Today was a big day for Massive Attack fans with news of an upcoming EP and a first listen of the title track. The EP’s called Splitting the Atom and features four tracks. First up is “Splitting the Atom” with vocals from 3D, Daddy G and Horace Andy. This track was given two plays on today’s Zane Lowe show. You might be able to listen to it here; I can’t from the US but I presume at least UK folks can. Strangely, US listeners can hear the full two hour show here, just click on the 25th show and skip ahead to the 30 minute mark. It’s a pretty hot track, with a lazy, sinister atmosphere. The other tracks set for the EP are “Pray for Rain” featuring Tunde Adebimpe, “Psyche” featuring Martina Topley-Bird and “Bulletproof Love” featuring Guy Garvey. The latter two are remixes of songs that should be appearing on the full album. MA.IE confirmed all this, along with finding out that Splitting the Atom will drop on October 5th in CD, vinyl and MP3s. That’s for the UK, one hopes it arrives the day after for the US.
The art I posted above is what MA.IE says will accompany Splitting the Atom. It’s obviously a work by Robert “3D” Del Naja but it strikes me as odd to use it for a Massive Attack record when it’s extremely similar to the artwork he’s done for the recent UNKLE albums.
The untitled fifth LP remains scheduled for February and now that an EP is arriving, it’s finally looking somewhat definite. The wait has been almost as excruciating as for Portishead’s Third, but if Massive Attack can bring the goods like they did, we’re in for a treat. For now, we’ve got one new track today and three more coming in a few weeks!
