- 2025-09-03
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MUSIC
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Ash Releases Two New Songs “Which One Do You Want?” & “Fun People” featuring Graham Coxon
Northern Irish rock band Ash, consisting of Tim Wheeler (vocals/guitar), Mark Hamilton (bass) and Rick McMurray (drums), released two new songs “Which One Do You Want?” and “Fun People” as a double A-side single on September 1, 2025.
Two songs will appear on their upcoming ninth studio album “Ad Astra”, which is set to be released on October 3, 2025.
On “Fun People”, the band teamed up with British rock band Blur's guitarist Graham Coxon. The song received its first play during BBC Radio 6 Music with Steve Lamacq.
Both songs were written and produced by Tim Wheeler. The accompanying music video for “Which One Do You Want?” was directed by Anthony Neale.
The band drummer Rick McMurray said of “Which One Do You Want?”, “‘Which One Do You Want?’ dates back to the New York days, making it the oldest song on the album by far. So what’s the deal; why has it taken so long to find a home? Listening to it in isolation, it’s the perfect pop song. It swoops, it soars, it sings of desire. But it didn’t fit with the last record, and it didn’t fit with what we thought at the time was the next record. I wouldn’t say it’s the reason why we paused for thought and decided to make a different record to the one we started out to make, but I reckon with hindsight, it could be seen as the hinge around which every album we release this decade rotates.”- He continued, “It’s guitar pop for sure but it’s utterly unlike the guitar pop we’ve been known for, and it might just be a marker in the sand for where we’re going in the second half of the ’20s. Is that a lot of pressure for one song to bear? Maybe, but it straddles the two sides of this band we’ve been grappling with over the last decade and holds the past and future effortlessly in its orbit.”
He said of “Fun People”, “It’s been a while since Tim came to us with the most bonkers riff and declared it to be a pop song but I’m very happy he did. Polyrhythmic chromatic riffs might be more the sort of thing you’d associate with Devo but somehow he’s managed to marry it with massive hooks. Big barbed hooks that sink their claws into the Fun People that magically appear in everyday life to make it hell. This ain’t your average Ash track. And what better way to underline that than to get guitar wizard Graham Coxon seething all over it? His unique sensibilities lend themselves so well to the angular er, angles of this song, as do his vocals. Sing along or scream along as the case may be with some fun people like YOOOOUUUUU!!!” -
The new album comprises 12 tracks, featuring a guest appearance from Graham Coxon, produced by Tim Wheeler.
It is their first album in two years since the 2023 album “Race the Night”.
Rick McMurray said of the album, “The title Ad Astra, the worst kept secret of the last month, points to ideas that became a big identifier back in 1995, but they're updated with 30 years life experience. I'll leave you to compare the differences, and with the thought that while the optimistic innocence of 1995 might have been tempered with 30 years of experience, if you look to the stars you might still feel a glimmer. Of hope.”
Photo by Andy Willsher - source : BBC Radio 6
