Can it really be almost 30 years since Ash thundered into our lives with their single-laden debut Number One album “1977?” Well that’s what my calendar is telling me so it must be true after all this time, does the world need a 9th proper Ash long player? Well it seems that Ash have decided that they do, and they have chosen to rip up their current playbook and go back to basics, to the formula that made them everyone’s third favourite band (seriously, do you know anyone who doesn’t like Ash?)
On ‘Which One Do You Want?‘, it turns out that Ash do jangle marvellously, it’s quite the delight, and the pop doesn’t stop there, as it rolls straight into another guitar masterclass, this time from their actual real-life Britpop-era chum Graham Coxon, on ‘Fun People’, which he sings on and shreds throughout.
Containing eleven brand new tracks, including their raucous take on surprise single and ‘Beetlejuice’ staple ‘Jump In The Line’, “Ad Astra” sees Blur guitarist Graham Coxon appear on two particularly sassy songs and catches the perennial power-pop kings in especially rocket-fuelled form.
“Ad Astra” follows hot on the heels of 2023’s “Race The Night” (the band’s highest charting album for 20 years), being released two years and one month later, and this is no coincidence. Ever the band who live for live music, Ash vowed that the fierce pandemic-induced five year chasm between [2018 album] “Islands” and “Race The Night” would never happen again.
Ash release their ninth studio album Ad Astra via Fierce Panda Records.
The Fat Angel Sings 