Far And Wide, the 16th album from The Pineapple Thief, comes with a few delicate changes but remains resolutely recognisable as The Pineapple Thief.
The Pineapple Thief – Far And Wide
Release Date: 9 October 2026
Words: Robert Adams
The first thing that long-time fans will notice with Far And Wide is that the band are no longer on the K Scope label, which was their home for the last 20 years.
Bruce Soord explains this change. “Our contract with K Scope finished after the It Leads To This album. We’ve been with K Scope since we started, and they were fantastic to us. We took the decision to have a look and see what else was out there. Inside Out were very interested, and we made the decision to move forward with them.
‘I have nothing but complimentary words for the incredible team at K Scope, so there’s definitely no animosity, just a natural progression.”
With Far And Wide, the band made a conscious decision to pare back the amount of guitar parts and vocal harmonies. “We realised, for instance, that you don’t need more than two guitar parts at any one time,” frontman/founder Bruce Soord says. “Why have we got four or five guitars? Why have we got six-part harmonies when there’s only three of us singing?
We deliberately created those constraints, because we thought, we’re a rock band, there’s five of us on stage, this is what we should be about in the studio.”
“You do start to imagine what a song would look like on a stage, and sometimes that does influence the arrangement,” Harrison adds. “Like, ‘his would be amazing live when we do this, if this section just went into this other thing, and you can picture it with the lights and the atmosphere on stage.”
The results of this sonic pruning have not diminished the power of the material found on Far And Wide. Indeed, it is quite the opposite.
Far And Wide utilises space as an instrument. This, in turn, creates atmosphere and Far And Wide becomes a complete statement spread across nine tracks, rather than a selection of playlist-friendly songs.
Album opener New World Order grabs the listener right from the off with a beautiful guitar riff from Soord. Couple that with a wonderful Gavin Harrison drum beat and your ears are in heaven.
Do not let Soord’s angelic voice lull you into a false sense of security, though.
There are very deep themes running throughout Far And Wide. Hold The Ashes is probably one of Bruce Soord’s most personal lyrics. Dealing with the passing of his father last year, the track darkly points to our mortality and the legacies we leave behind.
“Come on, I’ve been waiting still living, holding on for what, I couldn’t say,” opens Still Living, with a beautiful piano from Steve Kitch which feels so fragile it might break at any moment. Harrison’s drums and Jon Sykes exquisite bass line join the proceedings, and we are off.
The track ebbs and flows like a wandering stream, taking you to unexpected places. It is a masterclass in song arrangement.
A pounding tribal drum, coupled with one of the heaviest guitar riffs that The Pineapple Thief have ever recorded, blasts us into God Knows. Eight bars later, it disappears into soft piano and Soord’s angelic croon. These boys certainly know how to play with atmosphere.
This Empty Space and Scattering Like Flies both break the six-minute mark, and once again we are taken on a blissful musical journey, with Soord’s reassuring vocals underpinning very real emotions.
Through The Noise is another slow burner, taking roughly three minutes for the drums and guitars to come to the fore. This is not just some noisy trope that other bands can be guilty of. Instead, The Pineapple Thief show their mastery of slow-build atmospherics.
Penultimate track Who Wants It is probably the most ‘pop’ song on the album, but things are never quite as they seem, and it is all the better for it.
They leave the album’s longest track to the very end. No Exceptions clocks in at seven minutes 16 seconds and is just a majestic piece of music. Flowing seamlessly through emotions and feel, it is a truly majestic way to end a glorious album.
What should happen after it is finished is to take a deep breath, compose yourself, then start the whole album again from the beginning.
Like I said at the start of this review, Far And Wide is a complete album, rather than a selection of tracks to cherry-pick for a playlist. A lot of thought has gone into creating a mood and atmosphere with this album and, as such, it deserves to be listened to front to back in one sitting.
Far And Wide is just magnificent.
The Pineapple Thief release Far And Wide on 9 October 2026 via Inside Out. Pre-orders are available from thepineapplethief.lnk.to/FarAndWide-Album.
