Curious Ruminant will be available on multiple formats in March
Jethro Tull will release Curious Ruminant on March 7th. The project marks the band’s 24th studio record and follows two consecutive albums in 2022 and 2023. Consisting of nine new tracks varying in length from two and half minutes to almost 17 minutes, this is an album of mostly full-band music. Amongst the musicians featured are former keyboardist Andrew Giddings and drummer James Duncan, along with the current band members David Goodier, John O’Hara, Scott Hammond and, making his recording debut with the band, guitarist Jack Clark.
To coincide with this announcement, the album’s title track has been launched digitally, alongside a video by Costin Chioreanu, who previously created the band’s video for “Ginnungagap” from RökFlöte.
Curious Ruminant will be available in several formats, including a Ltd Deluxe Ultra Clear 180-gram 2 LP + 2 CD + Blu-ray Artbook & Ltd Deluxe 2 CD+Blu-ray Artbook. Both feature the main album, alternative stereo mixes & a Blu-ray containing Dolby Atmos & 5.1 Surround Sound (once again undertaken by Bruce Soord of The Pineapple Thief), and exclusive interview material. The Ltd Deluxe vinyl artbook also includes two exclusive art prints. The album will also be available as a Special Edition CD Digipak, Gatefold 180g LP + LP-booklet & as a Digital Album (in both stereo & Dolby Atmos).
Ian Anderson had been saying for months following the release of RökFlöte that he would embark on a new project in late 2023. He waited only a few weeks before the first notions began to solidify into some drafted words of intent and in May 2024, some unfinished music recorded earlier with John O’Hara, David Goodier and James Duncan became the starting point for the new songs as they took shape.
Writing the lyrics and melodies for all the newly written material came very quickly once he began in earnest during June and just seemed to slot right in to the musical feel and styles of the earlier recordings.
Anderson’s writing here is often on a more personal level of lyric content than we are used to hearing. Interspersed with his usual observational descriptions are the slightly more heart-on-sleeve moments of soul-baring – albeit not on the topics more often paraded by the usual I-me lyric merchants of pop and rock.
Some of the songs are developed from unfinished instrumental demos made some years ago although this does not result in a huge stylistic divide to jump out at the listener. Apart from the signature flute solos and melodies, accordion, mandolin, acoustic and tenor guitars feature on several tracks too, so the subtle backdrop of acoustic and folk rock reminds of the Tull heritage of the 70s.
1. Puppet And The Puppet Master 04:04
2. Curious Ruminant 06:00
3. Dunsinane Hill 04:17
4. The Tipu House 03:31
5. Savannah of Paddington Green 03:13
6. Stygian Hand 04:16
7. Over Jerusalem 05:55
8. Drink From The Same Well 16:42
9. Interim Sleep 02:33
