There's no reason for this record to exist. Pulp could have returned, sold out venues on both sides of the Atlantic on the strength of their past material, and we'd all have been happy. Jarvis and co., consistently obdurate as always, insisted on a new record, I surmise, and the results are More. That it sounds so much like something that could have been squeezed in between 1998's This is Hardcore and 2001's We Love Life speaks volumes about the powers of this lot, and their allegiance to a sound they made all their own in an earlier age. If it works, don't break it, as they say.
The surprisingly effective "Spike Island" kicks us off, before the Sixties strings of "Tina" take us back to the usual obsessions of Jarvis Cocker. An adolescent boy who never grew up, or a man sorrowful at what he's lost and desperate for a bit of love, Jarvis sounds exactly as we'd want him to here. "Grown Ups", a lagubrious bit of sex business, is both creepy and sweet, while second single "Got to Have Love" stands as the song the DJ would have played after "Party Hard" in the Pulp-y disco of the mind. Elsewhere, "My Sex" doesn't really improve upon the claustrophobic post-pop of This is Hardcore (1998), while "Partial Eclipse" expands on the sound of 2001 Pulp on that album's follow-up. [Worth pointing out that We Love Life, their last studio album from 24 years ago, ended with "Sunrise" and More ends with "A Sunrise".]
More works best when Pulp sound like they are trying to gently nudge their familiar sound into a new space. Thankfully, this album isn't as complicated in its pleasures as recent solo Jarvis albums have been, though some of it veers dangerously close to the greasy thrills of Relaxed Muscle, his sadly forgotten spin-off effort. Too much criticism seems churlish since I never imagined I'd be listening to a new Pulp in 2025 anyway. That said, if this fan is really honest, the album would be better at a slightly shorter length, though this is reasonably concise and hardly Be Here Now. There are cuts on More I'll probably always skip, but it's nice to have another collection of this Sheffield outfit's stuff within easy reach.
More by Pulp is out now via Rough Trade.
[Photo: Rough Trade]