Scottish pop-rockers Texas have given fans a taste of what to expect from their upcoming tenth studio album with the release of a new single, Hi. Hi, taken from the album of the same name which is due for release on April 30th, is a stripped-back melody laden with an atmospheric, spaghetti western-esque guitar accompaniment. The are also some audible nods to the the band’s 1999 track hit Summer Son.
The new release of Hi is not the first incarnation of the hummable track to enter the public domain. In December the band released an edit of the song featuring RZA and Ghostface Killah of legendary New York hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan, who had previously worked with Texas on a remix of their biggest hit – Say What You Want – back in 1998. Texas frontwoman Sharleen Spiteri told The Guardian that the two acts, whilst seeming unlikely collaborators, had found shared ground in their upbringing. She said “RZA had been to Glasgow, and we knew Staten Island where the Wu are from. There’s a determination that comes with being from those places, a drive we shared.”
Meanwhile RZA (real name Robert Fitzgerald Diggs) spoke of his fondness for the new track, saying that Spiteri had asked him to “twist and reinvent it.” He said “…it had this vibe already, and I was in a lyrical phase, so instead I added vocal roughness this time. My verse is about the rise and fall of love. Like, Sharl sings, ‘We got high, high, high,’ and it’s about being high on love, not just drugs. But even then, there’s a comedown.”
Hi (the album) will be Texas’ first LP since 2017’s Jump On Board, which topped the Scottish Albums chart and reached sixth spot in the UK chart. Reviews for that record were broadly positive, with Albumism declaring that it provided “a sound cultivated over 27 years that has finally reached the full peak of its flavour“; adding that Jump On Board “…maps what Texas does best, a glossy-to-organic pop composite, replete with insistent melodies and imaginative arrangements, all of it powered by Sharleen Spiteri’s breathtaking voice.”
Spiteri recently featured on a BBC Alba documentary on the pressures facing women in the music industry; appearing alongside fellow Caledonian vocalists includes Annie Lennox, Amy Macdonald, KT Tunstall, Altered Images vocalist Clare Grogan and Chvrches star Lauren Mayberry. In the programme, God Save The Quine, Spiteri says “The lack of females in top bills not just in Scotland but worldwide is always a bit of a joke. There is a big boys’ club out there.” The documentary is available to view on watch on iPlayer until January 21st here.
Texas had been due to hit the road last year for a belated 30th anniversary tour for their 1989 debut Southside; a record which spawned one of their signature tunes in the country rock slammer I Don’t Want A Lover. As a result of the pandemic, the shows have now been rescheduled for May, June and September this year. The full list of gigs is as follows:
12/05/21 – Douglas, Isle of Man – Villa Marina
14/05 – Newcastle-upon-Tyne – O2 City Hall
15/05 – Harrogate – Harrogate Convention Centre
17/05 – Liverpool – Philharmonic Hall
18/05 – Cardiff – St Davids Hall
19/05 – Leicester – De Montfort Hall
21/05 – Halifax – Victoria Theatre
22/05 – Nottingham – Royal Concert Hall
24/05 – Manchester – Bridgewater Hall
25/05 – Llandudno – Venue Cymru Theatre
26/05 – Sheffield – City Hall
28/05 – Birmingham – Symphony Hall
29/05 – Hull – Bonus Arena
30/05 – Glasgow – SSE Hydro
01/06 – London – London Palladium
02/06 – Bath – Bath Forum
04/06 – Guildford – G Live
05/06 – Stoke – Victoria Hall
07/06 – Oxford – New Theatre
08/06 – Margate – Margate Winter Gardens
09/06 – Northampton – Derngate Theatre
11/06 – Bournemouth – Bournemouth International Centre
12/06 – Brighton – Brighton Centre
13/06 – Southend – Cliffs Pavilion
20/09 – Belfast – Waterfront Hall
