Essex avant-pop duo These New Puritans are back with ‘Crooked Wing,’ their first new album in six years — and they’re giving us one last taste with the hauntingly gorgeous single Wild Fields, out now via Domino.
The full album is out now, and it’s something pretty special.
Wild Fields: Beauty with a Strange Edge
“‘Wild Fields’ is a bit of an outlier on the album,” says Jack Barnett. “It ends with a line from William Byrd’s lament for Thomas Tallis — ‘come down from crystal heavens above’. But when I Googled it to double-check the reference, all I got were ads about crystal meth withdrawal. That’s all I see now. So yeah, this song has a lot to answer for.”
Classic TNP: elegant, cryptic, and just a little weird.
‘Crooked Wing’: A Brutal Beauty
‘Crooked Wing’ is the band’s fifth full-length, produced by Jack Barnett with Graham Sutton (of Bark Psychosis fame) and executive-produced by George Barnett. This isn’t your typical comeback album. It swings between intensity and stillness, harshness and harmony — sometimes in a single song. Expect everything from pipe organs and ancient bell recordings to clanking chains and moments of quiet awe.
Guests include Caroline Polachek and jazz legend Chris Laurence, while previously released singles like A Season In Hell, Bells, and Industrial Love Song (feat. Polachek) give a preview of the record’s eclectic, ambitious vibe.
Jack sums it up best: “It starts with a boy soprano singing from underground… like he’s guiding you through filth and heaven, life and death, humans and machines… then back under the earth again, into silence.”
Yep — this is a These New Puritans album, through and through.
DIY Spirit, Cinematic Scope
George calls ‘Crooked Wing’ “a DIY album that doesn’t sound like one. It’s just two enthusiastic amateurs doing what they want, oblivious to the world. Jack on piano, me smashing drums. It’s pure and it’s direct.”
The band recorded the album in all sorts of wild locations — churches, studios, industrial estates, circus wagons, cheap hotels. Each one left its ghostly mark.
And yes, there’s even a field recording of ancient Eastern Orthodox church bells woven into the album’s DNA. Beautiful, brutal, and very TNP.
‘Crooked Wing’ track list
- Waiting
- Bells
- A Season In Hell
- Industrial Love Song
- I’m Already Here
- Wild Fields
- The Old World
- Crooked Wing
- Goodnight
- Return
Live Dates & Tour Info
To celebrate the release, These New Puritans are playing a sold-out show at EartH in London on June 12, followed by a full UK + EU tour running through October and November.
Here’s where to catch them:
TNP 2025 TOUR DATES
29 Aug – Dorset, End Of The Road Festival
4 Oct – Riga, Skanu Mezs Festival
19 Oct – Luxembourg, Rotondes
21 Oct – Milan, Santeria
22 Oct – Roma, MONK
23 Oct – Bologna, Lokomotiv
26 Oct – Bratislava, Majestic Music Club
27 Oct – Prague, MeetFactory
29 Oct – Paris, Petit Bain
30 Oct – Liège, Reflektor
31 Oct – Brussels, Botanique
1 Nov – Guimarães, Mucho Flow Festival
3 Nov – Amsterdam, Paradiso
6 Nov – Liverpool, District
7 Nov – Manchester, White Hotel
8 Nov – Bristol, Simple Things Festival
10 Nov – Dublin, Workmans Club
12 Nov – London, Village Underground
16 Nov – Eindhoven, Effenaar
18 Nov – Copenhagen, Loppen
19 Nov – Hamburg, Kampnagel
20 Nov – Berlin, Lido
More info and ticket links at: www.thesenewpuritans.com
A Quick Look Back
Jack and George Barnett — twin brothers from Southend — have always done things their own way. Starting with ‘Beat Pyramid’ in 2008, they’ve built a legacy of bold, unpredictable music.
From the jagged percussion and choirs of 2010’s ‘Hidden’ (NME’s Album of the Year), to the cinematic swells of ‘Field of Reeds’ and the stripped-back shimmer of ‘Inside the Rose,’ These New Puritans have never sat still.
They’ve performed with 35-piece orchestras, created audio-visual shows with scaffold and silk, and even caught the eye of David Lynch. Now, they return with their most immersive work yet.
‘Crooked Wing’ is out now via Domino. It’s beautiful. It’s brutal. And it might just be their best yet.
Stay weird.
Stay tuned.
And go listen to Wild Fields — it’s a trip.
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