The Jesus and Mary Chain air new track ‘Always Sad’

Late last year shoegaze icons The Jesus and Mary Chain announced that they’d be releasing their first album in a whopping eighteen (yes, eighteen) years.

Speaking of the new release, Jim Reid said: “To make a good record is an achievement if you’re twenty-two, but to do it in your fifties, the way we are, I think is a minor miracle.” Well, that minor miracle is happening soon, as ‘Damage and Joy’ is coming out on 24th March.

After already sharing ‘Amputation’, they’re back with another cut from the LP, ‘Always Sad’. That title might suggest it’s a downbeat number but for a track that’s essentially about two former lovers with “a million miles between us now” lamenting what could have been, it’s curiously upbeat. There’s bouncy guitar riffs and everything. Guess you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, eh?

Listen to ‘Always Sad’ and check out the band’s upcoming UK tour dates below.

MARCH

23 Newcastle, Northumbria University
25 Manchester, Academy
27 Leeds, Church
28 Leicester, O2 Academy
29 Bristol, O2 Academy
31 Birmingham, O2 Institute

APRIL

01 Bournemouth, O2 Academy
02 Oxford, O2 Academy
03 Cambridge, Junction
05 London, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
06 Bexhill-on-Sea, De La Warr Pavilion
07 Dublin, Academy
09 Belfast, Limelight 1