January 22, 2008 12:04

The Verve are aiming for 'spectacular' return

Albums Of 2008: band reveal all about forthcoming record

The Verve have spoken about their forthcoming new album, which they are putting the finishing touches to now.

Speaking to NME.COM, bassist Simon Jones explained that he hoped the results would be “spectacular” on the belated follow-up to 1997's 'Urban Hymns'.

“There’s ‘Sit And Wonder’ – that’s the one we were doing at the gigs,” Jones explained.

“That was born out of a 25-minute jam, and we just edited it down into a song. That’s kind of the method we’ve always used, ever since the early days. We all take away the tracks, and make a note of all the bits that are good, then just put them together.

He added: “Then there’s ‘Appalachian Springs’, which is a song of Richard (Ashcroft, lead singer)’s, but one where there’s just three chords going round and round so we can still jam through it as a band. And ‘Mona Lisa’, that’s a much more strictly written, Richard-y type thing.”

These more structured Ashcroft moments will be balanced out by the likes of ‘Judas’ – a song born out of a full band jam, with Nick McCabe’s guitar playing leading the way.

Jones described ‘Rather Be’, a song set for the album, as having “a string line looping around three chords all the way through – kind of like ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ did, although it’s not really anything like that".

He said: “It needs arranging, but that’s a pretty strong one. It’s very vocally led that one, with loads of great intertwining vocal lines, kind of making a chorus even though the chords haven’t changed. Richard’s a bit of a master at that.”

The band, who are recording their first record in over a decade at the at State of The Ark studios in Richmond, Surrey, are aiming to get the record out towards the end of the spring, in time for festival headline slots this summer.

“For us now it’s just a case of getting the balance between Richard’s songs and the more jam-based songs,” the bass player concluded. “If we can get the balance right, then it’s gonna be a spectacular record, without a shadow of a doubt.”

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