In a move that once might have seemed unthinkable, New Order — a flagship act of the iconic Factory Records imprint — has signed to the equally legendary Mute label, long home to contemporaries Depeche Mode and Erasure, as the group continues to work on its first album without founding bassist Peter Hook.
In a statement released Tuesday, Mute founder Daniel Miller says:
“This is an exciting new chapter for both Mute and New Order and I feel privileged to be working with artists with such a long, creative and successful history. When the possibility of us working together first came up, I was invited to hear some of the new material and immediately had no doubts whatsoever that Mute would be the right home for New Order. We’ve already had a number of creative conversations, and I am looking towards an exciting future.”
New Order released the following statement:
“New Order are delighted to be signing to Mute. We couldn’t imagine a better place to be than working with Daniel Miller and his team. Mute has a superb roster of artists and a history that complements our own. In many ways joining the label feels like we are coming home, returning to our independent roots.”
According to Mute, New Order “will soon return to the studio to continue working on new material.” The band so far this year has debuted a pair of new songs in concert (“Singularity” and “Plastic”).
Mute was founded by Miller in 1978 and, in addition to Depeche Mode and Erasure, has been home to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Cabaret Voltaire, Yazoo, Fad Gadget and more. Depeche Mode, however, left the label in 2012 and signed to Columbia Records for the release of last year’s Delta Machine.
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Video: New Order debuts new song ‘Plastic’ at North American tour opener in Chicago
- Watch The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess, half of New Order jam acoustic in a church
- Watch footballer John Barnes reprise his rap from New Order’s ‘World in Motion’ 24 years later
- Here’s pro-shot video of that new New Order song — which is actually called ‘Singularity’
- Video: Iggy Pop joins New Order to cover Joy Division classics at Tibet House benefit
This great news Mute is a good label that for the most part allows bands to do their own thing. (the only exception was the second Andy Bell record) Mute will allow New Order to be New Order. Glad to hear that they are going to put out a new CD. Loved every CD they have ever put out. An NO I do not miss the attention ho Peter Hook.
I hope this means Daniel Miller will produce the next New Order record…
Please, will you just close up shop and leave? You haven’t done anything meaningful in at least 25 years.
C’mon man Get Ready has at least an EP’s worth of quality stuff on it and that was 2001. Pretty much everything after that on the other hand, NOPE!
Good news, hopefully we get something in the vein of Get Ready which an awesome release. On a side note, it would be really cool if Mute could remaster and re-release the Fad Gadget catalog, such an amazing artist who has never gotten the same catalog treatment lesser bands have. But I digress…
Good for mute AND New Order! Now crank out some Technique and Republic quality tracks…
YES!
Well, this is rather good news. Aside from the blindingly obvious (30th anniversary reunion tour-ness, etc), which was nice, it had felt like it was dragging on just a tad as-is. So, at least they will be eventually touring again with an album’s worth of proper new material. As someone who’s more an admirer or appreciator of New Order’s work rather than an absolute die-hard fanatic, some of “Get Ready” was indeed excellent. And, a few tracks off “Siren’s Call” weren’t too bad either (I thought the first six tracks would’ve made a great EP). “Lost Sirens” felt like a distinctly mixed bag though. The two new songs debuted on tour recently sound like a broader, electronic-spectrum return to form.
I find it interesting that they signed with Mute but a brand new New Order album doesn’t exactly fill me with excitement. I’ll always love their 80s output though.
Maybe i wasnt paying attention last year…i thought Depeche Mode were still with Mute albeit for Europe only..?
They are still with Mute as the parent label but distribution for DM in the US is licensed to Columbia, at least for their latest masterpiece. Rhino (which is a subsidiary of Reprise, which is a subsidiary of…etc.) handled packaging and distribution for the recent (2008) two disc remasters of their back catalog.