top of page

 

Squaring The Circle (2021)

The Fourth Album...

 

Sneaker Pimps Squaring The Circle 2.jpg

 

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:

2021b.jpg

 

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:

 

Sneaker Pimps Fighter
Sneaker Pimps Fighter AMP Remix.jpg
Sneaker Pimps Squaring The Circle Single.jpg
Sneaker Pimps Alibis.jpg

 

The Collection:

 

bottom of page