Today, Simple Minds announce details of their brand new studio album, ‘Sacrosanct’, to be released on 29th January 2027 on BMG.
In the four years since 2022’s top 5 album ‘Direction Of The Heart’, the band have been busier than ever, releasing a critically acclaimed career spanning documentary, publishing a joint memoir (Uncut magazine and Rough Trade’s ‘Books of The Year’), and delivering live shows across the world, that have seen them continually lauded as one of the greatest bands of their generation.
Last year alone they played in front of over 1.5m people and some of their biggest audiences since 1985, on their hugely successful Global Tour. It was during this remarkable period, on a high from touring, they began to craft and record their new album.
Their North American leg in 2025, inspired Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill to draw on their art rock and new wave roots, after witnessing fans in cities they’d never played before react ecstatically to early songs such as ‘Sons And Fascination’. This atmosphere prevails throughout ‘Sacrosanct’, and its eight brilliantly crafted songs that have both a simplicity and an ethereal directness to them.
The album finds the lifelong collaborators on supremely confident form, on one of their most vital albums in decades; one which recaptures the magic and majesty at the very heart of Simple Minds.
‘Beginner Boys’, the first song to be released from the album, is inspired by Kerr watching his twin grandsons grow up and thinking about what it means to raise a good man today — “how strength, tenderness, courage, and gentleness might still belong together, even when the wider culture around them can send mixed signals. It’s less a statement than a question I hope they’ll spend their lives answering for themselves.” Featuring an outstanding, restrained vocal from Kerr, and the unmistakeable shimmering guitar of Burchill, the song belies an infectious euphoria.
The Magazine-inspired opening song, ‘Elysium’ – named after the paradise of Greek myth reserved for those who lived well or fought hard – is the natural counterpoint to the album’s ‘King Of The Underworld’, inspired by the figure Mephistopheles and about whoever, or whatever, rules over our appetites – to the life-affirming ‘Jerusalem (State Of Mind)’, influenced by William Blake’s dream of a Jerusalem that was less a city, and much more a longing for a better world.
‘Our Secrets Are The Same’ directly explores the lifelong bond between Kerr and Burchill, a song about a remarkable friendship; two eight-year-olds, who met on a Glasgow street, and are still finishing each other’s sentences fifty-odd years on. The most ‘pop’ moment on the album arrives in the form of ‘Songs’, a celebration of the power of songs to lift you on good days, and pull you out of depression on harder ones when little else can.
‘Sacrosanct’s two closing songs, ‘Alive In This Moment’ and ‘The Next Right Thing’, deal with nostalgia from differing perspectives. The former, with a trademark, uplifting Burchillian guitar intro, is about resisting the urge to reach back and, instead, to remain present, while the latter’s elegiac beauty focuses on the passing of time and the loss of those we love.
Regarding the choice of album title, Kerr said: “We called the album ‘Sacrosanct’ because after a lifetime of doing this — nearly fifty years of writing songs together — it’s stopped feeling like a career and started feeling like something closer to faith. Calling the record ‘Sacrosanct’ isn’t an exaggeration. It’s just honest.”
‘Sacrosanct’ is an artistic triumph and the third, alongside ‘Walk Between Worlds’ and ‘Direction Of The Heart’, in an emphatic trilogy.
“Making records and performing live is as much part of our lives now as when we started out. We feel grateful to those who support new music from Simple Minds and look forward to seeing you all on our upcoming world tour.” (Jim Kerr)
‘Sacrosanct’ album tracklist:
‘Elysium’
‘King Of The Underworld’
‘Beginner Boys’
‘Jerusalem (State Of Mind)’
‘Our Secrets Are The Same’
‘Songs’
‘Alive In This Moment’
‘The Next Right Thing’
The metalwork on the album artwork comes from a collaboration between Simple Minds and Glasgow-born sculptor Andy Scott, who has reimagined the band’s logo in steel (see photo below). Scott was awarded an OBE in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours for services to sculpture and fine art.
A lifelong fan who first saw the band at Glasgow’s Tiffany’s in 1982, Scott builds his large-scale outdoor works using a distinctive welded assembly technique, composing each form from thousands of hand-cut steel sections. He is best known for The Kelpies, the pair of 30-metre horse heads at Falkirk — the largest equine sculptures in the world.
The release of ‘Sacrosanct’ coincides with Simple Minds embarking on their biggest arena tour to date, which will begin early February in Australia and New Zealand, before heading to Europe and the UK in April and May.
Demand to see the band perform has grown exponentially over the last few years, with them being consistently recognised as one of the best live outfits of their generation. The Guardian said, “they’re back in arenas, with a retooled seven-piece line-up. Decades-old songs arrive waxed and polished, while more recent tracks have a contemporary shimmer.”
The Simple Minds V Tour 2027 promises a panoramic live music experience, an all-encompassing celebration of music across 5 decades from a band who have not only managed to remain relevant to each new generation, but continue to shape and perform with the same energy that has defined their career.
UK & Irish tour dates with very special guest Gary Numan:
06/05 – O2 ARENA – LONDON
07/05 – CO-OP LIVE ARENA – MANCHESTER
08/05 – UTILITA ARENA – BIRMINGHAM
10/05 – MOTORPOINT ARENA – NOTTINGHAM
11/05 – FIRST DIRECT ARENA – LEEDS
13/05 – UTILITA ARENA – NEWCASTLE
14/05 – OVO HYDRO – GLASGOW
17/05 – 3ARENA – DUBLIN
PRE-ORDER the new album ‘Sacrosanct’ by Tuesday 8th September to access the UK pre-sale. Tickets go on general sale on 11th September.
Prior to kicking off the 2027 V tour in Australia, on September 13th the band will headline the Sunday night of BBC Radio 2’s In The Park, this year being held at City Park, Stirling, Scotland. Tickets on sale now available HERE.
