More than four decades after they first rewired the sound of the North West, Inspiral Carpets are stepping back into the light with Burn Like The Sun, their first studio album in 12 years, arriving 29 January 2027 via Scruff of the Neck Records. It’s a record shaped not by nostalgia, but by survival, renewal and the stubborn creative spark that’s kept the band moving through triumph, tragedy and cultural shifts that would have flattened lesser groups.

The album’s reveal came with a surprise: a specially narrated announcement video voiced by Professor Brian Cox, a figure whose connection to the band runs deeper than a celebrity cameo. Cox and the Inspirals emerged from the same Oldham orbit in the late ’80s, sharing rehearsal rooms, local stages and a fascination with the Apollo era that seeped into the band’s DNA.

Inspiral Carpets’ 1994 single ‘Saturn 5’ has long been a personal touchstone for Cox and his family, and the band’s relationship with the space community famously led NASA to invite them to film the track’s video at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Three decades later, Cox’s voice re‑enters the Inspirals’ universe, a neat, emotional loop in a story already rich with cosmic symbolism.

The first single, ‘Drag The Bag’, produced by Jagz Kooner (Primal Scream, Oasis, Kasabian), landed last week and immediately felt like a statement of intent. It’s urgent, melodic and unmistakably Inspiral Carpets, but with a modern edge that avoids the trap of retromania. It’s the sound of a band who know exactly who they are, but refuse to be frozen in time.

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Recorded at Blueprint Studios in Manchester, Burn Like The Sun arrives 43 years into the band’s story, a point where most acts either coast on legacy or quietly fade out. Instead, Inspiral Carpets have made a record that confronts the past without being defined by it.

The death of drummer Craig Gill in 2016 cast a long shadow over the band’s future. The years that followed were marked by grief, uncertainty and long stretches where it wasn’t clear whether Inspiral Carpets would ever make another album. When writing finally resumed, it wasn’t out of obligation, it was out of necessity.

The result is a collection shaped by endurance, connection and the desire to keep moving. Themes of truth, responsibility, grief, love, hope and perseverance run through the songs, anchored by the album’s title, a phrase that became the project’s guiding identity early on. Light, darkness, distance, rebirth: Burn Like The Sun is an album about continuing the journey, not returning to a previous moment.

The band’s partnership with Scruff of the Neck Records, announced onstage at their sold‑out Manchester Albert Hall show in 2025, feels like a passing of the torch between generations of the city’s independent spirit. Built in Manchester, recorded in Manchester, released by a Manchester label, the album is a reminder of the city’s enduring culture of reinvention.

Inspiral Carpets have outlasted scenes, eras, trends and expectations. They’ve been through the highs of the Madchester explosion, the quiet years, the reunions, the heartbreaks and the rebuilds. What makes Burn Like The Sun remarkable is that it doesn’t lean on any of that. It stands on its own, cohesive, vital, purposeful.

Inspiral Carpets are still here. Still evolving. Still burning.

Headline Shows
June
26th - The Live Rooms, CHESTER
27th - The Buttermarket, SHREWSBURY
28th - The Sugarmill, STOKE-ON-TRENT

July

2nd - Kidderminster Town Hall, KIDDERMINSTER
3rd - O2 Academy Oxford, OXFORD
5th - Tunbridge Wells Forum, TUNBRIDGE WELLS
23rd - The Piper, SAINT LEONARDS

August

21st - PJ Molloys, DUNFERMLINE
23rd - Tunnels, ABERDEEN
28th - Picturedrome, HOLMFIRTH

September

4th - Kanteena, LANCASTER
25th - Neuadd Ogwen, BETHESDA

Co-Headline Tour (with The Wonder Stuff)

October

1st - O2 City Hall, NEWCASTLE
2nd - O2 Victoria Warehouse, MANCHESTER
3rd - Octagon Centre, SHEFFIELD
8th - Brighton Dome, BRIGHTON
9th - O2 Academy, BOURNEMOUTH
10th - Dreamland, MARGATE
14th - Barrowland Ballroom, GLASGOW
15th - Great Hall, Cardiff Uni Students Union, CARDIFF
16th - O2 Academy, LEEDS
17th - O2 Academy, LEICESTER
22nd - Scarborough Spa, SCARBOROUGH
23rd - O2 Academy, BRISTOL
24th - University of East Anglia (LCR), NORWICH
29th - The Engine Shed, LINCOLN
30th - Wolverhampton Civic Hall, WOLVERHAMPTON
31st - Liverpool Olympia, LIVERPOOL

December

8th - O2 Academy Brixton, LONDON

Support Shows

November

14th - Winter Gardens (Olympia), BLACKPOOL (Supporting Happy Mondays)

Festival Appearances

July

4th - Guilfest, GUILDFORD
24th–26th - Blue Reef Festival, LINTON
25th - Tramlines Festival, SHEFFIELD

August

22nd - Rockore Festival, FIFE
29th - Camper Calling Festival, ALCESTER

September

5th - Musicfest Mainstage, UDDINGSTON

November

13th–15th - Shiiine On Weekender, MINEHEAD

Burn Like The Sun Tracklisting
1. Burn Like The Sun
2. Drag The Bag
3. Touching From A Distance Too Far
4. Meeting On The Hill
5. Truth Hurts
6. Wolf At The Door
7. Sacrifice
8. Contact
9. There's A Better Way
10. Us Alone
11. By Your Side