are in the production and when it reaches that 2:20 point - wig!

New single Accumulator just released!

 

Oh I'm liking that one *.* Sounds like a lost Leftfield/Chemical Brothers collaboration

Wow at these bangers *.*

 

The production from the 5 minute mark on Accumulator :cheeseblock:

I'm not sure I know any of their older work but following Wardy sending one of their songs to Club Bizarre I did give 'Pulse' a try and that is great as well!

Full Way Round was released a few weeks ago. Added to 6 Music's playlist today

 

Full Way Round may be my fave so far! Alternative dance and an Irish accent, what's not to love?

I think it may be mine too… really hyped for this at the moment as I’ve loved all the advance tracks way more than anything from the last project

I absolutely love this, Leftfield + Fontaines D.C. is the collab we didn't know we needed but is absolutely a MUST.

Album is out now. It's been getting a decent reception from critics so far, currently on a score of 74 on AOTY.

 

Evening Standard - 4/5

Mojo - 4/5

The Arts Desk - 4/5

The Observer - 4/5

The Telegraph - 4/5

Uncut - 7/10

musicOMH - 3.5/5

Loud and Quiet - 5/10

 

I really like it on first couple of plays. It's probably their most consistent effort since their debut for me

#8 in the first mids which I'm pretty disappointed by. I always consider them to be sort of dance royalty so I'd hoped for more than this in the first mids, especially in the low sales climate we have these days.

 

 

It's a solid album! I love how vibrant and upbeat it is. It's pretty diverse in terms of musical styles, instruments and vocals. The singles Accumulator and Full Way Round definitely feel like the stand out tracks. But I really enjoyed everything except for maybe Machines Like Me, and the opening track I found to be just OK.

 

I read that Neil Barnes was battling cancer at the time this was recorded but has recovered now. Inspiring!

I'm enjoying Heart and Soul quite a lot, it wouldn't sound out of place on the Hagop Tchaparian album. Now I've let it settle in, I can see that the album isn't as good as I'd hoped it would be but it's still solid enough. I think it gets better as it goes along with the singles being the other obvious highs and the closing track - with Accumulator in particular turning out to be one of my most listened to tracks of the year

A music video and single version for Rapture 16 was released this week:

 

 

Effy Remix for Rapture 16;