Blondie to release John Congleton-produced new album in 2025

nme.com

By Tom Skinner – 20th December 2024

Blondie are set to release a brand-new album in 2025, produced by John Congleton.

The Debbie Harry-fronted band shared their 11th and most recent studio record, ‘Pollinator’, back in 2017.

It was produced by the Grammy-winning Congleton (St. Vincent, Phoebe Bridgers, The War On Drugs), with the likes of Charli XCX, Johnny Marr, Dev Hynes and The Strokes‘ Nick Valensi credited as co-writers.

Now, it has been confirmed by Blondie co-founder and guitarist Chris Stein that the NYC group have worked with Congleton once again on their forthcoming 12th LP. Stein had previously told fans to expect a new album at some point next year.

Taking to his Bluesky account earlier this week, the musician posted a black-and-white photograph of Congleton relaxing in a chair with his feet up on a mixing desk. The behind-the-scenes image also shows Harry standing behind him, in front of a large monitor and speaker.

“With John Congleton,” Stein captioned the picture. “New Blondie record next year.” Check out the post here:

With John Congleton. New Blondie record next year

[image or embed]

— Cʜʀɪs Sᴛᴇɪɴ (@chrisstein.bsky.social) 17 December 2024 at 23:41

‘Pollinator’ went to Number Four in the UK albums chart, and featured the singles ‘Long Time’ and ‘Fun’.

In 2022, it was revealed that Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock would be contributing to Blondie’s next album. He has also been performing as part of the band’s live shows in recent years, including their set at Glastonbury 2023.

Speaking to NME last month about the ‘Pollinator’ follow-up, Matlock gave an update on where the project was at when he recorded his parts. “It was sounding good. It was all kind of heavy, a bit atonal,” he explained.

“Some of the other guys in the band are younger than me and they try and be a bit more modern. I just think you should get the song across. But I’ve not heard the finished thing with Debbie [Harry]’s vocals and stuff. It’s gonna be exciting listening to it.”

When asked when fans could expect to hear the record, he responded: “I think it’s gonna be early in the new year, but I don’t wanna say too much because I’m just the bass player in Blondie and I’m not 100 per cent sure.”

Harry told NME in 2021 that Blondie were “in the process of setting up a period of time to lay down some tracks” for another record. “We’re already looking at 10-12 songs, but it feels too early to talk about it,” she said at the time.

The singer also told us that Blondie’s 12th album would be more band-focused, rather than collaborative like its predecessor (save for perhaps another tune by Johnny Marr, Harry previously informed NME).

Over the summer, Harry revealed that she would like to collaborate with Johnny Depp in the future.

https://www.nme.com/news/music/blondie-to-release-john-congleton-produced-new-album-in-2025-3824047