Veteran Scottish rockers Simple Minds will release their 18th studio album, Direction of the Heart, on October 21.
The nine-track collection, a follow-up to 2018’s Walk Between Worlds, can be pre-ordered now. It will be available on CD, as a deluxe CD book package, on cassette, via digital formats and as a vinyl LP pressed on either 180-gram black vinyl or limited-edition silver vinyl. The deluxe CD and digital versions will include two extra tracks.
The band, which continues to be led by founding singer Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill, has released the song “Vision Thing” as an advance digital single, while a visualizer video for the track has premiered on Simple Minds’ official YouTube channel.
The tune, which was co-written by Kerr and Burchill, pays tribute to Jim’s “best pal,” his father, who died in 2019.
Most of the songs on Direction of the Heart were written and demoed on the Italian island of Sicily, where Kerr and Burchill both reside. The album was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic at Hamburg, Germany’s Chameleon Studios and features guest contributions from Sparks frontman Russell Mael and Scottish singer/songwriter Gary Clark, who used to play with current Simple Minds bassist Ged Grimes in the pop-rock group Danny Wilson.
Kerr says of the new album, “How to make a feel-good ‘Electro-rock’ record, during the very worst of times? Direction of the Heart is the result of that challenge. Who would have thought we’d have so much fun creating it?”
Simple Minds recently launched a European summer tour that’s plotted out through an August 13 concert in Edinburgh, U.K.
Here’s Direction of the Heart’s full track list:
“Vision Thing”
“First You Jump”
“Human Traffic”
“Who Killed Truth?”
“Solstice Kiss”
“Act of Lone”
“Natural”
“Planet Zero”
“The Walls Came Down”
“Direction of the Heart (Taormina 2022)”*
“Wondertimes”*
* = available on digital and deluxe CD versions only.
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