The Stranglers Announce New Album 'Giants'

It’s 2012 and the Stranglers return with their eagerly awaited new studio album, ‘Giants’. Out March 5, the release will coincide with an extensive European tour, kicking off with eighteen dates in the UK commencing 1st March at Leeds 02 Academy. 35 years on from the release of their debut, Rattus Norvegicus, ‘Giants’ is the Stranglers’ seventeenth album and, just as the latter day successes of the group’s last two titles, ‘Norfolk Coast’ (2004) and ‘Suite XVI’ (2006), this more recent return to the studio has once again produced another collection of sterling Stranglers tracks. Quirky and diverse, the music presented on ‘Giants’ avoids the formulaic and the stale: for the first time since 1980, there is an instrumental and the group, better known for their waltzes, also reveal their take on another dance form, the tango! As always strong melodies and unusual time signatures are high on the agenda, all underpinned by those trademark Stranglers bass lines and keyboard runs. Lead vocals are shared between JJ Burnel and Baz Warne. It’s a few years since the last album release but the Stranglers have been keeping extremely busy on the live circuit, with constant global touring commitments and high demand from the major festivals, including appearances at Glastonbury, T in the Park, V Festivals, Hyde Park and Isle of Wight in the UK and their counterparts across Europe and beyond.