Mike Skinner Releases Surprise New Album, ‘The Streets’
The Streets’ Mike Skinner has released a surprise new album, also called The Streets under the banner of his side project The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light.
The album was surprise released late last week, with Skinner revealing the news in an Instagram post. It’s believed the album could be the soundtrack for a forthcoming film made by Skinner, which he previously discussed in an interview with the BBC last year.
“The album is like two years old now,” Skinner told the BBC at the time. “I spent a few months with a script editor which was great and then at the end of the year I decided to kind of do it myself really, and we’ve since got different funding through the music industry, rather than the film industry.
“The film has definitely got things in common with Quadrophenia. Also, in a weird way, kind of Tommy [The Who’s rock opera] as well, because in my film it’s a musical but the songs are the voiceover.”
Skinner hasn’t yet confirmed a release date for the film, or whether this new album is fully linked with that project.
Last year, The Streets released a collaboration-heavy mixtape, None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive. The release marked Skinner’s first full-length release in nearly a decade, following 2011’s Computers And Blues.
The mixtape, which featured a different artist collaboration on each of the 12 tracks, received wide critical acclaim on release. The Guardian declared it to be “A banging return,” adding that the guest list on the album (which includes Tame Impala, Dapz on the Map, Hak Baker, and Jimothy Lacoste) “is testament to Skinner’s impact.” The Times called it “clever, funny and rooted in relatable reality,” while the NME praised that the album “isn’t just a testament to Mike Skinner’s intriguing evolution but also proof of his keen eye for curation.”