Everything But The Girl have a new album on the way. On October 28 Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt announced Blue Reservoir, out February 19, 2027, and shared the first single, "Young and Dumb," with an official video. Pre-orders are open now.
It is the duo's first new studio album since Fuse in 2023. In their own words, Blue Reservoir sees them lean back into some of their earliest influences and ideas.
What Blue Reservoir sounds like
The band describe the lineup in a single line: "Voices, guitars, double bass, drums and percussion. Ten new songs." The album was recorded largely live at RAK Studios in London in July, and it was inspired by the long running residency Thorn and Watt have played at the MOTH Club, a 200 capacity room in London, where they perform billed simply as Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn.
"Young and Dumb" is a short, warm song about trading wisdom for one more shot at youth. Its chorus says it plainly: "I'd give up all the wisdom to be young and dumb again." The video was directed by Edward Bishop from a treatment written by Thorn and Watt, and it is shot on the stage of the MOTH Club with Watt on acoustic guitar and Thorn at the microphone.
Formats and pre-orders
Blue Reservoir comes out on Buzzin' Fly Records. It will be available on black vinyl and translucent blue vinyl, on compact disc (CD), and on Blu-ray with Dolby Atmos mixes. The first 1,000 orders through the band's official store come with a signed card, and Rough Trade has its own limited marbled vinyl edition. Every option is linked from the official Blue Reservoir pre-order page.
Tracklist
Forward, Scala, Young And Dumb, Do What You Can, Christmas Gone, Courage Mon Brave, The Round And Round, Fork In The Road, Good Hope and The Great Unknown.
Live dates
Four new United Kingdom (UK) dates for May 2027 go on sale Friday, October 30, billed as Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn. Their remaining 2026 London shows, at Union Chapel in November and the MOTH Club in December, are already sold out.
- May 21: Union Chapel, London
- May 22: Union Chapel, London
- May 25: St George's, Bristol
- May 26: Albert Hall, Manchester
Who they are
Thorn and Watt formed Everything But The Girl in 1982 after meeting as students at Hull University, and took the name from a slogan on a furniture shop in Hull. Their first single was a stripped back cover of Cole Porter's "Night and Day" on Cherry Red. The band's own history traces Thorn's unflashy voice over Watt's jazz folk chords on that first record, and runs through to Walking Wounded from 1996 and Temperamental from 1999, both reissued this year as deluxe CD editions.
Our call
This one is Surfacing. A band that changed course so many times choosing to cut ten songs live in a room, with voices, guitars and double bass up front, is the most interesting move they could have made after Fuse. "Young and Dumb" is a gentle first look. Start there, then go back to Amplified Heart from 1994 while you wait for February.
Building a shelf for this one? See our best turntables for beginners and our gifts for vinyl collectors. For more late night British sounds from the same era, try our trip hop starter guide.
Everything But The Girl discography · Stream Young and Dumb · Young and Dumb official video · Everything But The Girl on Instagram
