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Pulp’s new single, “Spike Island” released on April 10, 2025, marks a bold return for the Britpop pioneers. Serving as the lead track from their forthcoming album More, their first in 24 years, the song sets the tone for a project steeped in reflection and reinvention. More, dedicated to the band’s late bassist Steve Mackey, is slated for release on June 6, 2025.
The song delves into themes of nostalgia, disillusionment, and redemption, with frontman Jarvis Cocker reflecting on the hollowness of past glory and the band’s early 2000s disbandment. Musically, “Spike Island” retains Pulp’s signature blend of rock and synthpop, complemented by Cocker’s artfully dry lyrics.
Pup’s return in “Spike Island” feels like a soul confronting its own echo. The song opens mid-crisis, mid-transformation
“Something stopped me dead in my tracks”
As if he’s stumbled into a parallel life, just in time to avoid disaster. There’s something cinematic in that line, something lived-in and battered. He was about to tumble down a familiar spiral, but then… he turned back.
It wasn’t a grand epiphany, it was something quieter. Maybe even absurd. He’s “wrestling with a coat hanger”, a mundane struggle that becomes metaphysical. The universe shrugs, like a god indifferent to human drama.
He tells us it’s “a guess”, “a feeling”, not prophecy or madness, just that intangible inner nudge that something must change.
And then: Spike Island—not just a place, but a portal. A place remembered, reimagined, reawakened. The refrain “Spike Island come alive” echoes like a spell, a summoning of ghosts and glory. He’s not returning as the same man. This time, he swears, he’ll get it right.
The song then moves like an artist’s confessional. Not a shaman or showman, just a man ashamed of selling out. He confesses to nearly self-sabotaging,
“decided not to ruin my life”
There’s no attempt to glamorize the past; only the raw awareness of how close he came to erasing himself. He speaks of fate, “conforming to a cosmic design”, as if he was trapped in a caricature of himself, a man playing the role expected of him.
But then something shifts. He walks back to the “garden of earthly delights”, a biblical image of rediscovery, maybe even redemption. The world he reenters is lush, creative, alive. And at last, he embraces who he is:
“I was born to perform.”
No more guilt. No more doubt. Just the calling.
By the final stretch, Jarvis turns philosophical. “No one will ever understand it”, he admits. There is no punchline, no perfect summary, no tweetable truth. “Because it’s not something you could ever say.”. It’s too vast, too personal, too ineffable.
So… swivel.
And with that surreal little twist of wit, he launches back into the chorus. That whisper of rebirth returns. Spike Island, come alive. One more chance. One more resurrection. And this time, perhaps, the music and the man will finally get it right.
The accompanying music video, directed by Cocker, employs AI to evoke nostalgic imagery reminiscent of their 1995 album Different Class. Watch it on Youtube.
Something stopped me dead in my tracks
I was headed for disaster and then I turned back
I was wrestling with a coat hanger, can you guess who won?
The universe shrugged, shrugged then moved on
It’s a guess, no idea
It’s a feeling
Not a voice in my head
Just a feeling
And by the way
Spike Island come alive by the way
This time I’ll get it right, oh
Not a shaman, or a showman, ashamed I was selling the rights
I took a breather, and decided not to ruin my life
I was conforming to a cosmic design
I was playing to type
Until I walked back to the gardеn of earthly delights
I was born to perform
It’s a calling
I еxist to do this
Shouting and pointing
And by the way
Spike Island come alive by the way
This time I’ll get it right, oh
No-one will ever understand it
And no-one will ever have the last word
Because it’s not something you could ever say
So swivel
Ahhhh
It’s a guess, no idea
It’s a feeling
Not a voice
In my head
Just a feeling
And by the way
Spike Island come alive by the way, uh
And this time I’ll get it right, yeah
And by the way
Spike Island come alive by the way
This time I’ll get it right, oh
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