The Jesus and Mary Chain, once the most combustible of bands, have settled into relatively comfortable middle age as a touring attraction, offering audiences the thrill of revisiting their debut album Psychocandy from a safe distance, but now they have decided the time is right to return to making records for the first time in 17 years.
In an interview with Time Out New York, singer Jim Reid said: “We’re doing an album now. We actually just started recording.” There wasn’t a lot more on the album, with Reid adding: “It’s early days, but I would say it’s a more mature sound for the Mary Chain. But let’s just wait and see.”
What a more mature sound for the Mary Chain means is open to conjecture. During their initial lifespan, the band were known for a strictly classicist approach to rock’n’roll, mixing rockers and ballads, and combining girl-group pop, biker rock, the Velvet Underground and surf pop. Only Psychocandy was drenched in the feedback they became famous for.
The group released their first single, Upside Down, in 1984, and released six studio albums before splitting up in 1999. They re-formed to play Coachella in 2007 and have toured sporadically since. Jim Reid has repeatedly said since 2007 that the group will make a new album. Only one song has emerged, though – All Things Must Pass, recorded for the soundtrack to the TV show Heroes.
In addition to Jim and William Reid, the current Mary Chain lineup is comprised of bassist Philip King – who has hit the comeback trail in another guise this week, with the news that Lush are reuniting – guitarist Mark Crozer, and Fountains of Wayne drummer Brian Young.
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