July 30, 2010 15:07

The Posies team-up with Broken Social Scene and ex-Stranglers members on new album

Seattle pop power veterans return after five years

Photo: James Quinton

The Posies have teamed up with Broken Social singer Lisa Lobsinger and ex-Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell for their forthcoming new album 'Blood/Candy'.

The Seattle powerpop veterans' seventh album, which is due out on September 27, saw the band collaborating with a host of guest stars via email for the first time in their 23-year career.

"It is kind of a first for us," admits singer Ken Stringfellow. "It's a really cool spread of artists from different generations though, so it's very versatile."

"Our drummer Darius [Minwalla] knows Lisa," he said of the album's collaborations. "So we hung out and had some wine at this festival in Seattle and it went from there. She has a very pure voice and for me the track she appears on ['Licenses To Hide'] with me is very bombastic and over the top in a wonderfully melodic way, a bit like a Broadway song."

Cornwell features on album opener 'Plastic Paperbacks', which Stringfellow said was "like having James Bond" on your record.

"It was really cool having Hugh on there because we've never had a British voice on one of our albums," he explained. "It's similar to some of The Stranglers songs. He speaks the words and I thought that'd be perfect for this song. It's just so cool, as soon as he starts speaking, he goes, 'hard man' in that weird way."

The band are planning to hit the road for a series of dates, stopping off in London for a show at the Relentless Garage on October 5.

"I can't see us getting Lisa on board for that show because Broken Social Scene are on tour forever but Hugh is a possibility," he added. "I would love to make that happen, I'm working on it."