Strong Rumours! Fleetwood Mac Inspired New Songs From The Ting Tings – Every record tells a story
News: Three new songs by The Ting Tings are available now on streaming services.
Other news: These songs are completely different to what you may think The Ting Tings would sound like in 2025.
The band’s Instagram page tells their story better than I can.
“Overnight” success took five years of struggle, but when it came in 2008, with hit single “That’s Not My Name” it came in a indie-pop-punk style. That tale of casual sexism remains a floor filler, with 125 million streams on Spotify, which must have given the band literally, oh, dozens of pounds in income, or maybe even more.
But that was seventeen years ago.
If you’d had a child the day that song came out, they’d have failed their GCSEs by now.
Having vowed never to make the same record twice, the band stayed independent, settled in Ibiza and have now recorded their fifth LP, where the peaceful vibes of (part of) the island have inspired them to produce music in a style which evokes Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, Steely Dan and CS&N comparisons.
You can listen to three of those songs on streaming services, but I was fortunate to have heard two more jaw-dropping songs played live on Tuesday night, at an intimate show the band advertised on Instagram at Gibson’s Garage, an upmarket guitar shop in Soho.
Now a six piece band (and nine-piece two night’s previously at a sold-out Bush Hall), the new songs are quite extraordinary. The style is immediately appealing. Honeyed vocals, incredible three part harmonies in that classic Crosby Stills and Nash style, clean finger-picked guitar licks that make you wonder if Mark Knopfler or an Eagle or two is lurking backstage, and the songs! It’s the follow up to Rumours we all wanted, the one Fleetwood Mac never made.
Even their old songs are played in the new style. It seems audacious to play old hits like “Shut Up and Let Me Go” and “Great DJ” in this West Coast style but it really works.
I’m not even a huge fan of late seventies soft rock…yet those old songs can’t help but enter the subconscious and I found myself beaming at the familiarity of entirely unfamiliar songs and at their gorgeous layered harmonies and melodies.
The new album out comes out in June this year, and is available for pre-order now.
Rest assured I did not have the Ting Tings on my 2025 Bingo card as “album of the year” but the new album (which I have had a sneak preview of) is a strong contender.
Have a listen yourself. Forget what you know about The Ting Tings. That ability to write a memorable tune has not left them, and this is an album that deserves huge success.
And should they announce some concerts, I wouldn’t hesitate to hear those gorgeous harmonies live: they will put a smile on your face a mile wide.
