Reunited synthpop duo Blancmange returns this week with Blanc Burn — its fourth album, and first in more than a quarter century — as well as a much-anticipated eight-date U.K. tour, although ailing co-founder Stephen Luscombe has been advised by doctors to skip the trek.
The 11-track album, the band’s first since 1985’s Believe You Me, arrives in U.K. stores Monday, and is preceded by the single “Drive Me” (watch the video below). To support the album, the group — co-founding vocalist Neil Arthur, plus Pandit Dinesh and Graham Henderson — open their U.K. tour tonight in Glasgow (see dates below).
As for Luscombe, Blancmange announced this week on its website that he has been diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurism “with complications,” a condition that has affected his mobility and will require surgery. According to the band, “Stephen is sorry (about) not being able to come out on the road.”
Arthur and Luscombe came together in the late ’70s, and made their first impression as Blancmange when the duo’s track “Sad Day” was included on the seminal Some Bizarre Album along with songs by Depeche Mode, The The and Soft Cell. After three albums in the ’80s, and their biggest hit “Living on the Ceiling,” the pair split up in 1987.
See Blancmange tour dates and ‘Blanc Burn’ tracklist after the jump…
Tracklist: Blancmange, Blanc Burn
1. “By the Bus Stop @ Woolies”
2. “Drive Me”
3. “Ultraviolent”
4. “The Western”
5. “Radio Therapy”
6. “Probably Nothing”
7. “I’m Having a Coffee”
8. “Don’t Let These Days”
9. “WDYF”
10. “Don’t Forget Your Teeth”
11. “Starfucker”
Blancmange tour dates:
March 6: O2 ABC, Glasgow, UK
March 7: Academy 2, Manchester, UK
March 8: O2 Academy 2, Sheffield, UK
March 10: O2 Academy, Liverpool, UK
March 11: O2 Academy 2, Birmingham, UK
March 12: Concorde 2, Brighton, UK
March 14: Junction 1, Cambridge, UK
March 15: Koko, London, UK
