Neil Arthur shares “new” Blancmange track, Again, I Wait For The World, from upcoming set

Blancmange have unveiled Again, I Wait For The World which appears on their much-anticipated Everything Is Connected collection released on on 11 May 2024.

While Again, I Wait For The World is a “new” Blancmange song, it also takes us back to before the band’s formation. Blancmange vocalist, songwriter and mainstay Neil Arthur wrote the song with his previous project L360 back in 1979.

Since then, it always remained in the deep recesses of his mind until he felt compelled to finish it earlier this year. Naturally, then, it feels like it has a footprint in both eras: possessing the urgency of a band carving their own space in alternative music, but with future-facing electronics that sit neatly alongside the contemporary alt-pop sound.

Neil says, “I’m still trying to find the other members of L360 to credit them, because without them, I wouldn’t be here.”

Watch the lyric video below:

Enduring Vision

Blancmange’s story is one of two distinct chapters. In the early 80s they infused the emergent synth-pop scene with oblique lyrics, wry British humour and occasionally tabla-tinged sonics, an unlikely mix which saw them soar into the Top 10 with singles such as Living On The Ceiling, Blind Vision and Don’t Tell Me.

And, since 2011’s Blanc Burn album, they have taken that singular style into a new century and somehow become more prolific than ever.

Now Blancmange will bring all – well, 38 to be precise – of these highlights together with the career-spanning collection.

 

AGAIN, I WAIT FOR THE WORLD pink single art

Gonna Get Myself Connected

Neil continues: “I’m really lucky to be able to make the music completely on my own terms. Within myself there are no limits, there’s a massive palette inside and I will try anything.”

Blancmange’s history has also been shaped in unexpected ways. Neil met multi-instrumentalist Stephen Luscombe at the Harrow School of Art in 1979, and as synths weren’t readily available, they toyed with experimental homemade instruments which at least sounded vaguely like synths.

Signing with London Records in February 1982 they embarked on one of the great Imperial Phases of synth-pop.

These were Radio One hits secretly nourished by Can and Captain Beefheart, making the band a regular fixture in the charts and on Top of The Pops. However, with the grandeur of the Royal Albert Hall as their backdrop, in 1986 Blancmange made the curtain call for part one of their story.

Neil and Stephen did stay in contact, often joking that they should do more stuff together one day. Eventually they realised they weren’t really joking about it, re-emerging some 25 years later with 2011’s acclaimed album Blanc Burn.

Again, I Wait For The World

Sadly Stephen left shortly after due to ill-health, but reconnecting with the spirit of Blancmange unlocked an astonishingly prolific side to Neil, resulting in seven more Blancmange albums in the space of a decade (not including the instrumental series Nil By Mouth) – excerpts from all of which feature on Everything Is Connected.

The 2CD and digital formats compile an extensive 38 tracks, while the 10-track vinyl makes conciseness a virtue.

 

2CD Tracklisting:

CD1
Sad Day (original version)
I’ve Seen The Word
God’s Kitchen
Feel Me
Living On The Ceiling
Waves
Game Above My Head (12″ version)
Blind Vision
That’s Love, That It Is
Vishnu
Don’t Tell Me
The Day Before You Came
What’s Your Problem
Lose Your Love
Why Don’t They Leave Things Alone
Drive Me
I’m Having A Coffee
The Western
Just Another Spectre

CD2
The Fall
Last Night (I Dreamt I Had A Job)
Jack Knife
What’s The Time?
We Are The Chemicals
Anna Dine
Distant Storm
I Smashed Your Phone
Not A Priority
Mindset
This Is Bliss
Clean Your House
Commercial Break
Some Times These
Reduced Voltage
Take Me
Again, I Wait For The World
Wish
Empty Street

Vinyl Tracklisting:

Side One
Living On The Ceiling
Waves
Blind Vision
Don’t Tell Me
The Day Before You Came

Side Two
What’s The Time?
Distant Storm
Mindset
Reduced Voltage
Some Times These

Neil Arthur will follow Everything Is Connected with a Blancmange headline tour.

Tour Dates:

MAY
16 – Newcastle, Wylam Brewery
17 – Glasgow, St. Luke’s
18 – Birmingham, O2 Institute
23 – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
24 – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
25 – Manchester, Academy 2
26 – Colchester, Arts Centre
31 – Bristol, Trinity
JUNE
1 – London, Islington Assembly Hall
2 – Brighton, Old Market
3 – Southampton, 1865

In inimitable Blancmange fashion, support comes from Neil himself in one of his many other collaborative projects, The Remainder, who are completed by Finlay Shakespeare and Liam Hutton.

Everything Is Connected is available to pre-order here.

Read our interview with Blancmange, taken from Issue 1 of Classic Pop