Saturday 14 November 2026
Bristol art-rockers The Blue Aeroplanes have shared a new single, ‘Going To Heaven In A Handcart’, ahead of their 14th album, Tales From The Silver Lounge. The album is out on 27 November on ArtStar Records, and the band are playing in-store shows to celebrate, including Rough Trade East in London on Tuesday 24 November. Led by Gerard Langley, the band have been making their distinctive half-spoken, half-sung rock for four decades. Here’s what you need to know.
1. A new single set in a bar at the edge of the galaxy
‘Going To Heaven In A Handcart’ is the second song from the album, after October’s single ‘Silver Lounge’. Langley explains: “Going To Heaven In A Handcart, the new Blue Aeroplanes single, is based on conversations overheard in the legendary Silver Lounge, a bar in the far corner of the galaxy. Generally, most believe that the entire universe is going to hell in a handcart, but a poet and some alternative guitarists in the corner are discussing a potential escape route…” The song comes with a video, and it sits at track two on the album.
2. An album inspired by a John Byrne painting
The title track is named after a John Byrne painting, which is also the album cover. During long stays in hospital in recent years, Langley spent time reading exhibition catalogues. Byrne’s painting of a long-closed establishment on Paisley High Street now hangs in his living room. The imagined customers of the cafe in the painting, mixed with other themes and events from the lives of the band and Langley, form the basis of most of the album. The artwork is used by kind permission of the John Byrne Estate.
3. Songs about falconry, Greek myths and abandoned Teslas
Expect a wild, guitar-driven ride, with poems covering an impressively strange range of subjects. They include people who share a name, falconry terms, Don Marquis, postcards, Greek mythology, abandoned Teslas, clocks going backwards and a meeting in God’s waiting room. There are also songs about envying the suburbs’ parties, First World War ghosts predicting new conflicts, and a factory full of dismembered dolls. The 11 tracks include ‘Soap Star’, ‘We Must Stop Meeting Like This’, ‘The Post-War Occupation Of Jealous Town’, ‘Billy McCrae’, ‘Doll Parts’ and closing track ‘Apostrophe Catastrophe Apostrophe’.
4. A tight-knit line-up, recorded in Bristol
“All the recording was done at Bristol’s Humm Studios in two intense sessions,” says Langley. The line-up has stayed almost unchanged for fourteen years. It features Gerard Langley on vocals and tambourine, Mike Youé, Bec Jevons, Rita Lynch and Ed Taylor on guitars and vocals, Chris Sharp on bass, John Langley on drums, and Wojtek Dmochowski on dance. “The almost telepathic closeness of the band members is obvious all over the album,” Langley says. “Long-time fans take note, this is as good as anything we’ve done. New fans of ‘speak/singing’ bands, start here.”
5. Catch them at Rough Trade East
The album follows two best-of compilations released by Chrysalis Records in 2025: Magical Realism: The Best Of The Blue Aeroplanes and Outsider Art: The Other Best Of The Blue Aeroplanes. Now the band are back with new music and a few live dates. London fans can see them at Rough Trade East on Tuesday 24 November, a few days before the album comes out, and tickets are available through Dice. There’s also a show at Rough Trade Bristol on Sunday 29 November. Their homecoming gig at The Fleece in Bristol on Friday 4 December has already sold out.
Tickets and info
Tales From The Silver Lounge is out Friday 27 November 2026 on ArtStar Records
Tuesday 24 November – Rough Trade East, London
Sunday 29 November – Rough Trade, Bristol
Friday 4 December – The Fleece, Bristol (sold out)