'Our new songs have threads of the past'

The Charlatans' Tim Burgess has said his band's new album, their first in eight years, has "threads of the past" woven "into today".

We Are Love, which was released on 31 October, is the band's 14th in 35 years.

Founded in the Cheshire town of Northwich in the late 1980s, the band came to prominence in nearby Manchester's Madchester explosion, hitting the top of the album charts with their debut Some Friendly.

They went on to have a string of successes with their subsequent albums and in the singles charts, breaking into the Top 20 with the likes of Weirdo, Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over, One to Another and North Country Boy.

Speaking to BBC North West Tonight, Burgess said the new release was "nothing like we've done before, but then it's exactly the same as what we've done before".

"It's a weird thing, isn't it? You're creating a new song that has familiarity... and threads of the past," he added.