The Durutti Column - Renascent

This week’s PBS Feature Album is Renascent, the long-awaited release and return from legendary Manchester outfit The Durutti Column.

Intricate yet unflashy, melancholic yet quietly ecstatic, The Durutti Column have always sounded ​​indelibly, like themselves. Across five decades they have moved fluidly between indie chamber music, modern classical suites, sampledelia, dance experimentation, and flamenco-tinged pop, while remaining unmistakably cornerstone by Vini Reilly’s delicate, expressive guitar voice. Now, 46 years after their debut and 16 after their last album, The Durutti Column (a trio of Vini with longstanding drummer/percussionist Bruce Mitchell and producer/instrumentalist Keir Stewart) return with Renascent, a new album that both honours their past and reaffirms their enduring creative vitality.

Musically, Renascent exists in a dialogue between past and present. Tracks such as ‘Time Present and Time Past’ evoke a cyclical sense of motion: forward-looking yet reflective. Reilly’s improvisational approach remains central: spontaneous, intuitive, and resistant to formal constraints. ‘Every single piece of music writes itself’, he notes, and the album’s recordings preserve that immediacy. Pieces like ‘Vapour in a Matchbox’ exemplify this ethos, transforming fleeting inspiration into compositions of lasting emotional depth.

Tune in all this week to hear tracks from Renascent. PBS Members have the chance to win a digital and cassette copy of the album - simply email your name and membership number to  before midnight Sunday August 9.

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TOP TRACKS WE'RE LOVING THIS WEEK

Ella Thompson - 'Dandelion'

The Seven Ups - 'Theme for an Unexpected Outcome'

Wadada Leo Smith - 'Meditation on Love'

Robbie Avenaim - 'Tell Me Everything' (excerpt)

Mabel - 'Hummingbird'

K-LONE - 'Hold Up'

Soul Wun - 'Beautiful Noise In My Head'

Flamingo Pier - 'Cool Nights'

Grace Mitchell - 'Baseball Hat'

Babyccino - 'Green Jacket'