Simple Minds talk about 'calling up the ghosts of the past' on new album

28 September 2026, 11:45

Simple Minds on still making music & touring together: ‘We wanted this life so much’

By Mayer Nissim

Simple Minds open up to Gold about their new album

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Simple Minds will release their 20th studio album next year and its sound will hark back to their classic art rock/new wave roots.

The band's two ever-presents, frontman Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill, sat down with Gold to talk about the upcoming record.

  • Watch the full interview with Simple Minds' Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill above

Sacrosanct is released on January 29, 2027 the and is the follow-up to 2022's well-received Direction of the Heart, which got to number 4 in the UK albums chart.

The album has been trailed by a single 'Beginner Boys', which is available to stream now.

"It's mysterious really how some things – I've said it with fashions – how some things you feel you've grown out of," Kerr told us.

"It could be a record you hear and you think 'Oh, that's dated'. Or a photograph you've seen of of yourself you think, 'What was I thinking wearing that?'

"15 years later you're like that's great I wish I could find that again. Not that I'm missing my mullet haircut, but it'd be nice to have a choice!"

He continued: "There's still something about that period of music. You can't go back, of course you can't go back. But you can sometimes conjure up feelings - past feelings.

Simple Minds - Beginner Boys (Official Video)

"And the sweet spot, was to try and – easier said than done – was to try and and get a record that felt contemporary, but also called up the ghosts of the past. Now that's quite a challenge.

"Now don't ask us how you go about doing it but we're very confident that the new album Sacrosanct... somehow does manage to do that.

In the interview, Kerr and Burchill also spoke about attracting a cross-generation audience to their shows and their presence on the soundtrack to hit TV show Rivals..

They also revealed how they sometimes still think they may wake up from the "dream" that was their whole career.