New Year Wishes: Progress Report

Today - the 3rd of July - is the first day of the second half of 2015. The whole of next week will be dedicated to a halftime report, which means that I'll be looking back at some of my favourite songs and albums of the year so far, as well as highlighting a few records that I'm excited to hear in the latter half of 2015.

As for today's blog, well, now seems like a good time for a progress check. Back at the very, very end of 2014, I named five artists who I fervently hoped would release new albums in 2015. Those artists were:

• The Magnetic Fields
• Tindersticks
• Iron Maiden
• Tilly and the Wall
• Guillemots

So, now that half a year has elapsed...how are those new albums coming along, folks?

The Magnetic Fields

There's been no sign of a proper follow-up to 2012's Love at the Bottom of the Sea, although Stephin Merritt did play a couple of never-before-heard "micro-songs" to a small dog named Lola. That may well be it for this year, I fear.

Tindersticks

Now here's a band who are making progress! According to Tindersticks.co.uk, "the final mixes of a new Tindersticks album are being finished at Le Chien" and "things are starting to happen towards a very busy 2016 for the band". Does this mean that the new record won't be out until the new year? Or does it mean that they'll be releasing the album in late 2015, then touring it in early '16? It's not yet clear, but we can apparently expect a full announcement in September.

Iron Maiden

CONFIRMED! The Book of Souls (a double album!) will be out on the 4th of September, and it will reportedly feature the band's longest song ever.

Tilly and the Wall

Sadly, there's been scarcely a peep from camp Tilly over the last six months. Their last tweet was posted all the way back in September; their Tumblr page hasn't been updated for about two years. They've been more active on Facebook, sharing photos and videos of this and that, but nothing to suggest that we can expect a new Tilly LP any time soon :(

Guillemots

The Guillemots are still working on the follow-up to 2012's Hello Land!; the band's official channels have been all but silent recently, but I contacted frontman Fyfe Dangerfield myself and he said this: "There's all kinds of new things cooking up, but at the moment I'm not expecting anything to be out until next year." A shame, but it's good to hear that things are still happening, and that 2016 may be the year that we finally hear album number five!

So, in answer to the question, 'Will we be hearing from these bands in 2015?', we've got one 'definitely', one 'maybe', and three 'almost certainly not's. If anyone has any solid news on what the hell is going on with Tilly and the Wall, please let me know - I can't be the only one who misses those guys!