A three-track EP featuring a cover of Johnny Cash‘s The Man Comes Around will be released by Pulp next year.
The band confirmed they would release a “festive bonus” which features a cover track and two demo songs from the More album sessions. Pre-orders for the release begin today and are available from the Rough Trade website for a limited time only. The EP will also include Marrying for Love and Cold Call on the Hot Line. Nick Banks wrote the music to Marrying for Love, while Candida Doyle wrote the music to Cold Call on the Hot Line. Frontman Jarvis Cocker said: “The Man Comes Around is a cover of a song by another JC: Johnny Cash, no less! It was featured in The Hack, a TV dramatisation of the phone hacking scandal that led to the closure of the News of the World newspaper back in July 2011.
“Marrying for Love and Cold Call on the Hot Line date from the demo sessions for the album More. Nick Banks wrote the music for Marrying for Love. Candida Doyle wrote the music for Cold Call on the Hot Line.” Jason Buckle mixed the three tracks at Place du Big Boss.
Pulp’s announcement comes as an acknowledgement of their first album in twenty-four years, More, being listed as one of the best albums of the year by Rough Trade Records. Their statement reads: “To acknowledge the fact that Pulp’s album More is featured at No. 3 in the Rough Trade Shops end of year list, we’d like to announce a festive bonus… “
A listing for the EP suggests a release date of February 27, 2026. The EP is listed at £17.99, with pre-orders for the EP now open. A cover of Johnny Cash’s The Man Comes Around by Pulp had been used in the recent ITV drama series, The Hack.
David Tennant and Robert Carlyle star in the seven-episode drama, which used a cover of The Man Comes Around in the closing moments of its sixth episode. Viewers can just about hear Pulp’s cover of the American IV: The Man Comes Around track.
The Jarvis Cocker-fronted group had featured The Man Comes Around on their Red Rocks setlist, though they opted not to play it. While there was some hope of Man Comes Around being a new song from the band, which released their first album in twenty-four years earlier this year, it turns out it’s a cover of a Cash classic.
In an interview at the Mercury Prize last month, drummer Nick Banks and keyboardist Candida Doyle confirmed there were no plans for a new album. Banks confirmed the band are “not itching” to work on a follow-up, but would conisder an EP or a single, though he did note neither are in the works.
He told the NME: “No, we’re not itching. An EP, maybe, or a single. An LP… It’s a big undertaking. You have to do all this kind of malarkey. We just di a month in America. America is sometimes a little late to the party, but they seem to be showing their appreciation.”
