Pulp Got Back Together. Let’s All Meet Up In The Year 2025

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At Coachella Weekend Two, Charli XCX passed the “Brat Summer” baton to several deserving musical acts and directors; everyone from Turnstile and Lorde to Paul Thomas Anderson and David Cronenberg got a nod. The list was long, but the idea that stuck out to me the most was “Pulp Summer.” That’d be Pulp, as in Sheffield, England’s greatest band, featuring enigmatic frontman and Britpop icon Jarvis Cocker and a shifting cast of bandmates (their Wikipedia page has one of those color-coded timelines). Pulp’s music is inspired by David Bowie, the Fall, Abba, and T. Rex; they may not be on your radar these days, but if you have ever done cocaine at an ’80s night or a Britpop party, you have surely danced to their most famous song, “Common People,” an incredibly catchy tune about posh people slumming it. It’s a modern classic from 1995’s Different Class, also the source of the instantly memorable anthem “Disco 2000” and one of my favorite song titles of all time, “Sorted for E’s & Wizz.” Pulp is widely inspirational; one of New York City’s most famous DJ trios, responsible for some legendary aughts nightlife, called themselves the Misshapes, after the Pulp song from Different Class.

Jarvis Cocker is an icon. Stylish, witty, campy, and an unbelievable performer, decked out in his signature thick-framed glasses and his reed-thin frame draped in perfectly cut natty suits, like an English professor with a great tailor. The band went on hiatus in 2001 but has reunited for shows without releasing new music. That all changed a few weeks ago when Pulp announced its first new album in 24 years, appropriately entitled More. The first single, “Spike Island” (named for the site of a legendary open-air Stone Roses concert in 1990, a turning point for the “Madchester” movement), is excellent, which is a welcome relief for any fan. The album was recorded with producer James Ford, known for his work with Arctic Monkeys and Wet Leg, and it was completed in just three weeks. Which feels like a good omen—the band wasn’t locked in the studio hemming and hawing. They felt inspired and did the work. “It wanted to come out, in some way—that was a good feeling,” Cocker said in a written statement. We live in a world where every band cashes in with a well-timed reunion, but few successfully release new music. Pulp might be the exception.

The big Britpop story of this year will be the Oasis reunion tour, which begins in Wales in July. Everyone’s excited to see the Gallaghers back together, including me; Oasis have been the soundtrack to my life. That being said, I don’t think I want new music from them. Pulp feels like a rare case of decades away from the studio serving a band well. Their blend of catchy hooks, quirky, theatrical performances, and introspective, humorous lyrics that dig into the complexities of modern life feels right for the moment we are in, a tasteful salve to heal our souls from the wounds left by Benson Boone, Teddy Swims, and Jelly Roll. They’re a throwback to a time when our rock stars were thoughtful, well-dressed (and literate), and weren’t pressured to do corny marketing stunts or interface with a social media team. The album is out in June, and the band hits the road this summer with cash cows LCD Soundsystem, before a proper US headline run. Fingers crossed that Cocker and Co. are welcomed back with open arms by old fans like me and new fans discovering the genius and staying power of Pulp for the first time in 2025.