The Libertines announce first album in nine years, All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade

The Libertines have announced the forthcoming release of their first new album in nine years.

The “Don’t Look Back Into The Sun” rockers will bring out their new album, All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade, on 8 March 2024.

Sharing the news, singer Pete Doherty said the group “really came together” and found a “moment of rare peace” while making the record.

The album will feature 11 new songs including opener “Run Run Run”, which was released as a single on Friday (13 October).

The band – made up of Doherty, singer and guitarist Carl Barat, drummer Gary Powell and bassist John Hassall – recorded the album at the Albion Rooms in Margate. The group own the location and made the album in four weeks across their own hotel, bar and studio earlier this year.

The track listing is below:

1. “Run, Run, Run”

2. “Mustang”

3. “Have A Friend”

4. “Merry Old England”

5. “Man With The Melody”

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6. “Oh S***”

7. “Night Of The Hunter”

8. “Baron’s Claw”

9. “Shiver”

10. “Be Young”

11. “Songs They Never Play On The Radio”

Speaking on the process of making the album, Doherty said: “We really came together as a band. It was a moment of rare peace and unity, with all the members contributing.”

He added: “I feel like we’ve completed a cycle of some kind as a band, and finally now we can add these songs to the setlist, because we’ve got some bangers in there.

“Now we’ve opened the hotel and used the studio ourselves and it’s all worked out - more Libertines records? I should hope so!”

Barat, 45, said: “Our first record was born out of panic, and disbelief that we were actually allowed to be in a studio; the second was born of total strife and misery; the third was born of complexity; this one feels like we were all actually in the same place, at the same speed, and we really connected.”

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Two intimate gigs will be held by the band on 9 and 10 December at a 500-capacity lido in Margate.

The name of the alvym is a nod to the band’s hotel’s street address and their enduring love of Erich Maria Remarque’s landmark anti-war novel.

Altogether, the band have released three studio albums: Up The Bracket (2002), The Libertines (2004) and Anthems For Doomed Youth (2015).

Previously discussing the new record, the band teased that All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade would have a “different energy”.

Speaking in August, Powell said that he was focusing on “forging forward” with the band’s fourth album, but added that they weren’t going to reinvent the wheel.

“The good thing is everybody’s been writing,” Powell said. “Obviously, we’re not going to try and reinvent the wheel… but I think we can push the boat out a little more while still bringing something that has the same emotional integrity and dynamism that the audience craves when they come to a Libertines show.”