A. G. Cook began 2024 by releasing a single, “Silver Needle Golden Thread,” followed by the announcement of his third studio album, Britpop. Now, the PC Music founder is back with the album’s title track, “Britpop,” featuring Charli XCX.
Opening with Charli delivering the refrain “Brit/ Brit like Britpop,” the track evolves in typical Cook fashion, introducing layers of shimmery, bubbling synths which eventually blossom into a full-fledged dance arrangement. Around the midway point, Charli’s vocals drop out and an intricate bass groove takes their place. For the outro, the refrain returns as a distorted echo, roaring over the beat like the whistle of an approaching train. Stream the track below.
Britpop as a whole is due on May 10th via New Alias, arriving as a 24-song project encompassing three different chapters: Past, Present, and Future. Inspired by the time he spent in the Montana hometown of his girlfriend, Alaska Reid, the album will see Cook grapple with the implications of “Britishness,” as well as his own creative journey.
“I’ve joked in the past about this sort of British invasion that goes back to Beatlemania,” Cook said in a statement. “It’s always been interesting to me that so many PC Music artists, even if they’re still based in the UK, have really resonated with different US subcultures and even the mainstream pop songwriters out here.”
Continuing, he added: “So many aspects of the American frontier are referencing some imported mythic idea of British history, and that’s just the beginning. I’ve also really committed to some of those associations myself, growing up with a Beatles haircut and calling my album Apple. I’ve always enjoyed finding those funny connections that expose how confusing and multifaceted culture is across all these lanes — and exploiting those coincidences.”
Additionally, Britpop will feature a tribute to Cook’s late collaborator, SOPHIE, titled “Without.” Built around a “melodic nod” to SOPHIE’s breakout single, “Bipp,” the song will include lyrics alluding to the influential producer’s untimely death: “I’m living with/ without your wit/ an emptiness/ a silhouette/ I never guessed the loudest sounds are hollow.”
Cook founded PC Music in 2013, and oversaw the label through its 10-year run, which came to a close last year when it was announced that no new releases would arrive after 2023. In 2022, he co-wrote and co-produced a track on Beyoncé’s Renaissance, and made several contributions to Charli XCX’s release, Crash.
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