In 2023, Bristol-based trip-hop pioneers and conscience holdouts Massive Attack posted a pointed observation on social media in response to the rise of AI-generated music: “Is the discussion ‘should AI recreate music?’ or is the discussion ‘Why is contemporary music so homogenised & formulaic that it’s really easy to copy?’.
It’s a fair question. Since the early 2000s, popular music has gravitated toward solo creators: bedroom producers turned social media sensations, now headlining festivals as one-person acts. Group experimentation and collaborative jamming have largely been relegated to hobbyists and legacy bands, of which, to be fair, there are still plenty.
That’s part of what makes ‘Crooked Wing’, the fifth album from Essex brothers Jack and George Barnett of These New Puritans, so compelling.
It’s a self-funded project that leans more into the lineage of Steve Reich or even Benjamin Britten than the band’s previous electronic-leaning efforts.
The album features an eclectic mix of collaborators, including movie star Alexander Skarsgård, 10-year-old choirboy Alex Miller, and art-pop auteur Caroline Polachek. The result is a versatile record; ambitious in scope, if occasionally weighed down by its own solemnity.
The Polachek collab, Industrial Love Song, offers this in microcosm. Described by Jack Barnett as a “duet between two cranes on a building site,” the track is engineered to soar. Instead, it lands somewhere closer to a late-period Peter Gabriel album cut — atmospheric and poetic, but ultimately more intriguing than affecting.
That, regrettably, sums up much of ‘Crooked Wing’. It’s a record made with the right intentions and a clear artistic vision. At times it connects — particularly on the stirring title track — but too often it falls short of its lofty ambitions. A frustrating listen.
These New Puritans Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Thu June 12 2025 - LONDON EartH (Theatre)
Thu November 06 2025 - LIVERPOOL District
Fri November 07 2025 - MANCHESTER White Hotel
Mon November 10 2025 - DUBLIN Workmans Club
Wed November 12 2025 - LONDON Village Underground
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