‘Critical Thinking’ (Manic Street Preachers 15th studio album) will be released on Columbia on 31st January 2025, and a new single featuring for the first time, lead vocals from bassist/lyricist Nicky Wire ‘Hiding In Plain Sight’ is available now to stream.

Initially  inspired by a line from the poet Anne Sexton (“I am a collection of dismantled almosts”), ‘Hiding in Plain Sight’ contrasts a fearful midlife nostalgia – one in which the writer longs to “keep the curtains drawn all day” – with a gloriously uplifting melody that draws on classic ’70s rock’n’roll of The Only Ones, Cockney Rebel and the loose flow of Dinosaur Jr’s ‘Freak Scene’. Recorded at the band’s Door To The River Studio and Rockfield, Monmouth, the song features a lead vocal by Nicky Wire and added vocals by Lana McDonagh. It was produced by the band with regular collaborators Dave Eringa and Loz Williams and mixed by Caesar Edmunds (St Vincent/Wet Leg).

‘Critical Thinking’ celebrates conflicting ideas colliding, with unflinchingly soul-searching lyrics meeting some of the most head-on, addictive melodies the band have ever recorded.

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