Massive Attack and Tom Waits team up for moody new release ‘Boots on the Ground’

Massive Attack have teamed up with Tom Waits in new track ‘Boots on the Ground’. The collaboration marks the first new release in six years for the Bristolian trip hop duo, currently consisting of Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja and Grantley ‘Daddy G’ Marshall, who had teased new music back in November. 

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‘Boots on the Ground’ marks Massive Attack’s first release since three-track EP, Eutopia, which was released on the band’s YouTube account as a trio of music videos in the summer of 2020. Del Naja recently made headlines as part of the 500 protestors arrested at last week’s Palestine Action protest. Waits’ appearance is his first musical output since 2011’s 

Dubbing the track “a dark hymn for our times”, The Guardian’s Alexis Petridis said of the single: “Clearly, this isn’t a piece of music destined to elbow Massive Attack’s greatest hits – 'Teardrop', 'Safe from Harm', 'Unfinished Sympathy' – from people’s affections: it is dark, disturbing, ominous, with a distinct streak of WTF? running through it. Which makes it music perfectly fitting for the times.”

‘Boots on the Ground’ is out now via PIAS Recordings. A 12” vinyl edition is set to follow, which features 'Boots on the Ground' on Side A and B-side ‘The Fly’, a Waits track featuring the singer’s signature mix of gravely vocals and spoken word.

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