Squaring The Circle (2021)
The Fourth Album...
About Squaring The Circle:
After nearly 20 years, it was announced in 2021 that there would finally be another album released. From around 2015, when Liam Howe had opened the official Sneaker Pimps Twitter, there had been constant ins and outs of plans to release a fourth album, but with several circumstances behind the scenes that had factors in delaying this, it took six years after the initial teaser from Liam on social media to come to fruition. The album was teased via cryptic, evolving images of cubes released each day over the course of a week in April, 2021. These gradually made up the album artwork which denoted the ancient mathematical problem known as 'Squaring The Circle', which Liam himself described as coming full circle with Chris and attempting the impossible after all these years - releasing a new album. It was eventually released via Chris' new 'Unfall' record label through the indie route of Bandcamp and received three singles; the title track, 'Alibis' and 'Fighter'. Soon after, four music videos were released along with four remix EP's - with rework contributions from Liam Howe as 'AMP' (Ape Mink Press), Chris Corner as 'ArtBleedsMoney', 'IAMX', Simonne Jones and Dave Westlake. Compared to the recording process of earlier Sneaker Pimps releases, this one would prove to have many challenges due to Liam living in London and producing other artists to earn a living, Chris having built a life in the Californian desert (also working with other artists such as Gary Numan) and managing his own work and Simonne Jones, the newly introduced co-vocalist, caught in-between it all with the lingering Corona Virus restrictions stopping all from being in physical contact. The album had apparently been in the works since the 2006 leaked demos, which also reflects the fact that several of the songs on this album were meant for that abandoned project, but with slightly reworked audio and track names. With Simonne now on vocals alongside Chris, this makes it the first Sneaker Pimps album to share vocals (with the exception of back-ups from Joe Wilson, Sue Denim and Zoe Durrant on previous works). As usual, like the classic Sneaker Pimps team credit, Ian Pickering was also re-acquired for work on lyrics, but Joe Wilson and Dave Westlake were not on board (with the exception of Dave for occasional remixes), referencing back to the early 'Becoming X' days. The album started to receive attention from music critics quite slow, possibly due to its indie-release, but it soon picked up and garnered a mixed reception; from magazines and fans alike. Upon release, it was pressed onto LP and CD. The LP editions were a 2-LP standard black vinyl edition, a 2-LP clear vinyl edition, a 2-LP clear green vinyl edition and a 2-LP yellow vinyl edition.
Standard CD Edition:
01: Fighter
02: Child In The Dark
03: Alibis
04: So Far Gone
05: Immaculate Hearts
06: No Show
07: The Tranquillity Trap
08: S.O.S.
09: Stripes
10: The Paper Room
11: Black Rain
12: Love Me Stupid
13: Lifeline
14: Pink Noise
15: Come Like The Cure
16: Squaring The Circle
2LP Edition:
A1: Fighter
A2: Child In The Dark
A3: Alibis
A4: So Far Gone
B1: Immaculate Hearts
B2: No Show
B3: The Tranquillity Trap
B4: S.O.S.
C1: Stripes
C2: The Paper Room
C3: Black Rain
C4: Love Me Stupid
D1: Lifeline
D2: Pink Noise
D3: Come Like The Cure
D4: Squaring The Circle
Samples:
None. This is the first Sneaker Pimps album to have no sampled material.
The Personnel:
Simonne Jones: Vocals, keyboards and programming
Chris Corner: Vocals, guitars, keyboards, programming and lyrics
Liam Howe: Keyboards, programming backing-vocals and lyrics
Janine Gezang: Backing-vocals and keyboards
Cathy Davey: Backing-vocals
Ian Pickering: Lyrics
Singles Released:
The Collection: