History

In a 2008 interview, Jack Barnett said that hip hop ensemble Wu-Tang Clan, especially member RZA, influenced the first album Beat Pyramid. Other inspirations include the electronic music of Aphex Twin and the cartoon series The Smurfs. At the time, Artrocker described These New Puritans as sounding like "Sheffield and Berlin synths, '90s alt rock Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo drones, Underworld beats; and all in the most contemporary of contexts". Although unusual for a rock group, the band often incorporates the same section of music into different songs as refrains.

Before their second album Hidden was released, Barnett revealed that he had been writing music for bassoon and stated that the aim was for a final product where "dancehall meets Steve Reich". In a 2010 interview with Barnett, Paul Morley described These New Puritans' new material as "very 1970, but also quite 1610, 1950, 1979, 1989, 2005 and 2070". When performing live during the Hidden era they were often accompanied by a five-piece brass-woodwind ensemble. In 2010 they performed a series of full live performances of Hidden (featuring a brass-woodwind ensemble, Taiko drums, children's choir, three vibraphonists and live Foley techniques) entitled Hidden Live, at venues such as the Barbican Centre (featuring the Britten Sinfonia), the Pompidou Centre and Berghain. In a May 2010 interview with C.B.Liddell, Jack Barnett revealed that he was interested in Melanesian music and that he anticipated that the next TNPS album would be "quieter." In 2010 the song 'We Want War' featured on the Assassin's Creed Brotherhood soundtrack. Towards the end of 2012 the band remixed "Mutual Core" by Björk, which featured on the remix album Bastards.

In June 2013 they released their third album, Field of Reeds, which featured jazz singer Elisa Rodrigues.

Projects

TNPS worked with designer Hedi Slimane and recorded the song "Navigate, Navigate" for the Dior Homme Hiver 2007 show. Both the music and the collection received positive reviews. The band members also took part in an art/dance performance at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris for the after-show of the Stage of the Art.

Discography

Studio albums

• Beat Pyramid (2008) No. 188 UK
• Hidden (2010) No. 100 UK; No. 10 UK Indie
• Field of Reeds (2013) No. 90 UK; No. 17 UK Indie

Singles/EPs

• "Now Pluvial" (30 October 2006) - 7"
• "Navigate, Navigate" (21 May 2007) - 12"/Digital download
• "Numbers"/"Colours" (5 November 2007) - 7"
• "Elvis" (21 January 2008) - 7"/CD
• "Swords of Truth" (5 May 2008) - 7"/12"/Digital Download
• "We Want War" (11 January 2010) - 10"/Digital Download
• "Attack Music" (12 April 2010) - Digital Download
• "Hologram" (26 July 2010)

Compilations

These New Puritans have contributed songs to the following CD compilations:

• "Chamber" - Digital Penetration (September 2006)
• "I Want to Be Tracey Emin" - Future Love Songs (December 2006)
• "Elvis" (demo) - Dance Floor Distortion (December 2006)
• "Colours" - 2000 Trees: Cider Smiles Vol. 1 (Hide and Seek Records, June 2008)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]