One of the best loved UK bands of the last four decades, The Charlatans’ career spans 13 previous albums, 22 Top 40 singles & 3 Number 1 albums. We Are Love launches a bold new era, one that finds them at peace with their past whilst looking forward to a bright future.
An 8 year gap between albums is their longest ever. Covid, solo projects and the fact that its 5 members - Tim Burgess, Martin Blunt, Mark Collins, Tony Rogers and Pete Salisbury - live scattered across Europe, meant that it took longer than usual for the stars to align. They took the time to select a recording A-team of production duo Dev Hynes and Fred Macpherson, plus legendary producer Stephen Street. The result has been well worth the wait.
Recorded at two places that are totemic in The Charlatans’ history - Rockfield in Wales and their own Big Mushroom space in Cheshire - Burgess cites hauntology and psychogeography as two concepts that swirled in his head. Their return to storied farm studio Rockfield for the first time in almost 30 years, since keyboard player Rob Collins was killed in a car crash, was an important step. Throughout the record you can hear The Charlatans’ awareness of the stuff that’s made them – the highs and the lows; the desire to honour their own mighty legacy, whilst not being defined by it. A career-long drive to be progressive and innovative.
As Burgess says: “we’re honouring ourselves, our past, feeling that energy and reincarnating it, doing something fresh, brand new.”
