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simpleminds directionoftheheart“The energy of SIMPLE MINDS remains undiminished.” (MOJO)
“Brilliant.” (Record Collector)
“A testament to the determination of one of Britain’s most enduring acts to stay creative and continue to deliver great Pop music.” (Retro Pop)

Today, BMG releases the critically acclaimed new album ‘Direction Of The Heart’ of SIMPLE MINDS - Listen here: https://simpleminds.lnk.to/DirectionOfTheHeartPR

‘Direction Of The Heart’ is the band’s eighteenth studio album and SIMPLE MINDS’ first album of new material since 2018s outstanding UK Top 5 album ‘Walk Between Worlds’. On the nine tracks of ‘Direction Of The Heart’, the band shows their most self-confident and anthemic side, celebrating life in an inspiring way.

The story of ‘Direction Of The Heart’ spans several years and locations in Germany, Italy and the UK. Jim At the home of Kerr’s father, Jim and Charlie Burchill wrote the album opener ‘Vision Thing’ when the father was terminally ill. The song’s urgent electronic pulse transports a deeply moving melody. The song is a celebration but with sad undertones in the lyrics. ‘Vision Thing’ sets the pace for a concise nine-track album. A band that manages to perfectly embody the essence of SIMPLE MINDS past and present, a band that has risen again in the last 10 years and has recaptured the magic and critical acclaim of their early days.

Simultaneously reflective and euphoric, the prevailing mood of ‘Direction Of The Heart’ places the personal in a universal context: qualities inherent in all the great SIMPLE MINDS records of the past and which the band are now recalibrating for their next era. Our hyper-stressed zeitgeist flows into the clattering rhythms and sky-storming clusters of melodies on ‘Planet Zero’ - “I saw a whole world on fire” - and the Electro Rock fusion of ‘Who Killed Truth’. With its Celtic textures and Sarah Brown’s infernal vocals, ‘Solstice Kiss’ is a Bond theme-on-wait. The parabolic drive of ‘First You Jump’ - a song Kerr-Burcill co-wrote with the band’s long-time bassist Ged Grimes - sets the stage for a classic, transcendent SIMPLE MINDS anthem about the fear of time and how to grow beyond.

No song encapsulates the album’s gallows humour better than ‘Human Traffic’, a snappy Hand Jive Bop through the days of the week inspired by JG Ballard and featuring a vocal performance by Russell Mael of Sparks. There’s a real Pop element to the song, something the band doesn’t shy away from even as they age.

The other notable collaboration is an *ongoing-in-memoriam* of sorts: the 1983 album cover ‘The Walls Came Down’ was written by the late Michael Been, whose band THE CALL supported SIMPLE MINDS in the US and whose ‘Let The Day Begin’ was covered on the 2014 album ‘Big Music’. It fits perfectly with its apocalyptic techno-rock arrangement and forward-thinking lyrics. Originally, the song was an attack on Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, but decades later, in a world where Donald Trump is starting to build walls, where Orbán is building walls in Hungary, and where Nigel Farage wants to build some kind of wall, unfortunately the song seems to have found its time.

The energy level on ‘Direction Of The Heart’ sends most of the songs into the 120-130 BPM range. Burchill believes this is partly due to the unusual circumstances of the album’s making. Kerr, meanwhile, cites a "growing confidence" in the band’s abilities, bolstered by ‘Big Music’ and 2018’s ‘Walk Between Worlds’, which re-emerged SIMPLE MINDS as a dynamic, contemporary force, thanks in part to keeping busy with the sounds and spirit that drove them in earlier, hungrier times. This process finds its ultimate expression in the central ‘Act Of Love’ of ‘Direction Of The Heart’; a song Kerr and Burchill wrote in Glasgow in late 1977, which was played as the opening song of their very first concert, and which now embodies their current vitality.

Forty-five years later, SIMPLE MINDS is still an act of love, with all the thrills and dangers that come with it. ‘Direction Of The Heart’ is a dizzying, uplifting spectacle that builds on innocence and experience to face the darkness without fear. And the album title? “‘Direction of the heart’ was a line that we had in mind for a long time,” says Jim Kerr. “Follow your own path and see it through - that, in short, sums up everything we’ve ever done.”

Watch video to single ‘First You Jump’ here:


Watch video to single ‘Vision Thing’ here:

Get your copy here: https://simpleminds.lnk.to/VisionThing

‘Direction Of The Heart’ pre-order: https://simpleminds.lnk.to/DirectionOfTheHeart

Tracklist
01. Vision Thing
02. First You Jump
03. Human Traffic (featuring Russell Mael of Sparks)
04. Who Killed Truth?
05. Solstice Kiss
06. Act Of Love
07. Natural
08. Planet Zero
09. The Walls Came Down (written and originally recorded by The Call)

‘Direction Of The Heart’ will be available on CD, deluxe edition with two bonus tracks and hardcover book, vinyl, coloured vinyl and cassette.

Deluxe Edition bonus tracks
01. Direction Of The Heart (Taormina 2022)
02. Wondertimes

Over the past 10 years, SIMPLE MINDS have managed to rekindle the magic that gave them incredible artistic power at the beginning of their career. Not only are they once again considered a source of inspiration for younger artists, they also play to tens of thousands of people year after year all over the world and for their last album they were showered with praise from the critics. Their 2015 album ‘Big Music’ was dubbed "her best album in 30 years" by MOJO magazine, and her critically acclaimed 2018 ‘Walk Between Worlds’ became their most successful album in two decades culminating in their biggest US tour to date. They received a Q Award Lifetime Achievement for their impressive and hugely successful career.

SIMPLE MINDS are Jim Kerr (vocals), Charlie Burchill (guitar, keyboard), Gordy Goudie (acoustic guitar), Ged Grimes (bass), Cherisse Osei (drums), Berenice Scott (keyboard) and Sarah Brown (vocals). https://www.simpleminds.com


Source: Press Release

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