"Buzzing fuzz guitar lines emerge from a delicate acoustic introduction to intersect with the crashing chords and the ‘bulbous pulsing’ rhythm section" ~ Record Collector Magazine

"Raw and edgy sound with guiding and invigorating sense of melody" ~ The Spill Magazine

“Unmistakeable sound a winning formula” ~ The Big Takeover

“A triumph of industry, imagination and talent, coolly novel and damned addictive” ~ Louder Than War

‘Unique and other worldly” ~ Vive Le Rock

“A form of Art-Pop that is wry, incisive, yet a deeply listenable examination of post industrial culture” ~ Rock At Night

"A riotous maelstrom of musical mayhem” ~ The Manc Review

'A Cornucopia: Minerva' CD & vinyl order https://bigstirrecords. bandcamp.com/album/a- cornucopia-minerva
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/track/5fgADipIGJylWUvTbAMdbg

Manchester indie rock psychonauts The Speed Of Sound has released their new album 'A Cornucopia: Minerva', marking their 35th anniversary as power-pop psychnauts. Issued via Big Stir Records, this is the first record of the three-album set 'A Cornucopia: Minerva, Victory, Bounty'

Full of ambition, energy, and eccentric melodic brilliance, they also present the video for 'The Great Acceleration', following up the album's lead track 'West Wind'.

While these albums will see digital editions over the next year, the Vinyl and CD versions are 3-disc sets carrying the umbrella title 'A Cornucopia'. Released as deluxe editions, each set includes two full-length bonus albums 'Victory' and 'Bounty'. But it all begins with 'Minerva'.

With this triple offering of sonic goodness, The Speed Of Sound returns triumphant, defiant and redemptive, following up 2021's critically acclaimed album 'Museum Of Tomorrow'. Named for the goddess associated with wisdom, the arts and strategic warfare, this album explores themes of resistance to mainstream cultural dominance, championing individual identity and artistic creativity whilst being a vigorous musical celebration of subcultural existence in the face of predominantly bland pop culture.

The Speed of Sound is made up of father and son John Armstrong (guitars and vocals) and Henry Armstrong (keyboards), Ann-Marie Crowley (vocals and guitar), Kevin Roache (bass guitar) and John Broadhurst (drums).

'Minerva' presents 14 fresh and variegated tracks, each one a burst of differently-hued radio friendly sonic technicolor. These new pieces range from the recklessly fast Bo Diddley rhythm successfully merged with a Wagnerian horn section of lead single 'West Wind' to the haunting and spacious ballad critiquing Economic Theory that is 'Trickledown' to the stripped back mediaeval folk-tinged starkness of 'The Harvest' to the stratospheric vastness of 'The Great Acceleration'.

The album passes seamlessly through the acoustic guitar-driven groove of 'SS-100-X',the spacious iridescence of 'Eight Fourteen Monday', the lively ascendence of 'The Party Sniper', the glowing radioactivity metaphor of 'Half Life' to the bright uplifting dementia and identity-loss focused 'Mind Palace'. While the bouncing vibe of 'Bodysnatchers' reminds us to stay awake and not slip into the drabness of normalcy, the crunching melodic punch of 'Clickbait' zings into the typewriter introduction of 'Yet Another Tuesday', onwards to the punkifed rhythm and blues of 'So Faux' and the closing acoustic riot of 'Question Time'.

With their inbuilt eclectic and genre-defying style, The Speed Of Sound expand from their base-camp foundation of multiple 1960s, punk and new wave influences, encompassing wide dynamic and stylistic variation, crossing borders and pushing boundaries at every opportunity while retaining continuity. The music bursts with experimentation whilst retaining hooks and melodic sensibility, plus the sharp barbed wit, lyrical depth and all-pervading sense of joy that form the irrepressible, uplifting hallmarks of this band.

Throughout their 35-year history, The Speed Of Sound have continuously produced music laced with optimism and lyrical bite, tapping the DIY ethos of punk and the restless lust for experimentation of psychedelia. Formed in 1989 with a pre-history dating back to the day Andy Warhol died in 1987, their music has always been idiosyncratic, counter-intuitive and perpetually looking for something new.

'Minerva' is out now, available in both formats from Big Stir Records via Bandcamp. Even better - dive into the jam-packed triple LP and CD editions of 'A Cornucopia'.