THESE NEW PURITANS
SUPPORT: SEACHANGE
Concert
THESE NEW PURITANS
These New Puritans were formed in their Thames Estuary homeland by twins Jack and George Barnett and friend Thomas Hein, in the mid 2000s. Jack had been writing songs since the age of seven and recording them since 12 on his older brother’s 4-track; George joined him on drums and the band grew out of this.
The band is anchored by the opposing characters of the Barnett twins: George, extroverted, aesthetically driven, a violently virtuosic drummer as well as directing the band’s visuals and giving general creative direction; Jack, introverted, obsessively perfectionist, and occupying an unusual and uneasy role somewhere between producer, composer and bandleader. Hein, brought up in nearby Billericay (the town immortalised in song by Ian Dury), brings equilibrium, versatile musicianship, and a certain wryly-amused take on the back and forth between the brothers.
The band’s debut album, the manic patchwork of ideas Beat Pyramid, and the series of videocasts that preceded it, were hailed by the NME as demonstrating a “span of ideas and singularity of vision that simply shouldn’t happen to 20-year-olds”, while the Observer Music Monthly called it “utterly engrossing and totally essential”.
Hidden a magically bleak album of stark oppositions – natural and manmade, digital and acoustic; elegiac woodwind set against close-up knife sharpening and dancehall rhythms – was notably critically acclaimed. With its “extraordinary range, originality and clarity of purpose that defy overall comparison with anything else,” (NME) it pulled together a host of unlikely influences to create something personal, unique and unmistakably These New Puritans.
Hidden received five-star reviews across the board, was named Album of the Year by NME and was declared the “first masterpiece of the 21st century” by the Daily Telegraph. It also marked out Jack as a truly modern musician, equally adept as soundtrack composer (Orion) or hip-hop producer (Three Thousand).
The band dedicated late 2010 and 2011 to recreating the album with a series of shows, Hidden Live, at venues including the Barbican Centre, London, and the Pompidou Centre, Paris, featuring the Britten Sinfonia, a children’s choir, ten-foot taiko drums, duelling vibraphonists and live Foley techniques.
These New Puritans announced they were writing a new album following their last show of 2011 in Mexico City, at which point keyboardist Sophie Sleigh-Johnson left the band. They have remained largely silent since, resurfacing briefly in 2012 to remix Björk’s Mutual Core.
The band is anchored by the opposing characters of the Barnett twins: George, extroverted, aesthetically driven, a violently virtuosic drummer as well as directing the band’s visuals and giving general creative direction; Jack, introverted, obsessively perfectionist, and occupying an unusual and uneasy role somewhere between producer, composer and bandleader. Hein, brought up in nearby Billericay (the town immortalised in song by Ian Dury), brings equilibrium, versatile musicianship, and a certain wryly-amused take on the back and forth between the brothers.
The band’s debut album, the manic patchwork of ideas Beat Pyramid, and the series of videocasts that preceded it, were hailed by the NME as demonstrating a “span of ideas and singularity of vision that simply shouldn’t happen to 20-year-olds”, while the Observer Music Monthly called it “utterly engrossing and totally essential”.
Hidden a magically bleak album of stark oppositions – natural and manmade, digital and acoustic; elegiac woodwind set against close-up knife sharpening and dancehall rhythms – was notably critically acclaimed. With its “extraordinary range, originality and clarity of purpose that defy overall comparison with anything else,” (NME) it pulled together a host of unlikely influences to create something personal, unique and unmistakably These New Puritans.
Hidden received five-star reviews across the board, was named Album of the Year by NME and was declared the “first masterpiece of the 21st century” by the Daily Telegraph. It also marked out Jack as a truly modern musician, equally adept as soundtrack composer (Orion) or hip-hop producer (Three Thousand).
The band dedicated late 2010 and 2011 to recreating the album with a series of shows, Hidden Live, at venues including the Barbican Centre, London, and the Pompidou Centre, Paris, featuring the Britten Sinfonia, a children’s choir, ten-foot taiko drums, duelling vibraphonists and live Foley techniques.
These New Puritans announced they were writing a new album following their last show of 2011 in Mexico City, at which point keyboardist Sophie Sleigh-Johnson left the band. They have remained largely silent since, resurfacing briefly in 2012 to remix Björk’s Mutual Core.
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