Patrick Wolf Releases New Six-Track EP 'Better Or Worse'
Monday, 18 August 2025
Written by Jon Stickler
Photo: Furmaan Ahmed
Patrick Wolf has shared a new EP.
Released via Apport/Virgin Music, 'Better Or Worse' features three alternative versions of the titular track, which appears on his recent seventh studio album, 'Crying The Neck'. It also includes two new songs, the French-language Hymne Des Étrangers, and a cover of Irish folk tune She Didn't Dance.
Alongside the announcement, Wolf has shared Mejora O Empeorar from the EP, a new production and Spanish-language version of Better Or Worse. He said:
"Better or Worse is a short, but as powerful as I could write, little anthem of empowerment and healing that I began writing on my mountain dulcimer for my best friend who was going through a brutal divorce and lost her mother to cancer three years after I lost mine. The writing turned into advice from both our mothers in the end.
"All the folklore of the east Kent tradition of The Hooden Horse and its metaphor of resurrection sits as the core mythology of the song. Spanish is a language I’ve always adored listening to in music and speaking since I was a teenager when I first learnt it, I've got my own tutor now to get to the place I would love with speaking and singing. For my birthday this summer I went on an art mission to visit the work of the painter and poet Jose Moreno Villa in Malaga and “Better or Worse” was on my mind the whole journey, so much so that I began translating it slowly over my stay.
"It was also my challenge while there to make my first dance alone and sober after reaching my five year recovery birthday, but generally for many nights out I was busy making notes on and falling in love with Spanish language dance and pop music production and songwriting, so my new translation and re-production of Better or Worse ‘Mejora O Empeorar’ Is what I came home with, signed off by my tutor!"
Wolf released 'Crying The Neck', his first full-length release in 13 years, in June. It's the first in a planned four-part album series.
He'll celebrate his 2005 album 'Wind In The Wires' with a special outdoor show at the Minack Theatre in Penzance, Cornwall on September 5, following dates in Valencia and Madrid. He also has a North American tour scheduled between September 17 and November 19. Head here for details. Tickets are on sale now.
'Better Or Worse' tracklist:
1. Better Or Worse
2. Hymne D'Étranger
3. She Didn't Dance
4. Mejora O Empeora
5. Better or Worse (Instrumental)
6. Better or Worse (El Lobo remix)
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