Manic Street Preachers on their song about Morrissey and new album ‘Critical Thinking’: “The only thing I attack on this record is myself”

nme.com:

Manic Street Preachers have spoken to NME about their song ‘Dear Stephen’, inspired by Morrissey, the road to their new album ‘Critical Thinking’, and how they’re already thinking about their next move.Released today (February 14), the Welsh rock veterans’ acclaimed 15th album was said to be born of “eternal uncertainty, doubt and desire”.

Bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire told NME how that allowed for “a different kind of record” to what you may have heard from the Manics before.“Albums are a reflection of where your mind is at – certainly in the Manics’ world,” said Wire. “Sometimes you have to let that honesty out.

I just went off myself a bit, but I always find myself to be my most dependable source of inspiration. I’m starting to lose that – but that’s different to the lyrics from James [Dean Bradfield, frontman] on the album; his three songs have more of a sense of optimism to them.”Around the release of the 2022’s ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’, Wire described the predecessor album as an “exploration of internal galaxies” that saw him “digging deeper into himself” and “on the retreat”.

The Wire-sung opening title track ‘Critical Thinking’ – described by NME as “a snarky diatribe spitting back at the false empathy in social media’s conveyor belt of empty platitudes” – appears to see him on the attack once more.“The only thing I attack on this record is myself,” he told NME about ‘Critical Thinking’. “The moral judgement on this album is very much the mirror, maybe with the exception of ‘People Ruin Paintings’ which is a bit broader. ‘Critical Thinking’ the title track conveys a different kind of lyrical nastiness and is very much a warning to the self: the idea that the train is as important a muscle as any other.