MANIC STREET PREACHERS • Critical Thinking • LP

Sony
Release date: 14. February 2025

Nicky Wire said of "Critical Thinking": "This is a record where opposites collide - a dialectic that tries to find a way of resolution. While the music is effervescent and elegiac, most of the lyrics deal with the cold analysis of the self. The exception is the three lyrics by James (Dean Bradfield), which search for and hopefully find answers in people, their memories, their language and their faith. The music is energetic and at times euphoric. The recordings were sometimes sporadic and isolated, other times we played live in a band, and again the contrasts make sense. The core of these songs are crises. They are microcosms of skepticism and mistrust, the urge to look inwards seems inevitable - start with yourself, maybe the rest will follow."

Speaking to MOJO Magazine, frontman James Dean Bradfield said: "Sometimes it's enough to just have your best songs, put out a record and not try to describe a big overarching concept, even if there is a common thread."