Mystery Jets - New Music

NEW ALBUM, SINGLE AND TOUR DETAILS FROM MYSTERY JETS

Mystery Jets announce that their sixth studio album ‘A Billion Heartbeats’ will be released on 27th September on Caroline International. The band also today release ‘Screwdriver’, the first single to be taken from the album. 

Screwdriver is an uncompromising look at the rise of the rebranded alt-right in the UK, built around a powerfully positive message: “Fight them with love / then the world will be ours”. Lead singer Blaine Harrison says of the song, “Screwdriver is about the mechanics of intolerance. 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. 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. 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.” 

Each room of the house in the video is a metaphor for the different sections of society in the UK. It wraps around the narrative of the song, that in order to overcome adversity, you have to “Fight Them With Love”. All great albums start from a unique perspective. But, try a window on the Strand, in an abandoned office block, overlooking the kind of political upheaval London hasn’t seen in a generation. Blaine Harrison was living as a property guardian right around the corner from Trafalgar Square when he found himself witness to an entire year of protests. Every weekend from January 2017 on, people were marching for a different cause: “In the space of six months it was Black Lives Matter, the huge ‘Our NHS’ march, Unite for Europe,” he recalls.

We increasingly hear from musicians that music should be an escape these days - that there’s enough suffering in the world, enough misery on the news, without writings songs about it too. A Billion Heartbeats makes all that sound like a bit of a cop-out. These are songs of protest that get the heart racing in joy; high on hope, and serious in their message. Proof, basically, that music speaks louder than words. 

Mystery Jets are on a UK tour later this year and can be seen at the dates :

05 Nov Cambridge Junction Cambridge
06 Nov The Mill Birmingham
07 Nov Waterfront Norwich
09 Nov 2Q Festival Lincoln
10 Nov The Riverside Newcastle
11 Nov The Caves Edinburgh
12 Nov Oran Mor Glasgow
14 Nov Academy 2 Manchester
15 Nov The Wardrobe Leeds
16 Nov The Welly Hull
18 Nov Concorde 2 Brighton
19 Nov Bristol Trinity Bristol
20 Nov O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire London