On the heels of their just-released Planet England EP, master songwriters Andy Partridge of XTC and Robyn Hitchcock are back at work on new music, according to a post by Hitchcock on Instagram, and are hoping this project won’t take a dozen years like the last one.
Hitchcock writes:
“Andy Partridge and I are knocked out with listener response to our PLANET ENGLAND EP. Thanks, everybody! Here we are yesterday in his shed in Swindon, working on a follow-up. Our first record took 12 years, so we’re hoping to fast-track this one to be ready before we both turn 70 in 2023. If we live to complete it, this record will be our Sgt. Pepper — a psychedelic magnum opus for a dystopian landscape. Or, to avoid journalese — a cheese fondue for the slag heaps. Just sayin’. Rock on, atoms and molecules alike!”
Partridge and Hitchcock last month released the four-song Planet England EP, which they’d begun working on 13 years ago in Partridge’s shed and was completed after the two re-teamed last year to write one final song. That collection can be purchased on CD and vinyl, but has not been released digitally.
Though Hitchcock is still very much present on the touring circuit and record-release racks, Partridge — who recently stepped away from his once-active Twitter account — has been more reclusive since ending XTC more than a decade ago, though he did release a two-song single under his own name, featuring covers of song by Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd and Bonzo Dog Band, last year.
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Robyn Hitchcock and XTC’s Andy Partridge to release EP that’s 13 years in the making
- Andy Partridge is tired of being woken up by ‘wankers’ singing ‘Making Plans for Nigel’
- Watch: Robyn Hitchcock plays new songs plus ‘Madonner of the Bees’ in KEXP session
- XTC’s Andy Partridge covers Pink Floyd, Bonzo Dog Band on new 10-inch EP
- Listen: Robyn Hitchcock, ‘Mad Shelley’s Letterbox’ — second single off upcoming LP
- Watch: Showtime debuts new trailer for upcoming XTC documentary ‘This Is Pop’
