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Artist News Gigs & Festivals Releases
Mystery Jets announce protest-influenced new album and tour dates
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 7 August 2019
Mystery Jets have announced that they will release their sixth album, ‘A Billion Heartbeats’, on 27 Sep. Accompanying the news, they’ve put out the second single from the LP, ‘Screwdriver’.
“‘Screwdriver’ is about the mechanics of intolerance”, says frontman Blaine Harrison. “Looking back at times of economic instability in history, we see how easily deep chasms grow in society and the population seeks change wherever it is most convincingly promised”.
He goes on: “Conflict arises as cultures and belief systems clash, unwilling to accept one another’s place in society, because we are fed the rhetoric that our neighbours are those responsible for our problems: then inevitably nationalism once more raises its ugly head above the parapet. But whereas political agendas fuel divisiveness, music unites and reminds us of all that we have in common”.
However, he concludes, “the message of ‘Screwdriver’ is not a pessimistic one – because perhaps faced with confrontation we can find understanding, and even maybe learn how to listen to, and love, one another”.
Along with this and NHS-supporting previous single ‘Hospital Radio’, the whole album is inspired by a year of protests that Harrison witnessed while living as a property guardian in a building off Trafalgar Square.
“In the space of six months it was Black Lives Matter, the huge ‘Our NHS’ march, Unite For Europe”, he recalls. “Then the solidarity sleep-out organised by Help Refugees, where we slept in Whitehall for the night. The protestors would wake me up in the morning [and] I’d just walk down and join in”.
Despite this influence, Harrison says: “This album wasn’t about making pointed opinions. It was about being a mirror for what’s going on, reflecting back the way people are feeling”.
Listen to ‘Screwdriver’ here:
The band will also be touring later this year. Here are all the dates:
5 Nov: Cambridge, The Junction
6 Nov: Birmingham, The Mill
7 Nov: Norwich, The Waterfront
10 Nov: Newcastle, The Riverside
11 Nov: Edinburgh, The Caves
12 Nov: Glasgow, Oran Mor
14 Nov: Manchester, Academy 2
15 Nov: Leeds, The Wardrobe
16 Nov: Hull, The Welly
18 Nov: Brighton, Concorde 2
19 Nov: Bristol, Trinity
20 Nov: London, Shepherd’s Bush Empire
